UN official warns of femicide ’emergency’ in Honduras

Honduras is experiencing a femicide “emergency,” a United Nations official warned Wednesday, with at least 66 women murdered so far this year according to activists.

The country has the highest femicide rate in Latin America, said UN resident coordinator Alice Shackelford.

“We are in an emergency, with the numbers we have in terms of femicides, violent deaths of women,” she told reporters.

“We are in an alarming situation,” Shackelford added, voicing concern that violence was being normalized against women who were treated as sexual objects.

Some 380 femicides were recorded in the Central American country in 2023, according to the Observatory of Violence of the National Autonomous University of Honduras.

“The degree of hatred and contempt against women is evident,” Observatory director Migdonia Ayestas told AFP.

“Men believe they have the right to women’s bodies, thoughts and behaviour, and they are taking their lives,” she said.