Honduran President Ricardo Maduro has received a report...

Honduran President Ricardo Maduro has received a report detailing the executions of 574 children and youths under the age 18 between 1998 and this June, 4 percent of which are said to have been committed by police. Of the 574 executions of minors outlined in the report, Maduro said, 55 were said to have taken place in 1998, 67 in 1999, 36 in 2000, 267 in 2001 and 167 January-June of 2002. Of the killings reported in 2002, 16 percent are believed to have been committed by armed gangs, 16 percent by individuals and 4 percent by police. In 64 percent of the cases, the assailants are unknown. The report was prepared by the Standing Committee for the Protection of Children's Physical and Moral Integrity, formed in May and made up of representatives of government and human rights organizations. The study is unrelated to the allegations Assistant Commissioner Maria Luis Borjas, chief of Internal Affairs at the Security Ministry, made two weeks ago. Borjas concluded ministry staff and police officers were linked to some 20 summary executions. Maduro stressed that the special committee that prepared the report has the "total support" of the government, including himself, in making sure the guilty are prosecuted, "especially where members of state security forces are involved." Other entities, such as the country's human rights commissioner, the Attorney General's Office, Casa Alianza/Covenant House and the United Nations, estimate 1,500-2,000 summary executions were carried out in Honduras between 1996 and 2001.