Huanuco, Peru

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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

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Our Partner: Paz y Esperanza

Perú has one of the highest rates of child abuse (and rape) in the world; Huánuco, a city of 250,000 people in a wider region of 800,000 is severely affected by this atrocity, often ‘explained’ by the prevalence of alcoholism, illiteracy, corruption, and the lack of rule of law.

Fortunately, groups like Paz y Esperanza (Peace & Hope) are on the front lines, investigating cases and defending the voiceless victims. Since 2002, Paz y Esperanza has been working diligently in Huánuco, not only defending cases in court, but also training local police, judges, and citizens about their roles and rights in this important fight against injustice. They have scored many victories, even sending a former governor to jail for sexually abusing a young girl.

Casa del Buen Trato Hovde of Huanuco, Peru

The ‘Casa del Buen Trato Hovde’ (the Hovde House of Good Treatment) in Huánuco, Perú opened in September 2010. This house currently provides temporary shelter to approximately forty (40) girls who have suffered sexual abuse (and about eight babies, products of their abuse), and ten (10) women and their children, all victims of domestic violence. As part of the recovery and reintegration process, these beneficiaries receive counseling, education, skills training, and love from qualified staff. And while they are in the Hovde House, the local authorities along with our partner organization, Paz y Esperanza, fight for justice in the courts against their perpetrators. Only once their homes and communities are again safe places do the girls return home.

Paz y Esperanza is associated with, and supported by International Justice Mission (IJM), a leading international human rights NGO based in Washington DC that not only advocates for the oppressed, but actively rescues them and provides for their well being afterwards.

Did you know...

Huánuco, a city of 780,000 inhabitants, has the second highest rate of domestic violence in Peru and one of the highest rates of government corruption. It also has the highest rates of alcoholism and infant mortality.

Huánuco has a rural illiteracy rate ranging between 50 and 70%.

More than 50 cases of child sexual abuse are reported every week in Huánuco, and that as many as 160 additional crimes go unreported?

In Peru an overwhelming 91.5% of sex crimes are committed against persons under the age of 18.

Hovde Foundation | 1826 Jefferson Place, NW | Washington DC 20036 | P: 202.261.0857

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