Honduras: Investigate Killings of Land Rights Leaders
Honduras: Investigate Killings of Land Rights Leaders
October 21, 2016 5:00PM EDT
Regional Body Had Ordered Protection for Peasant Leaders
(New York, October 21, 2016) –Honduran authorities should carry out a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into the killing of two land rights activists of the Unified Peasant Movement of Aguán (MUCA), Human Rights Watch said today. The government should take urgent steps to end impunity for attacks against land-rights and environmental defenders.
On October 18, 2016, unidentified men gunned down José Ángel Flores and Silmer Dionisio George, Honduran land-rights activists, as they left a meeting in Tocoa, in the Caribbean coastal department of Colón, media accounts said. The two activists were subject to protective measures issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, (IACHR), which in May 2014 ordered the government to ensure the safety of leaders of several peasant movements in Honduras.
“Honduras has an obligation to ensure that land-rights and environmental activists can do their jobs without fear of reprisals,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “When acts that appear to be violent retaliation go unpunished, it sends the disturbing message that the government may tolerate such violent abuses.”
Honduras is a dangerous country for environmental and land-rights activists. The Inter-American commission has repeatedly called for the government to protect people who experience intimidation and death threats because of their work as environmental defenders.
More:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/10/21/honduras-investigate-killings-land-rights-leaders