The All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) met with two land and environmental rights defenders and PBI UK to discuss the human rights situation in Honduras.
The speakers were:
- Donald Hernandez, Honduran lawyer and human rights defender specialising in environmental issues and the mining industry. (“DH”
- Jehovany René Cruz Paz, Executive Director, Pico Bonito National Park Foundation, which seeks to protect the national park from hydroelectric and mining projects. (“JRCP”)
The main points raised by the speakers were:
- The situation for human rights defenders is extremely dangerous in Honduras. It is the most dangerous place in the world to be an environmental rights defender. The murder of activist Berta Cáceres in March 2016 drew international attention to the issue. (JRCP)
- 140 lawyers have been murdered in Honduras since 2009 and 22 were killed last year alone. Crimes against human rights defenders tend to take place in almost total impunity. (JRCP)
- The Government’s development policy based on natural resource extraction is the cause of much of the violence facing environmental activists. Natural resource extraction has led to increased social tensions, displacement of communities and repression of community leaders and other activists. Indigenous communities are worst affected. (JCRP)
- There have also been irregularities in consultations with communities affected by large-scale projects, including coercion and falsification of documents. Close links exist between corporations involved in large-scale projects and private security agencies.
- The direct impact of these projects on communities is compounded by wider problems of corruption, impunity and a lack of rule of law in Honduras. (JRCP)
- Moreover, the security situation in Honduras is incredibly serious, particularly as a result of the impacts of drug trafficking. In 2015 the homicide rate was 80 per 100,000, making it one of the highest in the world. (DH)
- The UK Government are called on to raise the profile of environmental activists in Honduras with the Honduran authorities. (DH)
- The human rights practices of UK or European-based corporations operating in Honduras must be scrutinised by the UK Government and the EU.
- The UK and other international embassies can support human rights defenders in Honduras by meeting with them on a regular basis. International presence at trial observations is also useful. (DH)
The PHRG meets regularly with activists from Central America and raises their cases in the UK Parliament. We will continue to monitor the human rights situation in Honduras and raise our concerns whenever possible.