Expressly Repeal Decree No. 6 of the State of Siege Law
Congreso Nacional
- Decree: 21-2011
- Published: May 19, 2011
- Issuing body: Congreso Nacional
- Gazette: 32,519
- Category: Constitutional
Summary
This decree eliminates the State of Siege Law that allowed suspension of fundamental rights during emergencies. Honduras repealed this law because it violated international human rights treaties and the Constitution itself, which protects human dignity. This prevents future governments from using this tool to establish authoritarian regimes or create special courts.
Considerations
That the Constitution of the Republic of Honduras in its Article 59 establishes that the human person is the supreme end of society and the State. We all have the obligation to respect and protect it and that the dignity of the human being is inviolable.
That Honduras is a State of Law, constituted as a free, democratic and independent Republic to ensure its inhabitants the enjoyment of justice, freedom, culture and economic and social well-being.
That in Honduras no laws or governmental provisions or of any other kind shall be applied that regulate the exercise of the declarations, rights and guarantees established in the Constitution, if they diminish, restrict or distort them.
That the State of Honduras has entered into a series of international treaties or conventions that oblige it to the unrestricted observance, promotion and protection of Human Rights.
That the Law of State of Siege was incorporated as a Constitutional Law in the Constitution of the Republic of Honduras approved on September 10, 1924, Articles 178 and 199 approved on April 15, 1936 and Article 188 of Decree No. 131 of January 11, 1982, which contains the Constitution of the Republic of Honduras currently in force.
That the Law of State of Siege in force in Honduras flagrantly violates the regulations contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other International Treaties or Conventions and the Rights and Individual Guarantees enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Honduras.
That Article 188 of the Constitution of the Republic of Honduras establishes that: "The territory in which the guarantees expressed in Article 187 are suspended shall be governed during the suspension by the Law of State of Siege".
That in accordance with constitutional Article 304, exception courts are prohibited. It is the responsibility of the judicial bodies to apply the laws to concrete cases, to judge and to execute the judgment. At no time may exception judicial bodies be created.
That the suspension of fundamental rights of persons, in the medium frequently used to establish despotic, authoritarian and dictatorial governments to assume functions of political control of the Powers of the State using means of force, and rendering nugatory the Constitutional Right granted to citizens to defend the constitutional order.
Articles
To explicitly repeal Decree No. 6, issued by the National Constituent Assembly, on April 3, 1936, which contains the LAW OF STATE OF SIEGE, published in the Official Newspaper La Gaceta No. 9,880 dated April 23, 1936.
This Decree shall enter into force as of the day of its publication in the Official Newspaper La Gaceta. Given in the city of Tegucigalpa, municipality of the Central District, in the Session Hall of the National Congress, on the seventh day of the month of March of two thousand eleven. JUAN ORLANDO HERNÁNDEZ ALVARADO PRESIDENT RIGOBERTO CHANG CASTILLO SECRETARY GLADIS AURORA LÓPEZ CALDERÓN SECRETARY To the Executive Power. Therefore: Let it be executed. Tegucigalpa, M.D.C., March 22, 2011. PORFIRIO LOBO SOSA PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC The Secretary of State in the Offices of Justice and Human Rights. ANA A. PINEDA DECREE No. 22-2011 The National Congress: WHEREAS: Honduras is a subscriber to different international treaties and conventions regarding human rights, including the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, and has the Law of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture; which obligates the State to give special treatment to the prevention, investigation and punishment of this crime. WHEREAS: That by means of Legislative Decree No. 191-96 of October 31, 1996, Article 209-A was added to the Penal Code that typifies torture. WHEREAS: That the Committee Against Torture and the Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, recommended to the State Party to assume the commitment to review the definition of torture that appears in Article 209-A of the Penal Code of Honduras and that it be stated in strict conformity with Article 1 of the Convention. They also recommended that the State Party make torture a crime without a statute of limitations. THEREFORE: IT DECREES:
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