Honduras is a party to:

• The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which provides the internationally recognised definition of a refugee and outlines the legal protection, rights, and assistance a refugee is entitled to receive. Honduras has made reservations to Articles 7, 17, and 34. For further information regarding the reservations, please refer to the following resource here.
• The 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, which expands the Convention to apply universally and protect all persons fleeing conflict and persecution. Honduras has made reservations to Article I(1). For further information regarding the reservations, please refer to the following resource here.
• The 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, which establishes a framework for the international protection of stateless persons. Honduras has made a reservation on the interpretation of the expression “treatment as favourable as possible”. For more information about this, please refer to the following resource here.
• The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which sets rules for the conferral and non-withdrawal of citizenship to prevent cases of statelessness from arising. 

In addition to these international protection frameworks, Honduras also acceded to the following regional asylum instruments:

• • The 1928 Havana Convention on Asylum, which establishes the principle of granting asylum to politically persecuted individuals within diplomatic missions.
  • The 1933 Montevideo Convention on Political Asylum, which provides guidelines for political asylum, particularly regarding protection from extradition and persecution. 
  • The 1954 Caracas Convention on Territorial Asylum, which defines the conditions under which diplomatic asylum can be granted in embassies or legations. 

• The 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, a non-binding instrument which extends the definition of “refugee” in the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol including to persons who have fled their countries because their life, safety, or freedom have been threatened by widespread violence, foreign aggression, internal conflicts, or massive violations of human rights.

• The 2004 Mexico Declaration and Plan of Action, which aims to strengthen refugee protection in Latin America. 

In addition to its obligations under the aforementioned international instruments, Honduras is obligated to respect the international customary legal principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits any country from deporting any person to a country where they face the threat of persecution

Honduras has also ratified several other international legal instruments that relate to treatment of refugees, including: 

• The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which sets out protections for a wide range of human rights, including freedom from torture and other cruel, degrading or inhuman punishment, fair trial rights, equality, and non-discrimination. 

• The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which ensures the enjoyment of economic, social, and cultural rights to education, fair and just working conditions, adequate standards of living, social security, and the highest attainable standard of health.

• The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which protects children’s rights and obliges public bodies to consider children’s best interests. 

• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which sets out provisions to ensure women’s full enjoyment of human rights on an equal basis with men. 

• The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), which obliges signatories to take action to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination. 

• The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which seeks to eliminate disability discrimination and safeguard the rights of disabled people. 

• The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW), which sets standards for national laws and procedures to protect migrant workers’ rights. 

• • The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICED), which combats enforced disappearance.

• The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), which requires signatories to take effective measures to prevent acts of torture.

Article 101 of the Political Constitution of Honduras recognises the right to asylum in the manner and conditions established by law.

Honduras’ asylum legal framework is principally set out in two instruments: 

• The 2004 Law on Migration and Foreign Nationals (Decreto Nº 208 de 2004 – Ley de Migración y Extranjería), which establishes the right to seek asylum.

The law incorporates the refugee definition of the 1951 Convention and the broader definition of the 1984 Cartagena Declaration. The Cartagena definition expands protection beyond persons fleeing individualized persecution to include persons who have fled their country because their lives, security, or freedom have been threatened by generalized violence, foreign aggression, internal conflict, massive violations of human rights, or other circumstances that have seriously disturbed public order. The law also expressly recognizes persecution on the basis of gender as a ground for refugee status. 

In addition, the 2004 law provides core protections and guarantees for asylum seekers and refugees, including (i) the principles of non-refoulement, resettlement, and repatriation; (ii) protection against deportation or expulsion for persons whose refugee status applications remain pending, as well as for recognized refugees, except on duly justified grounds of national security or public order; and (iii) the right to request family reunification.

• The 2004 Regulation of the Law on Migration and Foreign Nationals (Reglamento de la Ley de Migración y Extranjería), which implements the Law and further develops the institutional and procedural framework for the recognition of refugee status, including basic procedural standards for asylum adjudication and the processing of applications.

The National Migration Institute (Instituto Nacional de Migración – INM) is the competent authority to oversee the asylum system. At the procedural level, the INM established the Human Rights and Assistance to Irregular Migrants (Gerencia de Derechos Humanos y Atención al Migrante Irregular – GDHAMI) unit as a specialised entity to process asylum requests in 2019. 

The Refugee Status Determination (RSD) process in Honduras is managed by the INM in cooperation with UNHCR. UNHCR provides technical support for implementing the legal framework and pursues preventive, protective, humanitarian, and solutions-based actions for forced displacement.

Further, in 2023, Honduras established the Secretariat for Children, Adolescents, and Family (Secretaría de Niñez, Adolescencia y Familia – SENAF) through Executive Decree PCM-41-2023, marking a significant step in strengthening the country’s child protection system. SENAF’s human mobility sub-office is responsible for protecting internally displaced, refugee, returned, and migrant children, particularly those who are separated or unaccompanied. SENAF also coordinates the Comprehensive System to Guarantee the Rights of Children and Adolescents in Honduras (Sistema Integral de Garantía de Derechos de la Niñez y Adolescencia en Honduras – SIGADENAH) and participates in other protection systems.

SENAF has also adopted the National Policy for Early Childhood, Children, and Adolescents for 2024–2033. The policy establishes the response framework for child protection, prioritizing access to rights, participation, and protection against the impacts of violence.