Honduras Issues - 2024

Disputes - international

Honduras-El Salvador: International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on the delimitation of "bolsones" (disputed areas) along the El Salvador-Honduras border in 1992 with final settlement by the parties in 2006 after an Organization of American States survey and a further ICJ ruling in 2003; the 1992 ICJ ruling advised a tripartite resolution to a maritime boundary in the Gulf of Fonseca with consideration of Honduran access to the Pacific; El Salvador continues to claim tiny Conejo Island, not mentioned in the ICJ ruling, off Honduras in the Gulf of Fonseca.

Honduras-Belize: Honduras claims the Belizean-administered Sapodilla Cays off the coast of Belize in its constitution; in 2022, Belize instituted proceedings against Honduras concerning sovereignty over the Sapodilla Cayes; the dispute is pending resolution in the ICJ

Refugees and internally displaced persons

IDPs: 247,000 (violence, extortion, threats, forced recruitment by urban gangs between 2004 and 2018) (2023)

Illicit drugs

transshipment point for cocaine destined for the United States and precursor chemicals used to produce illicit drugs; some small-scale coca cultivation