Guapinol: 100+ orgs call for access to justice & measures of non-repitition
Honduras: One Month After the Murder of 2 Defenders of the Guapinol and San Pedro Rivers, Human Rights Organizations Call for Compliance with International Obligations to Guarantee Access to Justice and Measures of Non-Repetition
One month after the terrible murders on January 7 of Ali Dominguez and Jairo Bonilla, water and environmental defenders of the Guapinol community, the Observatory for Justice of the Guapinol River Defenders and the undersigned national and international organizations call on representatives of the Government of Honduras to assume their international human rights obligations.
The defense of the Botaderos Mountain "Carlos Escaleras" National Park and the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers has raised an international alert about the reaches of the extractivist model that still operates in Honduras, maintaining the permanent risk to entire communities and aggravating the human rights situation of those who live in these territories. Despite the extensive and exhaustive documentation of the situation of risk of the Municipal Committee of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT) and their multiple public alerts, the Honduran State has not responded in an effective way to the critical situation of danger of the defenders of the CMDBCPT, Guapinol, San Pedro sector and their families, omitting its international responsibility to grant protection to defenders, the due, prompt and impartial investigation of the facts, as well as the guarantee of non-repetition.
Likewise, we express the urgent need to guarantee the reliable, exhaustive and impartial investigation that clarifies the double murder of the Guapinol defenders, identifying the causes and the relationship with their work in defense of the rivers and the environment, as well as the acts of violence previously denounced and that remain unpunished due to the lack of substantive advances in the investigation stages. We support the request presented on January 17 for the investigation to be transferred from the Public Prosecutor's Office of Tocoa to the Special Prosecutor's Office for Crimes Against Life, with the assistance of the Technical Agency for Criminal Investigation, since the same local prosecutor's office played a key role in the criminalization of defenders, including Ali Dominguez, the arbitrary detention of others for more than two years, and the violent eviction of the "Water and Life" camp.
In addition, the State must move forward in halting and repairing the environmental damage caused by the mining megaproject operating in the Botaderos Mountain, canceling projects that, being illegal, operate the State’s complicity and other companies that shields them from any responsibility. It is necessary that the origin of the various socio-environmental conflicts in Honduran territory be addressed from a human rights perspective and that the demands of those who inhabit the territories be met.
The Observatory for Justice for the Guapinol River Defenders and the national and international organizations subscribing to this communication regret that, despite a hopeful change of government for Honduras and the region, the patterns of violence against communities and Indigenous and peasant peoples continue, favoring private interests and the accumulation of wealth.
We recognize and support the work of human rights defenders in Honduras and stand in solidarity with the victims of reprisals and their families.
The undersigned subscribe to this communication:
Acción Ecuménica por los Derechos Humanos AEDH - Honduras
Alianza Américas - United States
Alianza Centroamericana Frente a la Minería - ACAFREMIN - Centroamérica
Alternativa de Reivindicación Comunitaria y Ambientalista de Honduras ARCAH - Honduras
Amazing Amy Harlib: Eccentric Yoga Entertainer, Yoga For Peace, Justice, Harmony With the Planet - United States
Asociación Americana de Juristas (AAJ) - Regional
Asociación de Jueces por la Democracia (AJD) - Honduras
Asociación Entrepueblos - España
Asociación para una Ciudadanía Participativa (ACI PARTICIPA) - Honduras
ASOPODEHU - Honduras
Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network (ARSN) - Canada
Bagaicha Social Research and Training Centre - India
Basoa Casa de Defensoras - Euskal Herria
Bufete Justicia para los Pueblos - Honduras
Canadian Jesuits International - Canada
Cefa. Centro de Estudios y Capacitación Familiar - Panama
Centro de Derechos de Mujeres (CDM) – Honduras
Centro de Derecho Ambiental Internacional CIEL - Honduras
Centro de Desarrollo Humano. CDH - Honduras
Centro de Estudio para la Democracia (CESPAD) - Honduras
Centro de Investigación y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos CIPRODEH - Honduras
Centro de Reflexión y Acción Social Padre Juan Montalvo – Dominican Republic
Centro Por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional (CEJIL) - Costa Rica
CIVICUS - Internacional
CLADEM - El Salvador
CLADEM Bolivia - Bolivia
CLADEM CHUBUT - Argentina
CLADEM Oaxaca - Mexico
Cladem Paraguay - Paraguay
Cladem Uruguay - Uruguay
Clínica de Derechos Humanos, Universidad de Ottawa - Canada
Colectivo de Abogados "José Alvear Restrepo" - Colombia
Comité Ambiental de Guapinol - Honduras
Comité del Medio Ambiente y DDHH del NLG - United States
Comité Mesoamericano del NLG - United States
Comité Municipal de Defensa de Bienes Comunes y Públicos de Tocoa - Honduras
Comité para los Derechos Humanos en América Latina - Canada
Comité por la Libre Expresión (C-Libre) - Honduras
Common Frontiers - Canada
Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras (COPINH) - -Honduras
Consejo Indígena Lenca de Reitoca - Honduras
Convergencia Contra el Continuismo - Honduras
Coordinadora de Organizaciones Populares del Aguan (COPA) - Honduras
Due Process of Law Foundation - Regional
Earthworks - United States
Entreculturas - España
Entrepueblos - España
Equipo de Reflexión, Investigación y Comunicación (ERIC-SJ) - Honduras
Equipo Jurídico por los Derechos Humanos - Honduras
"Estudios para la Dignidad", Bufete de Derechos Humanos - Honduras
FDCL (Centro de Investigación y Documentación Chile-América Latina) - Alemania
Festivales Solidarios - Guatemala
FIDH, en el marco del Observatorio para la Protección de los Defensores de Derechos Humanos - Francia
Foro Honduras Suiza – Suiza
Front Line Defenders - Irlanda
Fundación Alboan - España
GHRC-USA - United States/Guatemala
Gremio Nacional de Abogadas y Abogados (NLG) - Filial de la Bahia de San Francisco, CA - United States
Guatemala Solidarity Project - United States
Honduras Solidarity Network (HSN) - Canada y United States
Human Rights Clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law, United States
Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras de Derechos Humanos -Mesoamerica
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti - United States
Institute for Policy Studies - Global Economy Program - United States
Instituto Latinoamericano para un Sociedad y un Derecho Alternativos -ILSA - Colombia
JASS - Mesoamerica
Justice in Mining Network - Internacional
Latin America Working Group (LAWG) - United States
MAWO - Canada
Mesa Nacional de Incidencia para la Gestión del Riesgo Región Centro - Honduras
Movimiento Ambientalista Santabarbarense (MAS) - Honduras
Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y la Justicia - Honduras
Mujeres Socialistas - Honduras
National Lawyers Guild International Committee - United States
NLG Task Force on the Americas – United States
Oficina Ecuménica por la Paz y la Justicia - Alemania
Oficina Jurídica para la Mujer - Bolivia
OFRANEH - Honduras
Organización Mundial Contra la Tortura (OMCT), en el marco del Observatorio para la Protección de los Defensores de Derechos Humanos - Suiza
Plataforma Agraria - Honduras
Plataforma Internacional Contra la Impunidad - Honduras/Guatemala/Suiza
Plataforma por Honduras en Madrid - España
Protection International Mesoamerica - Organización Regional
Red de comunidades impactadas por IFIs - América Latina
Red de Mujeres del Consejo Indígena Lenca de Reitoca - Honduras
Red Internacional de Promotores ODS - Honduras
Red Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos en Honduras - Honduras
REMUPRO – Honduras
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
Rights Action - Canada/United States
Romero Initiative e.V. - Alemania
Salvemos El Río Danto - Honduras
Santa Clara University - International Human Rights Clinic - United States
Serso Honduras - Honduras
SHARE - United States
Sisters of Mercy Justice Team, Washington, DC - United States
Sustentarse - Chile
Tribunal Internacional de Conciencia de los Pueblos en Movimiento (TICPM) - Mexico/Colombia/Perú/Ecuador/United States
Trócaire - Honduras
Unidad de Protección a Defensoras y Defensores de Derechos Humanos -Guatemala (UDEFEGUA) - Guatemala
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) - United States
University of San Francisco Master in Migration Studies Program - United States
Voces y Manos - Guatemala
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