Thursday, 17 March 2016

La Vía Campesina denounces the grave criminalization taking place in Honduras today in the form of prisons, repression and the assassination of peasant and indigenous leaders. In the last few weeks the situation has worsened greatly with the proliferation of hired assassins aiming to take the lives of those who demand land to produce food, of those who struggle against extractivism, dams, and agribusiness.

Yesterday, March 15th, several regrettable events took place which we summarize below. All require the urgent attention and action of our organizations, allies and human rights entities:

1. Assassination attempt on Cristian Alegría, cousin of Rafael Alegría, lawmaker for the Libre Party and Coordinator of La Vía Campesina Honduras. This attack ocurred in front of La Vía Campesina offices located at Colonia Alameda, Tegucigalpa. 

2. Assassination of Nelson García, member of COPINH and community leader in Río Chiquito. This tragic event took place during the forced eviction of the Río Lindo community, in department of Cortés, when an estimated 100 police officers, 20 members of the military police, 10 members of the Army, and various members of DGIC invaded the territory previously recovered by 150 families, 75 of which had built homes in the area with materials and efforts they worked hard to obtain.

3. Capture of Muca President Juan Ángel Flores in the departament of Colón. Detained in the early morning and accussed of links to drug trafficking, the lack of evidence forced authorities to release him hours later.

4. Detention of public defender Orbelina Flores Hernández, member of the Permanent Human Rights Observatory of the Aguan, accusing her of involvement in land conflicts.

5. Sentencing of David Romero, journalist of Radio Globo, to 10 years in prison. David has been courageously denouncing the embezzlement of social security and other acts of corruption in Honduras, all of which indicate involvement of the ruling party.

It is evident that these attacks are directed at combative social movements engaged in the struggle for land and in defense of territories such as La Vía Campesina, COPINH and Muca.

As such, we of La Vía Campesina:

1. Denounce the Honduran government for executing a plan of repression against leaders and social movements.

2. Demand respect for the life of Honduran social activists.

3. Call for international human rights organizations to come to Honduras and accompany the grave humanitarian situation being faced in the country. It is important that the Honduran government be denounced at the international level for its direct attacks on, and criminalization of, social struggles.

4. Ask for all those concerned with human rights and justice to articulate public acts of solidarity at Honduran embassies around the world. To make these actions known write to [email protected] and, in Honduras, contact the offices of La Vía Campesina in Tegucigalpa by emailing [email protected]. Members of the press and allies should contact: Rafael Alegría, 00504 9969-5091, office 00504 2235-9915 and Wendy Cruz 00504 9983-8506.

For La Vía Campesina, solidarity and internationalism are the key values of our movement. As such, we will continue monitoring the situation in Honduras closely, making public and denouncing internationally the persecution and criminalization faced by peasant, indigenous, and afro movements engaged in the frontline struggle to defend our territories against transnational capital and its attempt to take control of our natural resources.

Globalize struggle! Globalize hope!

For our dead, not one minute of silence! An entire life of struggle!

For more information go to: http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/human-rights-mainmenu-40/2000-international-condemnation-honduras-end-the-violence-and-death-against-the-peasant-indigenous-movement

Consultations are now underway re "possible measures necessary, including procedural and institutional steps and selection criteria, to enable the participation of indigenous peoples' representative and institutions in meetings of relevant United Nations bodies on issues affecting them".

Consultations will include, in the quickly-coming weeks and months: engagements online, at the UNPFII (UN Permanent Forum on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples), EMRIP (UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples), and at States' national levels. Stay updated on UN level consultations here: www.un.org/indigenous

Download predating related points, positions and arguments: "Indigenous Decolonization and United Nations Membership: Indigenous Peoples and the Fundamental Right to Self-Determination", 2012 LLM thesis by IOSDE Founder & Director India Reed Bowers, B.A. Cultural Anthropology, Brown University, United States, LL.M. International Law of Human Rights and Criminal Justice, Utrecht University, the Netherlands, or view online here: www.scribd.com/doc/129340589/Indigenous-Decolonization-and-United-Nations-Membership-Indigenous-Peoples-and-the-Fundamental-Right-to-Self-Determination

Video archive of first interactive briefing, "the participation of the Indigenous Peoples at the UN - General Assembly, Informal meeting 7 Mar 2016 - General Assembly: Informal meeting on the implementation of the relevant provisions of resolution 70/232 entitled Rights of Indigenous Peoples.":

Invitation (with short notice) sent to selected Representatives of Indigenous Peoples (selection criteria currently unknown) for attendance to first interactive briefing:

7 March 2016

Unlike the illegal (by International Law) criminalization of Indigenous Human Rights Defender Berta Cáceres by the Honduras State, the murder of Cáceres has not gone unnoticed by the international community at-large. When will women no longer be the targets of the violence, domination and backlash of the models of dominance-style patriarchy, of State/governance and business? WHEN IS ENOUGH, ENOUGH?

In 2013 IOSDE’s Founder and Director, India Reed Bowers, personally delivered an IOSDE statement to the Honduras Embassy in San Francisco, California USA, that demanded an end to the judicial persecution of COPINH members Berta Cáceres, Aureliano Molina and Tomas Gómez and that Cáceres, Molina, and Gómez be exonerated of false accusations against them. IOSDE demanded that the Honduran government must respect ILO Convention 169 and respect ancestral lands and that illegal concession on the Gualcarque River must be withdrawn and construction of the dam stopped, that attacks against indigenous peoples, especially in Rio Blanco, must be ended. At the same time of that criminalizing Cáceres in 2013, the Honduran delegation at the United Nations (UN) 24th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) stated, in-session during an Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), that States should consult widely with Indigenous Peoples so as to have a comprehensive process before making a decision on extractive industry.

States make a mockery of Human Rights when they present one position to EMRIP, the HRC, a Special Rapporteur or otherwise in the international arena and at the same time operate differently, ie hypocritically, at home. The abusive relationship States model therein results in murders of Human Rights Defenders, and teaches the people themselves to harm each other as a model of State loyalty/citizenship. IOSDE sees the murder of Berta Cáceres as a deliberate fear-tactic and attempt to silence Human Rights-based discourse and enacting of Indigenous Rights. Such tactics are a played-out form of genocidal operatives used to maintain both State domestic and international business control for profit, violating our sisters’ right to life, peace, wisdom, dignity and knowledge. Were States not to criminalize Human Rights Defenders, women and men with true commitment to a better world for all, like Berta Cáceres, would be alive today and celebrated for being the role models they are in life not death. Women and men like Berta Cáceres are our heroes; now is the time to stop violating and murdering heroes and start modeling their support, for a better world. [1]

For document version of statement, including attachments from footnoted documents, click here.

[1] See also 2013 IOSDE Statement re the Honduras State’s Criminalization of Berta Cáceres; and IOSDE Statement on the Murder of Teduray chieftain 'meant to silence lumad struggle for rights'; Mindanao, Philippines, 9 October 2015