For updated information on assistance available to women who are victims of domestic violence in Honduras, please consult the Responses to Information Request HND17626.F of 10 June 1994 and HND22771.F of 8 January 1996, which are also available at Regional Documentation Centres.

Please note that Response to Information Request HND22771.F of 8 January 1996, which is based on a telephone interview with a representative of the Honduran Centro de Derechos de la Mujer in Tegucigalpa, states that the government of Honduras has ratified the 1995 Bélem do Pará Convention on women's rights. The Response also mentions that the government did not undertake major reforms nor did it modify its laws regarding domestic violence in 1994 or 1995 (ibid.). However, the presence of women in the Honduran government has helped push forward measures aimed at the protection of women against domestic violence (ibid.). The Honduran government has adopted a law on family counselling and in response to this law the Ministry of Health established at least three counselling centres in the country (ibid.).

Please also find attached the Honduras section of the 1993 Encyclopedia of Women's Associations Worldwide. Please note that only one of the organizations listed, the Comité Hondureño de Mujeres por la Paz "Visitación Padilla", "offers a shelter for battered women that provides medical, psychological, and legal aid" (1993, 134).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Immigration and Refugee Board. Documentation, Information and Research Branch (DIRB). Ottawa. 8 January 1996. Response to Information Request HND22771.F.

Encyclopedia of Women's Associations Worldwide. 1993. Edited by Jacqueline K. Barrett. London: Gale Research International.

Encyclopedia of Women's Associations Worldwide. 1993. Edited by Jacqueline K. Barrett. London: Gale Research International, pp. 134-135.

Amnesty International. Annual Report. 1995, 1996.

Central America NewsPak [Austin]. 1995-1997.

Central America Report [Guatemala City]. 1995-1997.

DIRB Country File: Honduras. 1995-1996.

Human Rights Watch. Annual Report. 1995, 1996, 1997.

Latinamerica Press [Lima]. 1995-1997.

Oral sources.