Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  What form of intervention? Could you just clarify?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  This has to do with crimes that are reported to the police, where claims are filed. In many cases claims are not filed. Much of the citizenry of Honduras is extremely wary of engaging with the security forces, given their record. But just of those complaints of a criminal nature that are filed, the rate, according to these civil society groups, lies between 95% and 98%.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Obviously from the point of view of anyone who is aware of diplomatic protocol, I think it's probably best to avoid any form of direct political intervention. However, in the case of human rights issues, Canada and the United States both have an enormous amount of leverage in the country due to the high level of trade between the countries, the investment, and also of course due to their cooperation agreements with Honduras.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  On the U.S., the exact amount of security aid isn't entirely clear because it is channelled through both bilateral and multilateral funding. On the bilateral front it's several million dollars a year, as far as I'm aware, both for military and police, training some of their personnel, providing various forms of assistance, and so on, and also to help with infrastructure particularly for the Palmerola base in Honduras, where the U.S. has a strong presence.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Well, absolutely there is very systemic impunity. Again, the figures were just published by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and I invite all the members of your subcommittee to read it. I think it's a very important document. It's in Spanish at the moment, but it includes their preliminary findings following their trip to Honduras at the beginning of this month.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It's not altogether clear, and that's not my area of specialty. What I can say is that the human rights community in Honduras, particularly those who deal with the rights of children, such as Casa Alianza, have indicated that violence has risen enormously—violence affecting children and adolescents.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think there are a number of factors. One of them is the sort of crackdown that has taken place, not only along the border with Mexico but, more importantly, on Mexico's border with Guatemala. At that level, the Mexican authorities, in cooperation with U.S. border officials, have been much more involved in apprehending and sending back individuals, migrants, to their countries of origin, which primarily have been Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think it's a very good idea. It's not clear whether there has been any progress. This is a program that's just been put into place. The major issue is that at this time, the U.S. doesn't appear to be considering allowing a much higher number of children to apply for refugee status than has been the case in the past.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you for the question. There is one thing regarding the laws that have the object of protecting human rights defenders; no legislation has been passed yet. I believe that the legislation is in the third stage of the debate process within the Honduran congress. It has not yet been approved, and a number of civil society groups, including human rights groups, have criticized the fact that they have not been consulted on the latest text of this law.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Is that after they're apprehended on the border with the United States and Mexico?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I am very pleased to be here with you today. I'm going to continue this brief testimony in English. In my work as an analyst for the Center for Economic and Policy Research, I focus primarily on political, economic, and social developments in Latin America and the Caribbean.