The All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) was pleased to meet with Dina Meza to discuss the human rights situation in Honduras. Dina Meza is a President of PEN Honduras and also one of Reporters Without Borders’ “100 Heroes and Heroines of Information” in 2014.

The main points raised by Dina Meza:

• In Honduras, journalists and human rights defenders (HRDs) regularly face attacks and intimidation.
• Honduras has the world’s highest homicide rate of any country outside war zones and over 50 journalists have been killed since the 2009 coup.
• Dina Meza has personally faced threats because of her work.
• High levels of impunity exist in Honduras, particularly affecting journalists and HRDs. The justice system serves to strengthen impunity as legal complaints from HRDs fail to progress and judicial proceedings are instead used against them.
• The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) ordered Honduras to suspend a ban on a journalist, Julio Ernesto Alvarado, however the Government has still not complied with the ruling.
• A draft law for the protection of journalists was passed in Honduras but has not yet been implemented. Its lack of implementation has created a climate of fear and tendency amongst journalists in Honduras to self-censor.
• The UK Government are encouraged to engage in political dialogue to express concern about human rights in Honduras.
• The UK Government should also call upon the Honduran authorities to implement precautionary measures issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights regarding journalists.

The PHRG hopes that the UN Office of the High Commission of Human Rights will open in Tegucigalpa soon. We will continue to monitor developments in Honduras, raising our concerns where possible.