Special Law Supporting Honduran Migrants in the Context of COVID-19
Congreso Nacional
- Decree: 51-2020
- Published: May 18, 2020
- Issuing body: Congreso Nacional
- Gazette: 35,256
- Category: Administrative
Summary
This law allows the repatriation of cremated remains of Hondurans who died abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic. It benefits families of migrants who need to bring their deceased relatives to the country, providing government financial support to cover the costs of procedures, cremation, and burial in Honduras.
Considerations
Whereas it is a constitutional obligation of the State to create conditions that guarantee access to constitutional rights and fundamental services by the national population;
Whereas the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the spread of the Coronavirus epidemic (COVID-19) as a pandemic of high dangerousness due to the speed of its expansion and the high impacts on the health, life, and well-being of persons and their families throughout the planet;
Whereas the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has only made more critical the repatriation of bodies of deceased Hondurans abroad, has increased demand for this service and created new conditions for contagion; the internal and external isolation measures implemented by countries have increased this difficulty and there are many Honduran families that suffer prolonged anguish due to this cause for which there is no certain or immediate response;
Whereas the cremation of bodies is presented for now as a viable alternative to facilitate the repatriation of bodies of deceased Hondurans abroad, given that it eliminates conditions of contamination and other factors including costs that currently hinder this activity of public order and international law;
Whereas a large part of Hondurans abroad live in precarious economic conditions and that due to their status as undocumented persons they are not subject to aid decreed by the governments of the countries that have received them and that are supported by non-governmental organizations created for this purpose and that, due to current sanitary conditions throughout the world, with their limited resources and sometimes personal means, are attending to some needs of our compatriots, such as: food, medicines, shelter, transportation, etc.
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, decree, reform, repeal, and interpret the laws;
Articles
The repatriation of previously cremated remains of Hondurans deceased abroad is authorized. The Secretariat of State in the Offices of Foreign Relations and International Cooperation must proceed to establish the framework of procedures for compliance with this provision, making the appropriate correlation with respect to public international law and the corresponding consular handling applicable in each country, so that the process of repatriation and inhumation of human remains under this legislative decree respects the corresponding legal provisions in accordance with the procedures cited in the Special Law on Cremation in Honduras.
From the budget established in Article 29 of the Law for the Protection of Honduran Migrants and their Families, provision must be made to Hondurans abroad who, due to the COVID-19 crisis, have only (2) weeks to carry out said procedure prior to expeditious economic support for claiming their deceased family members, for carrying out procedures for body removal, cremation, or burial. The Secretariat of State in the Office of Finance may incorporate budget into the Solidarity Fund with the Honduran Migrant FOSMIH, to which the previous Article refers, in accordance with the financial need presented by the Secretariat of State in the Offices of Foreign Relations and International Cooperation, based on the number of deaths of Hondurans abroad caused by COVID-19, whose remains require repatriation.
The Secretariat of State in the Offices of Foreign Relations and International Cooperation shall establish the framework of assistance to families of migrants, as provided by the Law for the Protection of Honduran Migrants and their Families. Likewise, they shall establish through publications the procedures for accessing the benefits that this law establishes.
The Secretariat of State in the Offices of Foreign Relations and International Cooperation shall establish the framework of support to Non-Governmental Organizations abroad as provided by the Law for the Protection of Honduran Migrants and their Families. Likewise, it must establish through means the procedures for accessing the benefits of this law.
The measures established in this Decree shall be in effect during the duration of the COVID-19 crisis, decreed by the Executive Power.
This Decree shall enter into force as of the day of its publication in the Official Gazette "La Gaceta". Done in the City of Tegucigalpa, municipality of the Central District, celebrated in Virtual manner, on the Fourteenth day of the month of May of two thousand twenty. MAURICIO OLIVA HERRERA PRESIDENT JOSÉ TOMÁS ZAMBRANO MOLINA SECRETARY ROSSEL RENÁN INESTROZA MARTÍNEZ SECRETARY To the Executive Power. Therefore: Let it be executed. Tegucigalpa, M.D.C., May 18, 2020. JUAN ORLANDO HERNÁNDEZ ALVARADO PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC THE SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICES OF FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION LISANDRO ROSALES
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