The Government of Honduras launches first Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) Report in Latin America

The Honduras VACS was led by the Government of Honduras’ Sub-Secretary of Security in Prevention with support from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), International Organization for Migration (IOM), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Honduran government taskforce, Gabinete de Prevención.

The Honduras survey provides never-before seen data on the prevalence, nature and consequences of violence against Honduran children and youth, including insights on sexual violence and its relationship to children’s lifelong health outcomes.

While data on the overall prevalence of violence is key to progress in Latin America, little data has been available on the issue of violence against children and its intersection with migration–until now. The Honduras VACS is the first of the forthcoming Latin American reports to study migration. To learn more about the results of the survey, view the IOM’s fact sheet highlighting the migration data (in Spanish).

The high-level report launch event was hosted by Ana García de Hernández, the First Lady of Honduras. In her remarks, she recognized the VACS report as a key part in Honduras’ ongoing work to addressing violence against children within the country.

“We have to break the cycle of violence and we have to do it through education”, says First Lady Hernández.

During the launch, on behalf of the President of Honduras the First Lady announced that Honduras will be joining the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children (GPEVAC), as a Pathfinding Country. In joining the partnership, Honduras will continue to develop its National Action Plan to end all forms of violence against children.

Dr. Daniela Ligiero, CEO and executive director of Together for Girls and chair of the Executive Committee of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, congratulated the Government of Honduras on this monumental achievement and noted that the VACS is a first step to drive country-led, multi-sectoral action to strengthen prevention and response programming as a means to end of all forms violence against children in Honduras.

Representatives from IOM Honduras also shared key highlights on various forms of violence against children and its consequences from the VACS report.

Key findings from Honduras’ VACS Report include:

• Consistent with the statistical data at the global level, girls in Honduras are more likely than boys to experience sexual violence.
• Nearly 40% of males and females report experiencing some form of violence in childhood (sexual, physical, emotional)–female respondents were more likely to report experiencing sexual violence in childhood than males.
• Girls and boys who are separated from their parents experience higher levels of violence. Nearly half of girls and boys reporting parents that migrated also report experiencing some type of violence, compared to 35% of girls and 28% of boys who report violence and whose parents have not migrated.
• For both girls and boys, the perpetrators of sexual violence are often someone who is known by the victim. For nearly half of girls surveyed who experienced sexual violence (46%), their perpetrator was a family member. For boys, their perpetrator is most often a friend (61%), The most common location where sexual violence takes place is in the home–either the home of the victim or that of the perpetrator.
• Nearly 16% of girls age 13-24 who experienced physically forced, coerced or alcohol facilitated intercourse became pregnant as a result. Learn more about how TfG partners are addressing sexual violence and reducing teen pregnancy in Honduras here.
• Less than 1 in 10 females and males who experienced sexual violence in childhood sought or received follow up care and services after the incident. Learn more about the importance of post-rape care in our Every Hour Matters campaign.

For more information regarding the Honduras’ VACS, check out the full VACS report, country fact sheet and visit the Honduras’ country page.

About Together for Girls

Together for Girls is a global partnership working to end violence against children and adolescents, particularly sexual violence against girls. The partnership brings together more than 20 national governments, civil society organizations, UN entities, development partners, and the private sector to improve violence prevention, healing and justice. Together for Girls uses an innovative model of data, advocacy and action to drive lasting change and create a safer world for all.