Human Rights Watch Friday called on Honduran officials to end the amount of violence against transgender people.
Government leaders were asked to investigate and prosecute those responsible for various abuses. The group also called on Honduran authorities to repeal legal provisions on “public morality” and “public scandal” that enable abuse.
The group said there is widespread abuses based on gender identity; including rape, beatings, extortion, and arbitrary detentions by law enforcement officials.
At least seventeen transgender people have been killed in public in Honduras since 2004 they claim, none of which have led to a prosecution.
“The police have an obligation to protect people and to investigate violence, no matter who the victims are,” Juliana Cano Nieto, researcher in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch stated. “The Honduran State is failing miserably on this basic issue of human rights.”
The group’s 45-page report is titled ‘Not Worth a Penny’: Human Rights Abuses against Transgender People in Honduras.”
