Honduran National Children's Congress Act

The purpose of this Law is to regulate the design, execution and review of the NATIONAL CHILDREN'S CONGRESS, in accordance with the Honduran legal framework for the comprehensive protection of children and the precepts established in the Constitution of the Republic.

In accordance with the pillars established in the Constitution of the Republic of Honduras and the American Convention on Human Rights, as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the following principles are established:

• 1)

  Best Interest: In the National Children's Congress, the implementation of attention, social welfare, health and all other essential measures that represent the importance of the best interest of the child shall prevail in each one of the stages of its development and at all times;

• 2)

  Freedom of Opinion: Child Congresspeople have the total and full freedom to express their opinions and form their own judgment, in equal conditions during the prior development and during the celebration of the National Children's Congress, this being a point of importance, to listen to their contributions in matters that affect children based on their age and maturity;

• 3)

  Equality and Non-Discrimination: Within the framework of the scope of application and development of all stages of the National Children's Congress to be held, each Congressperson shall be taken into account, without any distinction, regardless of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, ethnic or social origin, economic position, their special abilities or any other physical condition or place of origin of each Congressperson, their parents or their representatives; this National Children's Congress complying with the prevalence of what is stated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child;

• 4)

  Transparency: The National Children's Congress is a legislative democratic exercise, which shall be made known through all the channels that the Social Agenda of the Presidency of the National Congress considers appropriate for access to information;

• 5)

  Traceability: The National Children's Congress is oriented to provide systematic and orderly monitoring of all prior and subsequent processes generated, including the monitoring of child congresspeople;

• 6)

  Publicity: The development of the National Children's Congress, both in its legislative stage and in its recreational and academic stage, must be made available to the Honduran people, through proper dissemination in the country's media from its planning to the subsequent follow-up;

• 7)

  Due Diligence: The National Congress of the Republic must be diligent and timely in providing legislative treatment to the different initiatives arising from the National Children's Congress;

• 8)

  Innovation: The National Children's Congress must always be an opportunity to incorporate innovative solutions in the technical, logistical, financial and social aspects; in such a way that to achieve this principle, work jointly with national and international cooperation organizations; and,

• 9)

  No Simulation: The active participation of the children of Honduras in a condition of equality and without any discrimination, in the making of real legislative decisions, is a fundamental pillar of the National Children's Congress.

The National Children's Congress shall have its headquarters in the Capital of the Republic, without prejudice to the fact that the President of the National Congress by itself or through the Social Agenda of the Presidency of the National Congress, as the governing body, may decide to relocate its headquarters or hold sessions in another place of the Republic, following the procedures and safety considerations established in this Law.

For the installation of the National Children's Congress; the Child Congresspeople previously selected by the Ministry of State in the Department of Education shall be convened each year for the realization of their legislative sessions on any date prior to the second week of October.

The organs of the National Children's Congress are:

• 1)

  The Plenary of Child Congresspeople;

• 2)

  The Board of Directors;

• 3)

  The caucuses of child congresspeople; and,

• 4)

  The Legislative Opinion Commissions.

The Plenary of the National Children's Congress is the highest decision-making authority of the Child Legislative Branch and is made up of one hundred twenty-eight (128) Congresspeople from the different departments of the Honduran territory.

The Board of Directors is the organ that directs the legislative session, elected by simple majority vote of the Congresspeople. The Child Board of Directors is made up of one (1) President, five (5) Vice-Presidents and five (5) Secretaries equivalent to eleven (11) members of the Board of Directors.

The Board of Directors of the National Children's Congress exercises its functions until the installation of the following National Children's Congress.

The attributions of the Board of Directors are:

• 1)

  Coordinate legislative activities;

• 2)

  Establish its agenda of meetings to know and dispatch the matters that in accordance with this Law correspond to it; and,

• 3)

  Distribute the Congresspeople among the different Legislative Opinion Commissions.

The attributions of the President of the National Children's Congress are:

• 1)

  Open, suspend and close the session of the Plenary;

• 2)

  Maintain and call to order in the Plenary session the Congresspeople who deviate from the matter under discussion;

• 3)

  Grant the floor in successive order to the Congresspeople who request it, as well as suspend its use;

• 4)

  Direct the Law Projects to the corresponding Commissions or special Commissions;

• 5)

  Sign the minutes, decrees and other resolutions of the National Children's Congress; and,

• 6)

  Create Special Commissions for matters of special interest.

The Caucuses of Child Congresspeople: Once the National Children's Congress is installed, the respective child caucuses must be formed, which shall be distributed equitably among congresspeople from the eighteen (18) departments, for the sole purpose of forming the slates for elections of the Board of Directors, electing a child representative responsible for directing the consensus in the different caucuses.

The Caucuses of Child Congresspeople are:

• 1)

  CHILDHOOD AND JUSTICE CAUCUS: Its vision is to defend the human rights of boys and girls in all areas and its objective is to guarantee the comprehensive development of each Honduran child with a justice approach for children;

• 2)

  OUR CULTURE CAUCUS: Its vision is to defend national identity, the promotion of national culture, the rescue of the history, customs and traditions of indigenous peoples; whose objective is to give children the opportunity to enjoy cultural human rights; and,

• 3)

  GREEN HONDURAS CAUCUS: Its vision is characterized by the value of responsibility and respect for nature and its main objective is that in Honduras the flora and fauna are preserved, restored and protected, for all, especially that the children of Honduras enjoy a clean and healthy environment.

The Commissions of the National Children's Congress are the following:

• 1)

  Commission on Child Health;

• 2)

  Commission on Child Education;

• 3)

  Commission on Comprehensive Safety for Children;

• 4)

  Commission on Comprehensive Development;

• 5)

  Commission on Inclusion for Boys and Girls;

• 6)

  Commission on Access to Technology for Children;

• 7)

  Commission on Opportunities for Children;

• 8)

  Commission on Monitoring of Proposals; and,

• 9)

  Commission on Justice and Human Rights. The Commissions are made up of child congresspeople to know the matters assigned to them by the President in order to issue opinions on the projects presented in the National Children's Congress.

The rights of child congresspeople are:

• 1)

  Participate with voice and vote in the sessions of the Plenary;

• 2)

  Integrate a Child Legislative Commission and participate with voice and vote in it;

• 3)

  Present law initiatives, motions and manifestations in compliance with the requirements established in this Law; and,

• 4)

  Receive technical-legal and other assistance for the fulfillment of their functions and obligations.

The duties of child congresspeople are:

• 1)

  Attend the session of the Plenary and the Commission of which they are a member;

• 2)

  Participate in the preparation of the opinions;

• 3)

  Exercise the assignments or representations that the President or the Plenary has designated;

• 4)

  Vote in the plenary sessions in which they are present;

• 5)

  Express, debate and agree solutions and recommendations in the Child Commission to which they belong;

• 6)

  Represent the girls and boys of their Educational Center, as well as of the Municipality and Department for which they were selected; and,

• 7)

  Participate in one (1) or more events per year, at the Municipal or Departmental level to share the legislative experience of the National Children's Congress, in order to promote the participation of other students.

The organs responsible for organizing the National Children's Congress are:

• 1)

  Social Agenda of the Presidency of the National Congress;

• 2)

  Office of the Presidency of the National Congress;

• 3)

  Legislative Management of the National Congress;

• 4)

  Ministry of State in the Department of Education; and,

• 5)

  Other dependencies of the National Congress upon convocation by the Social Agenda of the Presidency. The organs listed above form the Organizing Committee organ which shall be convened and presided over by the Social Agenda of the Presidency of the National Congress.

The Social Agenda of the Presidency of the National Congress is the governing body for the administration of the National Children's Congress, as well as for the direction, coordination and organization of the dependencies that accompany the administrative structure to comply with the development and functioning of the Children's Congress. The National Congress of the Republic must design an efficient mechanism for making payments arising from the National Children's Congress.

The Social Agenda of the Presidency of the National Congress shall form the Organizing Committee of the National Children's Congress, which shall be made up of the internal dependencies of the National Congress, as well as state institutions, which have the obligation to accompany the guidelines of the Social Agenda for the full development of the National Children's Congress. The foregoing is understood, without prejudice to the participation that other national institutions, civil society organizations and foreign organizations may provide in collaboration.

The Special Commission for Monitoring of the National Children's Congress shall be appointed by the President of the National Congress of the Republic, in order to report on the initiatives presented in the National Children's Congress.

Once the National Children's Congress is finished, Child Congresspeople may carry out activities in their municipalities and departments to project themselves and publicize their work during their tenure in the National Children's Congress, aimed at promoting the benefit of the legislative experience to other students in their communities. The municipal and state authorities of each Department must provide support to Child Congresspeople, in order to conduct workshops and events where respect for the rights of Honduran children is promoted.

The National Children's Congress through the Social Agenda of the Presidency, shall present at the end of each year and no later than the second week of August; an Accountability Report of the legislative activities carried out with the Child Congresspeople of the previous period.

The National Congress of the Republic must ensure that, during the development of the National Children's Congress, Child Congresspeople have preferential access to all physical spaces of the National Congress of the Republic, so that, without any limitation, they develop the legislative proceedings within it, allowing an environment of harmony, safety and coexistence among them. All state media whether televised, written, radio or digital must collaborate with the dissemination of activities prior to, during and after the National Children's Congress.

Repeal Legislative Decree No.125-2004 of September 7, 2004, published in the Official Journal "La Gaceta" No.30,522, dated October 18, 2004.

The National Congress of the Republic must create the technological tool that contains the Database System, in order to monitor the development of the National Children's Congress, as well as the information and personal data contained in the personal file, obtained from the Child Congresspeople.

The National Congress of the Republic, within a period not exceeding ninety (90) days after the approval of this Law, must issue the Regulations for the Selection, Integration, Administration, Development and Functioning of the National Children's Congress.

This Decree shall enter into force as of its publication in the Official Journal "La Gaceta". Given in the city of Tegucigalpa, municipality of the Central District, in the Session Hall of the National Congress, on the twenty-first day of the month of February of two thousand twenty-four. LUIS ROLANDO REDONDO GUIFARRO PRESIDENT LUZ ANGÉLICA SMITH MEJÍA SECRETARY LINDA FRANCÉS DONAIRE PORTILLO SECRETARY To the Executive Branch. Therefore: Execute. Tegucigalpa, M.D.C., February 27, 2024. IRIS XIOMARA CASTRO SARMIENTO PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC THE SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION