Cristosal signs cooperation agreement in Honduras

DINAF and Cristosal establish a cooperation alliance to support victims of forced displacement

Tegucigalpa, M.D.C. September 27, 2018.- In order to establish a cooperation framework for the protection of victims of displacement due to violence in Honduras, the Directorate for Children, Adolescents and the Family (DINAF) and Cristosal, through their highest authorities, signed a cooperation agreement today.

The general objective of DINAF is to guarantee the Best Interest of the Child, assisting in a timely and efficient manner the need for comprehensive protection. All of this with a collaborative approach based on a Comprehensive System for the Guarantee of the Rights of Children and Adolescents, which society and the State of Honduras are obliged to provide children within the framework of the Constitution of the Republic, the international conventions for the protection of children, the Childhood and Adolescence Code, and other applicable legislation.

Likewise, DINAF is responsible for ensuring the application of the protocol for Immediate Protection, Repatriation, Reception, and Follow-up of Migrant Children, under the minimum standards for comprehensive care, focusing mainly on the prevention and progressive reduction of irregular child migration.

Thus, as part of the actions aimed at guaranteeing the comprehensive protection of the rights of children, alliances such as this one are established. The purpose is to accompany the development of training, data collection, and learning for the protection of the victims of displacement through the strengthening of DINAF capacities to address these issues, especially the impact they have on children and adolescents.

The agreement also contemplates joint monitoring of forced displacement due to violence, which entails systematically documenting and disseminating information on the scope and causes. This information includes Internal Displacement Policies, returnees with special protection needs, activities related to the strengthening of capacities, monitoring, registration, documentation, and studies on internal forced displacement and forced migration due to generalized violence in Honduras.

The agreement also establishes proposing a plan for the development of training for DINAF officials on issues related to forced displacement due to violence with a human-rights-based approach. The plan should also include the design of instruments for the development of a database that records information on cases of forced internal displacement, which both parties assist or have knowledge about, facilitating the agile exchange of information through virtual computer platforms.

According to the latest characterization of internal displacement carried out in Honduras in 2014, estimates indicate that in the last 10 years, 174,000 people have faced internal displacement due to violence, of which minors in households represent 19.1 percent. The data also reveal that between 2014 and 2018, 15 percent of the children who have been returned from the United States and Mexico have protection needs.