‘WE ARE DEFENDING THE LAND WITH OUR BLOOD’ DEFENDERS OF THE LAND, TERRITORY AND ENVIRONMENT IN HONDURAS AND GUATEMALA Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 7 million people who campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all. Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. We are independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion and are funded mainly by our membership and public donations. © Amnesty International 2016 Except where otherwise noted, content in this document is licensed under a Creative Commons Cover photo: March in support of the right to water, Guatemala City, 22 April 2016. (attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives, international 4.0) licence. @Amnesty International / Anaïs Taracena https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode For more information please visit the permissions page on our website: www.amnesty.org Where material is attributed to a copyright owner other than Amnesty International this material is not subject to the Creative Commons licence. First published in 2016 by Amnesty International Ltd Peter Benenson House, 1 Easton Street London WC1X 0DW, UK Index: AMR 01/4562/2016 Original language: Spanish amnesty.org CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................. 4 METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................................... 11 Acknowledgements..................................................................................................................... 12 1. DEFENDING THE LAND, NATURAL RESOURCES, THE ENVIRONMENT, LIFE..…...................... 14 Factors contributing to social unrest in Guatemala and Honduras................................................ 16 )WCVGOCNC 6JG NGICE[ QH CTOGF EQPƃKEV Honduras: Violence and institutional crisis................................................................................... 23 2. HONDURAS: TAKING THEM OUT OF CIRCULATION................................................................ 25 At the mercy of violence..................................................................................…........................ 30 And without justice.................................................................................................................... 41 3. GUATEMALA: THE NEW “ENEMY WITHIN”........................................................................... 43 The stigma attached to defending human rights........................................................................... 45 Forced to prove their innocence.................................................................................................. 51 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................................. 62 4 ‘We are defending the land with our blood’ Defenders of the land, territory and environment in Honduras and Guatemala EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Monte Olivo River, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, 11 April 2016. ©Amnesty International / Anaïs Taracena This Amnesty International report examines the situation faced by defenders of the land, VGTTKVQT[CPFGPXKTQPOGPVKP*QPFWTCUCPF)WCVGOCNC+VKUVJGƂTUVKPCUGTKGUQHTGRQTVUVQ be published on this group of defenders in several countries in the Americas. Human rights defenders are people who, individually or collectively, take action to defend, protect or promote human rights using non-violent means. They can operate at different levels and in different contexts, from the local to the national or international level. One group of human rights defenders focuses on defending and promoting environmental and territorial rights and rights linked to access to land. This group includes among others: Ŷ Indigenous and Afro-descendant people and communities seeking to have their territorial and other rights respected, protected and guaranteed. The territory includes both the ancestral lands where communities have lived and the natural resources found there, which they refer to as “natural assets”. The culture, way of life and world view of these communities is intimately linked to the territory. The right to territory is based on Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Articles 3, 10, 25 and 26 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and International Labour (ILO) Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. Amnesty International, September 2016 Index: AMR 01/4562/2016 ‘We are defending the land with our blood’ 5 Defenders of the land, territory and environment in Honduras and Guatemala Ŷ Individuals and communities, usually campesinos (peasant farmers), some of them Indigenous and Afro-descendant, who are demanding that their human rights be respected in the context of individual and collective actions to gain access to land. Those campaigning for access to the land are working to protect a range of rights including the rights to food (Article 12 of the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights); to adequate housing (Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights); to health (Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Article 10 of the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights); and to work (Article 6 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights). Ŷ People and communities demanding respect for and protection of the environment and/or restitution and compensation for environmental damage in the areas where they live. The right to a healthy environment is set out in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 29 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Article 11 of the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Defenders all over the world who work to protect and promote the rights to territory, the environment and those linked to access to land are at great risk of being attacked for their activities. Latin America is the most dangerous region for people working on these issues. In 2015 alone, the NGO Global Witness recorded 185 killings of defenders of the land and the environment around the world, and 122 of these were in Latin America. This report focuses on Honduras and Guatemala, countries where a high number of attacks and threats against defenders of the land, territory and environment have been recorded and where the governments have recently approved the creation and strengthening of mechanisms to protect human rights defenders. According to Global Witness, Honduras is the country with the highest number per capita of killings of defenders of the land, territory and environment in the world: 12 defenders were killed there in 2014 alone. In Guatemala, between 2000 and August 2015, defenders of Indigenous rights and of the environment were the targets of the greatest number of attacks, according to the Protection Unit for Human Rights Defenders in Guatemala (La Unidad de Protección a Defensoras y Defensores de Derechos Humanos, UDEFEGUA). HONDURAS: TAKING THEM OUT OF CIRCULATION #OPGUV[+PVGTPCVKQPCNoUTGUGCTEJEQPƂTOUVJGJKIJNGXGNQHXKQNGPEGCICKPUVJWOCPTKIJVU defenders who work to protect and promote the rights to territory, the environment and those NKPMGFVQCEEGUUVQNCPFYJKEJGZKUVUKP*QPFWTCU6JGEQWRKPVGPUKƂGFVJGCVOQURJGTG of hostility towards human right defenders in the country. Most of the communities and movements interviewed by Amnesty International in Honduras included people who had been granted precautionary measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Index: AMR 01/4562/2016 Amnesty International, September 2016 6 ‘We are defending the land with our blood’ Defenders of the land, territory and environment in Honduras and Guatemala (IACHR). ‘Precautionary measures’ refers to a protection mechanism for serious and urgent situations creating a risk of irreparable harm to a person or a group of people. Several of these people have continued to be threatened and attacked over the years; some have even been killed. Such was the case of the defender of Indigenous Peoples and the environment Berta Cáceres, General Coordinator of the National Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (Coordinadora General del Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras, COPINH), who was assassinated on 2 March 2016. Amnesty International’s research shows that the Honduran authorities have failed to implement effective protection measures for defenders. The state has also failed to create suitable communication channels so that those for whom precautionary measures have been ordered can propose means of protection appropriate for the structure of their organization and for the context in which they carry out their rural and community work, as well as OGGVKPIVJGKTURGEKƂERTQVGEVKQPPGGFU The recent approval of the Law to Protect Human Rights Defenders,