Amnesty International reported that dozens of children...

Amnesty International reported that dozens of children died in Honduras as a result of alleged summary executions in 2002 and that human-rights defenders continued to suffer abuse across the country. In its annual report, issued in London, the humanitarian organization noted that it received "constant and continuous reports of children and youths being murdered under circumstances that indicate they are extrajudicial slayings." Since 1998, some 1,500 children and adolescents have been murdered, including some 556 in 2002 alone, AI said, citing data by Casa Alianza, a non-governmental organization that works with homeless minors. The existence of such violence was also reported by the Honduran Human Rights Commission and the office of the U.N. special rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions after visits to the Central American nation.