Honduras Human Rights Defenders Between a Rock and a Hard Place
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HONDURAS HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE Fact-Finding Mission Report December 2016 This project is funded by the European Union OMCT and FIDH are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society. OMCT and FIDH would like to thank the Republic and Canton of Geneva, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the European Union for making the publication of this report possible. The contents of this report are the sole responsibility of OMCT and FIDH and shall under no circumstances be interpreted as refl ecting the views of these organisations. Directors of publication: Gerald Staberock, Dimitris Christopoulos. Editing and coordination: Miguel Martín Zumalacárregui, Natalia Yaya. Drafting: Miguel Martín Zumalacárregui, Alejandra Carmona Prieto, Natalia Yaya, Mery Agurcia, Donald Hernández, Anabella Sibrián. Distribution: The full text of this report is published in Spanish and English. Copyright: The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH authorise the free reproduction of extracts of this text on condition that the source is credited and that a copy of the publication containing the text is sent to their respective offi ces. English translation: Nuria Campoy Sánchez Graphic design: Graphius Group Printed by OMCT OMCT ISBN 978-2-88894-067-8 Cover photo: © ORLANDO SIERRA / AFP. Hondurans demonstrating on May 1, 2016, against violence and claiming justice for the assassination of several social leaders. The Observatory HONDURAS – Human rights defenders between a rock and a hard place TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................3 II. ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS .......................................................6 1. Institutional and legal framework in which defenders work .................................................. 6 1.1. Violence, insecurity and militarisation .................................................................................6 1.2. The judiciary ...........................................................................................................................8 a. Unjustified dismissal of judges and of one magistrate of the Court of Appeals in the context of the 2009 coup ........................................................................................................9 1.3. The national human rights institution: CONADEH...........................................................10 1.4. Precautionary measures of the IACHR ...............................................................................11 1.5. Law for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Journalists, Social Communicators and Justice Practitioners ..............................................................................................................12 2. Types of attacks against defenders in Honduras .................................................................... 14 2.1. Attacks against the right to life and personal integrity ......................................................14 a. Cases of violence against defenders analysed in this report .........................................16 2.2. Misuse of criminal law .........................................................................................................16 a. Concerns regarding the criminal code reform ...............................................................17 b. The case of the 25 defenders and peasants of Bajo Aguán and the assassination of Antonio Trejo ........................................................................................................................20 c. Other cases of criminalisation analysed in this report ...................................................21 2.3. Repression of social protests and mobilisations .................................................................21 a. The UNAH conflict ..........................................................................................................22 2.4. Defamation and stigmatisation of defenders ......................................................................23 III. MOST VULNERABLE CATEGORIES OF DEFENDERS .........................................................................25 1. Land rights and indigenous rights defenders .........................................................................25 1.1. Background of land conflicts in Honduras .........................................................................25 1.2. Attacks against land rights and indigenous rights defenders ...........................................27 a. Assassination of Berta Cáceres and campaign against the COPINH ...........................29 b. The case of Zacate Grande ..............................................................................................32 c. The case of Locomapa .....................................................................................................33 d. Murders in Bajo Aguán: the cases of José Ángel Flores and El Tumbador ..................35 e. Criminalisation of MILPAH defenders in Santa Elena .................................................37 2. LGBTI defenders ....................................................................................................................... 39 2.1. Background on LGBTI people in Honduras .......................................................................39 2.2. Attacks against LGBTI defenders in Honduras ..................................................................39 a. Attacks against Asociación Arcoíris ................................................................................41 b. Attacks against Asociación AJEM/Somos CDC .............................................................42 c. The assassination of René Martínez ...............................................................................43 IV. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................44 V. RECOMMENDATIONS .....................................................................................................................46 1 The Observatory HONDURAS – Human rights defenders between a rock and a hard place report_HONDURAS_EN_bw.indd 1 1/03/17 10:45 report_HONDURAS_EN_bw.indd 2 1/03/17 10:45 I. INTRODUCTION The difficult situation that human rights defenders face in Honduras has been in the international spotlight throughout 2016 following the assassination of Berta Cáceres, a defender who had been granted precautionary measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). This crime, however, is only the tip of the iceberg in a context dominated by very high levels of violence against defenders in this Central American country, as presented herein. This report includes a long list of assassinations, threats and other kinds of attack against human rights defenders in Honduras. The inefficiency of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and of the judiciary in Honduras, as well as a failure to carry out effective investigations have meant that attacks against defenders go unpunished. In contrast, there are numerous criminalisation procedures against defenders in which the diligence of the judiciary to push the procedure forward is much higher. In this context of severe crisis for human rights defenders in Honduras, in August 2016, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, Michel Forst, and the IACHR Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, José de Jesús Orozco, stated that Honduras had turned into one of the most dangerous countries in the world for human rights defenders1. According to the data provided by the IACHR in their report on the situation of human rights in Honduras published in December 20152, since 2010 there have been in Honduras 3064 criminalisation cases to intimidate human rights defenders, resulting from inappropriate use of criminal law, 22 assassinations, 2 disappearances, 15 kidnappings, 88 cases of information theft, and 53 cases of vehicles used by defenders being tampered with. Honduras is the country with the highest number of beneficiaries of precautionary measures granted by the IACHR: 426, including 16 human rights defenders killed between 2001 and 2016. This results in an average of one human rights defender that has been granted precautionary measures being assassinated each year3. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders has documented 16 killings of human rights defenders since May 2015 (see section “Attacks against the right to life and personal integrity”). The IACHR has stated that this situation is the result of a combination of factors, among which we can highlight the increased rate of organised crime and drug trafficking; inadequate judicial response that leads to impunity; corruption; recruitment of children and teenagers; and high levels of poverty and inequality4. In this context, in Honduras it is not safe to belong to a human rights, peasant, indigenous, community or social organisation with political and economic goals which go against or call into question the interests of the government and of the different power groups. Not only do public discredit, stigmatisation, physical attacks, threats and even assassination of defenders have a physical and psychological impact on the affected defenders, but also they further damage the Honduran social fabric