Foro de Mujeres por la Vida

LOCATION: San Pedro Sula, Honduras

Since 2015, UUSC has supported the work of Foro de Mujeres por la Vida (the Forum of Women for Life), as they oppose the murder and disappearance of women (femicide) and other forms of gender-based violence in Honduras. 

In the Central American country of Honduras, rates of impunity for violence against women are staggeringly high. More than nine out of 10 cases of murdered or disappeared women are never solved by authorities and few civil society organizations exist to address the problem. All too often, the perpetrators of these crimes are insulated from penalties for their actions by the corruption of the Honduran state and their ties to existing political structures, police and security forces, and powerful organized crimes groups that have penetrated the Honduran governing elite. 

Foro de Mujeres, a coalition of 16 women-led community organizations, seeks to address this problem through documenting the violence faced by women and human rights defenders in their territories, accompanying victims of gender-based sexual violence in their efforts to seek justice and redress, and strengthening women’s organizations at the community level. An account of a previous UUSC visit to Foro de Mujeres’s office in San Pedro Sula, Honduras may be found here. 

Image Credit: Foro de Mujeres por la Vida