{"id":78034,"date":"2016-08-22T12:01:25","date_gmt":"2016-08-22T11:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=78034"},"modified":"2016-08-21T12:02:08","modified_gmt":"2016-08-21T11:02:08","slug":"honduras-is-a-giant-graveyard-for-human-rights-defenders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/08\/honduras-is-a-giant-graveyard-for-human-rights-defenders\/","title":{"rendered":"Honduras Is a Giant Graveyard for Human Rights Defenders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Honduras has become one of the most hostile and dangerous countries for human rights defenders.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Relatives<\/a>

Relatives and friends carry Berta Caceres’ coffin through La Esperanza, Honduras, during her funeral. | Photo: AFP<\/p><\/div>\n

20 Aug 2016 – <\/em>Honduras has seen at least eight human rights activists killed in 2016, making it one the most dangerous countries in the world for human rights defenders, the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) warned Friday.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0Clinton Emails Show She Only Listened to Pro-Honduras Coup Aids<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe government of Honduras must immediately adopt and apply effective measures to protect human rights defenders, so they can carry out their human rights work, without fear or threat of violence or murder,\u201d said U.N. Special Rapporteur on Rights Defenders Michel Forst and the Inter-American Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Jos\u00e9 de Jes\u00fas Orozco Henr\u00edquez.<\/p>\n

In March Goldman Environmental Prize winner<\/a> Berta Caceres, an Indigenous rights and land defender who tirelessly campaigned against a widely unpopular dam, was assassinated in her home, prompting international outrage. According to Global Witness, at least 109 environmental defenders were killed in Honduras between 2010 and 2015.<\/p>\n

The experts cited previous U.N. reports which expose that human rights defenders in the country face extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture and other violence.<\/p>\n

In their statements on Friday, the U.N. experts also highlighted the dangers faced by lawyers and prosecutors involved in cases against impunity and corruption.\u00a0According to the Honduran Human Rights Commission, 102 lawyers were murdered in Honduras between 2010 and March of 2016.<\/p>\n

The most recent example\u00a0includes the high-profile murder of Kevin Ferrera, a lawyer who worked to empower citizens to denounce instances of corruption.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seriously concerned that this murder was linked to Mr. Ferrera\u2019s legitimate work in defense of human rights, and urge the Government to conduct an investigation to bring to account both the material perpetrators and the intellectual authors of the heinous crime,\u201d The experts stated.<\/p>\n

The two high-level officials called on the government\u00a0to introduce\u00a0a mechanism to ensure the safety of human rights defenders, calling on an end to judicial impunity.<\/p>\n

RELATED: 3 Lawyers Killed in 1 Day as Post-Coup Honduras Crisis Continues<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCrimes against human rights defenders, especially cold-blooded assassinations, must not go unpunished. Impunity is the enemy \u2013 and the undoing \u2013 of any protection scheme in place, no matter how comprehensive it may be,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

According to the Honduran Human Rights Commission, 94 percent of the over 100 deaths of lawyers since 2010 have not been punished.<\/p>\n

\u201cViolence and attacks against human rights defenders not only affect the basic guarantees owed to every individual. They also undermine the fundamental role that human rights defenders play in building a society that is more equal, just and democratic,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 telesurtv.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Honduras has seen at least eight human rights activists killed in 2016, making it one the most dangerous countries in the world for human rights defenders, the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights warned Friday [19 Aug].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latin-america-and-the-caribbean"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}