Decree 22-2022
Congreso Nacional
- Decree: 22-2022
- Published: March 29, 2022
- Issuing body: Congreso Nacional
- Gazette: 35,885
- Category: Constitutional
Summary
This decree establishes March 24 as National Day for the Right to Truth, Memory and Justice in Honduras, without suspension of work. It requires public and educational institutions to promote programs on human rights, victim remembrance and historical truth, and creates a national award for those who contribute to clarifying facts about serious human rights violations.
Considerations
Whereas the State of Honduras has subscribed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, international instruments that establish that the fundamental rights protected are universal, indivisible and interdependent and are interrelated.
Whereas the State of Honduras is a party to the American Convention on Human Rights where it guarantees the right to truth and justice to all victims of grave and systematic violations of Human Rights in contexts of authoritarianism.
Whereas historical memory is important to guarantee the right to truth and justice related to grave crimes and helps communities to understand the causes of abuse, to restore personal dignity and establish safeguards against impunity.
Whereas it is vital to recognize the value of human rights defenders, who have dedicated themselves to promoting and protecting fundamental, individual and collective rights, as well as to pay tribute to those who have lost their lives in such endeavor.
Whereas the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Inter-American Court) determined that the events that occurred in Honduras as of June 28, 2009, according to international law, constituted an international wrongful act.
Whereas in accordance with Article 205, Attribution 1) of the Constitution of the Republic, it is within the power of the National Congress to: Create, enact, interpret, reform and repeal laws.
Articles
Declare March 24 of each year as the "NATIONAL DAY FOR THE RIGHT TO TRUTH, MEMORY AND JUSTICE", which shall be included as a national holiday without suspension of work.
The centralized, decentralized, autonomous institutions of Government and other public entities must include in their programs, plans and budgets, activities oriented toward the recognition of human dignity, dissemination and education of Human Rights, the prevention and eradication of violations of such rights, as well as the importance of attention and vindication of the rights of victims. Seeking the vindication of the memory and dignity of the victims and the establishment and dissemination of the historical truth of such facts.
The educational authorities at all levels must promote within the instances that correspond to them to integrate, such as the National Council of Education and the National Council of Higher Education, the incorporation of the "NATIONAL DAY FOR THE RIGHT TO TRUTH, MEMORY AND JUSTICE", in the respective school calendars, promoting the memory and recognition of victims of grave and systematic violations of Human Rights, the importance of the right to truth and justice, reparation and non-repetition of the facts, which consolidate the collective memory of society, as well as the rejection of all types of authoritarianism and the promotion of the permanent defense of the Rule of Law and the full validity of Human Rights.
Create the National Prize FOR THE RIGHT TO TRUTH, MEMORY AND JUSTICE, which shall be awarded to persons who, through their accomplishments, contribute to the clarification of the truth, dissemination of Human Rights and the vindication of the right of victims. Said prize shall be regulated by the Commission on Justice and Human Rights of the National Congress.
This Decree shall enter into force as of the day of its publication in the Official Gazette "La Gaceta". Given in the city of Tegucigalpa, municipality of the Central District, in the Session Hall of the National Congress, on the twenty-third day of the month of March of two thousand twenty-two. HUGO ROLANDO NOE PINO PRESIDENT CARLOS ARMANDO ZELAYA ROSALES SECRETARY LUZ ANGÉLICA SMITH MEJIA SECRETARY To the Executive Branch Therefore: Let It Be Executed Tegucigalpa, M.D.C., March 23, 2022 IRIS XIOMARA CASTRO SARMIENTO PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC THE SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF HUMAN RIGHTS NATALIE ROQUE SANDOVAL
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