A/HRC/35/23/Add.1 The city soon become the country’s manufacturing and commercial hub and currently generates two-thirds of its gross domestic product. 20. In recent years, San Pedro Sula has become a major operational and strategic distribution point in the illegal drug trade. Infiltration of organized crime is compounded by the increased presence of brutal street gangs. As a result, the city has seen a surge in violence and homicides, becoming the city with the highest homicide rate in the world between 2011 and 2014. 6 Violence has led to substantial internal displacement and migration abroad. B. Police abuse and corruption 21. There is widespread acceptance that the police has over many years not fulfilled its function as it should have. In many cases, it has not addressed the problem of crime, including violent crime, and has in fact become part of the problem. 22. Police corruption further affects the atmosphere of insecurity, with reports of police elements being involved in soliciting bribes, extortion, murder and acting in collusion with gangs and organized criminal groups. In at least five cases, police officers have been implicated in death squad-style killings of gang members. During the visit, the Special Rapporteur encountered numerous reports of killings by police, military police and military officers. According to the Observatory on Violence, police killed 285 people between 2012 and 2015. Not all of those cases were unjustified, but they are often not properly investigated. Impunity is the rule. Investigations and effective prosecution for the crimes seems to be limited to only a few high-profile cases or cases in which the families of the victims had to push the investigations or assist in obtaining evidence. C. Gangs and organized criminal groups 23. Presence of street gangs known as maras is rampant in Honduras, especially in big cities such as Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. They are mostly descendants of gangs formed in Los Angeles and deported in the 1990s, including groups such as Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18. Maras are involved in many criminal activities, such as drug trafficking and extortion, and operate with brutal violence, controlling the lives of residents in gang-controlled neighbourhoods. Local populations are forced to pay “taxes” to gangs in exchange for security in what is referred as “tax war”. During his visit, the Special Rapporteur received reports of children and young people being forced to collect those “taxes” or sell drugs. Those who refuse are often killed, leaving children with only two options: join gang activity or migrate, which in turn exposes them to a new series of risks. People involved in transportation and business owners are subject to similar treatment. Young women are forced to carry drugs and guns and are often raped, tortured or killed in gang disputes. 24. Owing to lack of control in certain areas, corruption or lack of political will, State security forces offer limited or no protection to these communities. Authorities are not exempt from the challenges and risks posed by organized crime. For example, the Chief of the Attorney General’s Directorate for Combating Drug Trafficking was shot dead in 2009 by suspected cartel hitmen. 25. It should be emphasized that the State remains responsible for the protection of all citizens from threats to their lives and security and, if it does not take reasonable measures in that regard, the State is in violation of the right to life. 6 6 See the 2014 annual ranking of the 50 most violent cities, available in Spanish from www.seguridadjusticiaypaz.org.mx/biblioteca/download/6-prensa/198-las-50-ciudades-masviolentas-del-mundo-2014.