Approval of Public Policy and National Action Plan on Human Rights 2013
Poder Ejecutivo
- Published: March 12, 2013
- Issuing body: Poder Ejecutivo
- Gazette: 33,073
- Category: Constitutional
Summary
Honduras approves its Public Policy and National Human Rights Action Plan to fulfill international commitments. It requires all state institutions to incorporate human rights into their planning and budgets, focusing on security, justice, democracy, and protection of vulnerable groups until 2022.
Considerations
It is the responsibility of the President of the Republic, among other attributions, to direct the general policy of the State, represent it, and issue agreements, decrees and issue regulations and resolutions in accordance with the law.
The President of the Republic has under his charge the supreme direction and coordination of the centralized and decentralized Public Administration, being able to act by himself or in Cabinet of Ministers.
The State of Honduras is a High Contracting Party to the majority of international instruments of the Universal System and the Inter-American System of Human Rights and assumes the obligation to recognize, respect, promote, protect and, above all, guarantee the full exercise of rights and freedoms recognized therein to every person, without any discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, language, religion, political opinion or national or social origin, economic position, birth, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other condition.
The State of Honduras, through the Secretariat of State in the Offices of Justice and Human Rights, has assumed the responsibility of monitoring the international commitments emanating from the Universal and Regional System of Human Rights, in order to establish the conditions that guarantee the enjoyment and benefit of human rights.
The State of Honduras, in the year 1993, participated in the II World Conference on Human Rights, held in the city of Vienna, Austria, in which it was a subscribing State to the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action, assuming the commitment to design and implement a National Plan of Action on Human Rights in which the necessary measures are determined for the State to improve the promotion and protection of human rights, a commitment that has not been fulfilled to date.
Currently, the State of Honduras lacks a Public Policy on Human Rights and a National Plan of Action on Human Rights, as effective measures to operationalize the fulfillment of national and international commitments by State institutions and the improvement of the human condition.
The Secretariat of State in the Offices of Justice and Human Rights, in response to its legal mandate, is responsible for strengthening the capacities of the centralized and decentralized public administration in particular and of the State in general, for efficient performance and respect for human rights in the sphere of its competencies, as well as for the promotion of civic responsibility for the promotion of a culture of peace and the design and implementation of Policy on Human Rights and the National Plan of Action on Human Rights with the participation of the different Secretariats, State Institutions and sectors of Civil Society.
In the process of consultation for the design of the Public Policy and National Plan of Action on Human Rights, institutional support has been provided by the Secretariat of State in the Office of Planning (SEPLAN), through the different consultations held with the Regional Development Councils within the framework of the Law for the establishment of a Vision of Country and the Adoption of a Plan of Nation for Honduras, which allowed the participation of more than 5,000 people from different institutions, organizations, groups and sectors at the national level, so both tools have had the active and inclusive participation of the population.
Also in the process of consultation for the design of the Public Policy and National Plan of Action on Human Rights, there was active participation of holders and representatives of the different Secretariats and State Institutions, which will facilitate the knowledge and implementation of such tools, aligning their institutional work to the impact results outlined in the aforementioned tools.
The Public Policy and National Plan of Action on Human Rights addresses particular problems and outlines feasible solutions from public management, so it requires the inescapable cooperation of all State Secretariats and Institutions for its implementation in order to ensure a positive and immediate impact on improving the living conditions of the Honduran population and the establishment of a culture of respect for human rights through the rights approach in public management as a process centered on people, which explicitly incorporates into public policies, national budgets and in the daily practice of institutions and public servants at all levels of the state hierarchy, the obligations undertaken by States to recognize, respect, protect and make effective the human rights of the population, following principles of maximum use of available resources, progressive realization, non-regression, equity and non-discrimination, transparency, accountability and citizen participation.
Articles
Approve the "Public Policy and National Plan of Action on Human Rights" attached to this Executive Decree, instruments that have as their general objective, to contribute to the enjoyment and exercise of human rights of persons in Honduras, addressing situations that generate human rights violations, particularly citizen insecurity, impunity, inequality and social exclusion, historical gaps in governance and the prevalence of cultural values contrary to human rights. It has as its first specific objective, to ensure that the planning and budgeting of the State Secretariats and other institutions of the Executive Branch, with the active participation of the holders or bearers of rights, are oriented within the framework of their competencies to what is prescribed in both instruments, in order to guarantee in the structure and management of the State, a human rights approach that generates legal, institutional and sociocultural conditions, that produces a change in the work of public servants for the recognition, respect, promotion, protection and guarantee of human rights of the general population, with special emphasis on groups in situations of vulnerability. It has as its second specific objective, to develop democratic participation between the State and civil society, through dialogue spaces and the establishment of mechanisms for monitoring and social control of governmental management, as well as the adoption of permanent practices of accountability on the part of public servants in relation to the operational and budgetary unification and the establishment of a system of indicators that allows measuring progress and levels of compliance in the implementation of the Public Policy and the National Plan of Action on Human Rights. For purposes of public knowledge and effectiveness regarding the "Public Policy and National Plan of Action on Human Rights," said instruments shall: a) Be published on the Website and/or on the Transparency Portal of the State Secretariat in the Offices of Justice and Human Rights, containing signature and seal on each of its pages as a sign of officialization of its content, by the head of that Ministerial Office, b) Be widely disseminated at the national level by every effective method and means for public handling and knowledge, at the consideration of the State Secretariat in the Offices of Justice and Human Rights.
To fulfill the general objective and the specific objectives of the Public Policy and the National Plan of Action on Human Rights, four strategic guidelines have been established: 1. Human Security which includes: The Right to Education, Health, Sexual and Reproductive Rights, Food, Work, Adequate Housing, Culture, Water and a Healthy Environment. 2. System of Justice which includes: The Right to Life, Security, Personal Integrity and Freedom, Justice and Truth. 3. Democracy which includes: The Right of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression implied by Citizen Participation, Political Participation and Democracy and Governance. 4. Population groups as holders of rights: Girls and Boys, Adolescents, Youth, Elderly Adults, Indigenous and Afro-Honduran Peoples, Women, Migrants, Sexual Diversity Community (LGBTTI), Persons with Disabilities, Persons Deprived of Liberty, Human Rights Defenders, Communicators and Justice Operators. The comprehensive approach to the rights established in the strategic guidelines previously mentioned are developed in eight (8) components relating to: the incorporation of rights in legislation and public policies, the culture of human rights in institutions and public servants; the development of capacities in the State and adequacy of state structure, the fight against impunity for human rights violations and reparation; accountability and transparency on actions and results; the development of capacities in the holders of rights to know and demand their rights and the promotion of a culture of human rights in society.
To ensure compliance with the Public Policy and the National Plan of Action on Human Rights, the State Secretariats and other institutions of the Executive Branch are instructed to implement, within the framework of their legal competencies, what is prescribed in both tools, which constitute the National Agenda of Honduras on Human Rights until the year 2022.
This Decree is effective immediately and shall be published in "La Gaceta," Official Gazette of the Republic. Given at the Presidential House, in the city of Tegucigalpa, municipality of the Central District on the twenty-second (22) day of the month of January of the year two thousand thirteen (2013). LET IT BE KNOWN AND PUBLISHED.- PORFIRIO LOBO SOSA PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC LIDIA ESTELA CARDONA STATE SECRETARY IN THE OFFICES OF INTERIOR AND POPULATION, BY LAW MARLON ONIEL ESCOTO VALERIO STATE SECRETARY IN THE OFFICE OF EDUCATION ROXANA PATRICIA ARAUJO STATE SECRETARY IN THE OFFICE OF HEALTH POMPEYO BONILLA REYES STATE SECRETARY IN THE OFFICE OF SECURITY MARÍA ANTONIETA GUILLEN VÁSQUEZ PRESIDENTIAL DESIGNEE IN CHARGE OF THE STATE SECRETARIAT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE SALOMÉ CASTELLANOS DELGADO STATE SECRETARY IN THE OFFICE OF FOREIGN RELATIONS, BY LAW CARLOS ROBERTO FUNES PONCE STATE SECRETARY IN THE OFFICE OF NATIONAL DEFENSE, BY LAW CARLOS BORJAS CASTEJÓN STATE SECRETARY IN THE OFFICE OF FINANCE, BY LAW JOSÉ ADONIS LAVAIRE STATE SECRETARY IN THE OFFICES OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE ADOLFO RAQUEL QUAN STATE SECRETARY IN THE OFFICES OF PUBLIC WORKS, TRANSPORT AND HOUSING, BY LAW FELÍCITO ÁVILA ORDÓÑEZ STATE SECRETARY IN THE OFFICES OF LABOR AND SOCIAL SECURITY JACOBO REGALADO WEIZEMBLUT STATE SECRETARY IN THE OFFICES OF AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK RIGOBERTO CUELLAR CRUZ STATE SECRETARY IN THE OFFICES OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT HILDA HERNÁNDEZ ALVARADO STATE SECRETARY IN THE OFFICE OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
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