A/HRC/41/33/Add.1 Annex Report of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice on its visit to Honduras I. Introduction A. Visit 1. The Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice visited Honduras from 1 to 14 November 2018 at the invitation of the Government. The delegation of experts from the Working Group met with various concerned stakeholders in Tegucigalpa, La Esperanza, San Pedro Sula, El Progreso and La Ceiba. They wish to thank the authorities, in particular the National Institute for Women, for their remarkable level of cooperation and support in the organization of the visit. They are grateful to all their interlocutors – public officials, health professionals, representatives of civil society and academia, the United Nations country team and representatives of the private sector – for all the fruitful exchanges. They are particularly grateful to the women human rights defenders, many of whom travelled long hours to meet with them. 2. In the capital, the experts met with the First Lady, representatives of the Ministry of General Government Coordination, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Human Rights, the National Institute for Women, the Ministry of Governance, Justice and Decentralization, the Ministry of Security, the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Monitoring Centre on Violence, the National Statistics Institute and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Services. The experts also met with the President of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General’s Office, the Office of the National Commissioner for Human Rights, the InterAgency Commission to Monitor Investigations into Violent Deaths of Women and Femicide, the national mechanism for the protection of human rights defenders, and representatives of Congress. In San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba, the experts met with the governors, mayors, representatives of the municipal offices for women and of local human rights institutions, local justice officials, public defenders and the police. 3. The experts visited the women’s prison, the Ciudad Mujer initiative and a school in Tegucigalpa, and a shelter for women victims of violence and a hospital in San Pedro Sula. They met with numerous women’s organizations and women human rights defenders. The experts also met with the Honduran Private Enterprise Council. B. Context 4. With a population of 9,023,838 people,1 Honduras is considered to have a medium level of development, ranking 133 of 189 States in terms of the human development index. 2 Although poverty has been reduced since 2013 and currently stands at 59.6 per cent, 3 the country has the highest level of economic inequality in the continent. It continues to 1 2 3 2 National Statistics Institute, “Encuesta Permanente de Hogares de Propósitos Múltiples 2018: resumen ejecutivo”, June 2018. Available at www.ine.gob.hn/images/Productos%20ine/encuesta%20de%20hogares/EPHPM%202018/02%20EP HPM%20Resumen%20Ejecutivo%202018.pdf. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Indices and Indicators: 2018 Statistical Update (New York, 2018). See www.mppn.org/es/paises_participantes/honduras.