Extrajudicial killings, including of children (12) The Committee takes note of the establishment of a special unit for the investigation of violent deaths of children within the Honduran Institute for Children and the Family, as well as the establishment of the Municipal Children’s Ombudsman’s Office, in charge of addressing ill-treatment and abuse of children. It is, however, very concerned at persistent reports of a high number of extrajudicial killings, particularly of children, as well as of members of the judiciary and at the information that some victims of extrajudicial killings appear to have been tortured before being killed. It is also very concerned at the absence of effective, thorough and impartial investigations of these incidents (arts. 2, 12 and 16). The State party should take urgent measures to prevent extrajudicial killings, particularly of children, as well as of members of the judiciary, and ensure that thorough impartial investigations of allegations of extrajudicial killings are carried out systematically, and that those responsible are swiftly prosecuted and adequately punished. It further recommends systematic disaggregated data collection on all incidents of violence, including against children. Trafficking in persons (13) The Committee recognizes the efforts made by the State party to address trafficking in women and children, such as the prohibition of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation in the Criminal Code and in the Anti-Trafficking Act. However, the Committee is concerned about persistent reports of internal and cross-border trafficking in women and children for both sexual and other exploitative purposes and it regrets that the legal provisions do not cover trafficking for reasons other than sexual purposes and that officials suspected of trafficking activities are not properly investigated (arts. 2, 10 and 16). The State party should ensure that offenders are prosecuted and punished for the crime of trafficking in persons, and amend the Criminal Code to include all exploitative purposes of trafficking. The State party should continue to conduct nationwide awareness-raising campaigns, provide adequate programmes of assistance, recovery and reintegration for victims of trafficking and conduct training for law enforcement officials, migration officials and border police on the causes, consequences and incidence of trafficking and other forms of exploitation. The Committee further recommends that the State party increase its efforts to seek international, regional and bilateral cooperation with countries of origin, transit and destination to prevent trafficking. Pretrial detention (14) While noting the progress made by the State party since the adoption of the new Code of Criminal Procedure in abolishing the obligatory pretrial detention and establishing the “juez de ejecución”, whose mandate is to monitor the legality of remand detention, the Committee is very concerned at reports of frequent ill-treatment and torture, excessive use of force on arrest, as well as acts of extortion by law enforcement officials and at the persistent high numbers of detainees, both children and adults, in prolonged pretrial detention. It further expresses concern at the various forms of derogations from the general rule for the duration of pretrial detention. The Committee regrets the lack of use, in practice, of alternatives to imprisonment (arts. 2, 11 and 16). The State party should take effective measures to send a clear and unambiguous message to all levels of the law enforcement hierarchy that torture, ill-treatment, excessive use of force and extortion are unacceptable, and ensure that law enforcement officials only use force when strictly necessary and to the extent required for the performance of their duties. The State party should further take appropriate measures to increase the number of “jueces de ejecución”, to further reduce the duration of remand detention and derogations thereof, as well as detention before charges are brought. The Committee also urges the State party to implement alternatives to deprivation of liberty, including probation, mediation, community service or suspended sentences. 90