TEGUCIGALPA, March 1 (BERNAMA-NNN-Prensa Latina) — With 7,172 homicides in 2012, Honduras prevails as the country with the highest crime rate in the world, according to the Violence Observation Center at Honduras National Autonomous University (UNAH). The Center’s 2012 annual report notes that Honduras has a rate of 85.5 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, the largest for a country not officially at war.
Of the total homicides, 6,566 victims (91.6 percent) were men and 606 (8.4 percent) were women, noted the academic group that examined official figures from the Security Secretariat and the Public Ministry. The report states that there were 10,411 deaths nationwide in 2012 due to external causes, of which 7,172 were homicides, 1,243 traffic accidents, and 1,082 deaths for undetermined reasons. There were 592 accidental deaths and 322 suicides registered, most by hanging.
The report states that although the number of homicides decreased 0.9 percent compared to 2012, the record confirmed that there were 598 homicides per month, an average of 20 victims a day, one every 72 minutes. The report also notes that the most dangerous places are Atlantis, Cortés, Francisco Morazán, Copán, Ocotepeque, Yoro, Olancho and Colon Comayagua, and all exceed the national rate of 85.5. Referring to the homicide trend in 2012, from May to November there were an average of 500 violent deaths per month, however from December to date, that figure increased to 700.
Commenting on these figures, the rector of the UNAH, Julieta Castellanos, recognized the urgency of implementing a different strategy to lower the high rate of violent deaths that is bleeding Honduras. Castellanos believes that in addition to suppressing crime, work must be done on prevention and the causes of crime, while understanding that there is a lack of willingness to design a real security strategy to reverse this trend.
BERNAMA
