26th Candelit vigil for Children –

XXVI INTERNATIONAL CANDELAS VIGILIA

Casa Alianza Honduras and Covenant House International celebrate the twenty-sixth “Vigil of Candelas”.

The objective of this activity is to reaffirm the institutional commitment to safeguard and protect children who suffer in our country and throughout the world due to the effects of different forms of violence, homelessness, poverty and social exclusion.

For 26 years, all the subsidiaries of Covenant House International in Latin America, the United States and Canada, have denounced the various situations that involve violations of the fundamental human rights of children and, in turn, require the guarantor to fulfill the rights Enshrined in national legislation and international treaties.

Honduras is no exception, violence against children is manifested in multiple manifestations, but in recent years, disrespect for the right to life has been increasing.

In the last 18 years, statistics indicate 11,784 cases of arbitrary executions and violent deaths of children and young people under 23, of which 2,490 have occurred in the last thirty-three months.The most serious of this situation is that about 98% of these deaths remain in total impunity.

As a result of poverty, violence and lack of opportunity, children and young people in Honduras have to seek to save their lives in other countries, so they resort to taking the migratory route irregularly, exposing themselves to a series of dangers, which They even lead them to lose their lives.

Between January and October of this year, more than 8,000 migrant children were deported from Mexico and more than 10,000 unaccompanied children were detained on the southern border of the United States, a figure that has increased by 93 percent over 2015.

Through this symbolic act we call on government authorities, society, churches, companies, the media and families to reflect on the suffering and exclusion in which hundreds of thousands of children live in HONDURAS, As well as millions across the globe and that this reflection motivates us to act to protect and guarantee the rights of children in all its dimensions.

To the guarantor, we demand the fulfillment of all the rights guaranteed in the national legislation and international treaties.

We urge to place as priority the solidarity and the work of eradicating from our society these scourges that harm our childhood and youth in Honduras.

Let the children live, study, grow and develop in healthy environments, be happy and find in Honduras a better place to live.

Realeased in Tegucigalpa MDC on the 17th day of November, 2016.