Tegucigalpa

14 January 2015

Address to the National Congress of Honduras

Ban Ki-moon

Es un gran honor y un privilegio para mí dirigirme al Congreso Nacional de Honduras. [It is a great honour and privilege to address the National Congress of Honduras.]

I am also deeply grateful for being awarded the Gran Cruz Extraordinaria con Placa de Oro.

I accept this high honour with humility and gratitude for your recognition of my work and that of all United Nations personnel striving to build a better world for all.

This is my first visit to your beautiful and diverse country, Honduras. From the moment I landed, I have felt a strong pulse of pride and energy.

I am told that the name Honduras means “depths”.

It brings to mind a striving to go beyond the surface … to explore more intensely … to search and search until you find the answers.

This National Congress is essential to that quest for solutions.

As representatives, you hold the hopes of your people.

As lawmakers, you translate those aspirations into policy.

As leaders, you are accountable to your people for results.

These are times of challenge and test, great challenge.

Honduras has emerged from the political turbulence of recent years.

But big obstacles to opportunity remain.

Poverty and inequality. Violence. Insecurity. Impunity.

Like people everywhere, Hondurans want good schools for their children.

They want transparent, accountable and strong institutions that listen and respond to the people.

They want communities free of violence.

They want a better future for their families.

I come to your country with a strong message of hope: I am with the people of Honduras. The United Nations is with you, with Honduras. And now is the time for action. It is now time for global action.

My visit to Honduras is part of my first overseas travel of this crucial year.

The year 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the United Nations, and it must be a year of transformation -- a time to build a sustainable future for people and our planet.

In this pivotal year, we will reach the end point of the Millennium Development Goals – the world’s 15-year plan to fight poverty.

We are working to put in place a new agenda and set of Sustainable Development Goals.

And countries around the world have pledged to adopt a meaningful and global climate change agreement in Paris this December.

Taken together, this means that in the next twelve months from today, we can transform lives of our people for the next generation.

I am urging governments and people everywhere to fulfil their political and moral responsibilities.

This is my call to dignity – and we must respond with all our vision and all our strength. And I count on your political leadership.

Here in Honduras, I see three mutually reinforcing ways to answer that call.

First, by boosting regional integration; second, by tackling poverty and inequality and citizen insecurity; third, by strengthening human rights.

Let me briefly address each point in turn.

First, in today’s interconnected world, challenges to one are challenges to all. With technology and communications, we need to work together. Whatever you say here can go to the other end of the planet earth in a second. We are one family, therefore we need to work as family members.

Central America has a long history of regional integration. The evidence is before our eyes. Tegucigalpa, for example, is home to the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.

But integration efforts suffered during the armed conflicts of the 1980s.

During the 1990s, the region came together once more through the Central American Integration System – or SICA.

You continue to build stronger bonds with one another.

I welcome the leadership and initiative of President Juan Orlando Hernández to promote investment, production and regional integration -- the Alliance for Prosperity in the Northern Triangle.

I also welcome improved relations regarding the Gulf of Fonseca. Last year’s Tripartite Managua Declaration was an important step towards consolidating a zone of peace, sustainable development and security.

I encourage you and your neighbours to keep working for shared solutions to shared challenges.

This leads me to my second point – the need to address poverty, inequality and insecurity.

Honduras has made progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals. More people throughout the country have access to safe drinking water, basic sanitation and better nutrition.

Even so, two-thirds of Hondurans still live below the poverty line. Only one-third of young people finish high school. The country is among the world’s most vulnerable to natural disasters and needs to be prepared to meet the impacts of climate change. And opportunities for decent jobs remain few and far between, leading many to seek the path of migration.

Of course, poverty and insecurity are tied together.

Today, the people of this region are being held at gun point by an upsurge of violent crime fuelled by transnational organized crime and drug-trafficking networks.

My heart breaks as I hear the stories of so many people –particularly young people -- losing lives or losing hope.

Transnational threats demand transnational solutions.

At the same time, global and regional efforts must be matched with effective national action to protect life, uphold the rule of law and fight impunity in line with international human rights obligations.

Poverty, insecurity and particularly gang violence are causing many to literally run for their lives. Many thousands of unaccompanied minors, children, are making a perilous journey to the United States, exposed to abuse and exploitation.

I once again call on all countries – origin, transit and destination – to urgently protect the human rights of migrant children.

That brings me to my third and final point – the centrality of safeguarding human rights.

Since 2010, the Government of Honduras has sought greater engagement with the UN system to provide full human rights protection to its citizens.

In the coming months, we will open the first-ever UN human rights office in Honduras.

I commend your support which is in line with a global effort I have launched called Human Rights Up Front.

This initiative aims to ensure the United Nations acts earlier and more effectively to address human rights concerns. I have urged Member States to take similar steps to fulfil this core United Nations function, including by making better use of UN bodies. That is what you are doing here in Honduras.

I now call on all members of the National Congress, to ensure this office, Human Rights Office, receives the support it needs to carry out its vital work.

I also urge all leaders to ensure that any security reform is driven by the need to respect human rights and uphold rule of law. Protecting human rights is the surest route to protecting human lives and to a more peaceful and less violent Honduras.

Please advance the important Human Rights legislation before you to protect Human Rights activists and journalists.

Muchas gracias, thank you for your strong support. I take it that your applause means that you will pass that legislation and I will convey this message to the world.

Work together to end violence against women and girls…ensure the rights of indigenous peoples and minority groups… and protect human rights defenders, journalists and all those risking their lives to improve the lives of others.

Honduras faces many challenges and this National Congress is in a privileged position to promote effective responses for the country.

In critical moments like this, the National Congress needs to be a space to build consensus, and effective responses. You are the ones who really listen and really understand the aspirations of your own people.

I pay the highest respect to Congresses. You are the voices of the voiceless people, defenders of the defenceless people, as, Secretary-General, I am too.

Please draw upon the tremendous diversity of Honduras. Bring in the voices of youth, women, ethnic minorities and disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.

From here, I will visit Copan, yet another reminder of your country’s rich legacy to humanity.

Long ago, the Mayans built on top of older structures to reach new heights. Together, let us continue to build a new future for the people of Honduras that will meet the dreams of its people.

As Secretary-General, I will do my best. While UN may have limitations in means and capacity, I believe all people look to the United Nations and each time I think about that responsibility, I feel humbled and it really motivates me to work even stronger and harder to bring peace, democracy and Human Rights to the people of the world.

You can count on the UN. That is your and our responsibility. The world where nobody is left behind: that is the world with sustainable peace and democracy.

Muchas gracias, y que viva Honduras! Que vivan los catrachos!