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        {"code":"25975","sect":"Columns","sect_slug":"columns","hits":"405","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/en\/202201\/columns\/25975","link_edit":"","name":"Honduras Must Reverse Anti-Human Rights Legacy","slug":"honduras-must-reverse-anti-human-rights-legacy","info":"","mtag":"Impunity","noun":{"html":"Erika Guevara Rosas","data":{"erika-guevara-rosas":{"sort":"","slug":"erika-guevara-rosas","path":"erika_guevara_rosas","name":"Erika Guevara Rosas","edge":"0","init":"0"}}},"view":"405","pict":{"cms-image-000036977-jpg":{"feat":"0","sort":"36977","name":"cms-image-000036977.jpg","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000036977.jpg","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000036977.jpg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000036977-jpg","text":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Erika Guevara Rosas is a human rights attorney and the Americas Director at Amnesty International.&lt;\/em&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;","capt":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EErika Guevara Rosas is a human rights attorney and the Americas Director at Amnesty International.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E"},"cms-image-000036978-jpg":{"feat":"1","sort":"36978","name":"cms-image-000036978.JPG","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000036978.JPG","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000036978.JPG","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000036978-jpg","text":"&lt;p&gt;In the wake of the 2017 reelection of Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez (colloquially known as JOH) in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, some protestors told El Faro that they took to the streets not to support his opponent, Salvador Nasralla, nor the opposition party Libre. The protests, they said, were a referendum on Hern\u00e1ndez's reelection. \"Fuera JOH!\" (\"out with JOH!\") was the protestors' most often-used rallying cry. Photo: Fred Ramos\/El Faro&lt;\/p&gt;","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EIn the wake of the 2017 reelection of Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez (colloquially known as JOH) in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, some protestors told El Faro that they took to the streets not to support his opponent, Salvador Nasralla, nor the opposition party Libre. The protests, they said, were a referendum on Hern\u00e1ndez's reelection. \"Fuera JOH!\" (\"out with JOH!\") was the protestors' most often-used rallying cry. Photo: Fred Ramos\/El Faro\u003C\/p\u003E"}},"pict_main__sort":36978,"date":{"live":"2022\/01\/27"},"data_post_dateLive_YY":"2022","data_post_dateLive_MM":"01","data_post_dateLive_DD":"27","text":"\u003Cp id=\"docs-internal-guid-93421b4d-7fff-11e2-bd5c-d29e6e584180\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003EThe recently elected President Xiomara Castro takes office in Honduras today, following two consecutive terms of Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s government that were characterized by a serious regression of human rights, and more than 12 years after the coup d'\u00e9tat that has deeply marked the country.\u00a0\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EHonduras\u2019s first female president and the only woman to currently hold that position in Latin America, Xiomara Castro has acknowledged on multiple occasions the country\u2019s grave human rights crisis fueled by inequality, violence, and impunity, and exacerbated over the last two years by the pandemic and the devastating impact of hurricanes Eta and Iota. The crisis has driven thousands of people to flee the country every year, while many others are internally displaced without adequate mechanisms of protection.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u00a0The new government will have to show great boldness and determination to address the causes and effects of the disastrous legacy left by the governments of the last decade, and the accumulated state abandonment of historically marginalized and oppressed communities, including the Indigenous and Garifuna Peoples, rural communities, women and girls, LGBTI+ people, and human rights and environmental defenders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EAhead of the elections in November, \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2021\/11\/honduras-next-president-must-ensure-more-just-human-rights-based-country\/\"\u003EAmnesty International sent the presidential candidates an open letter with seven recommendations\u003C\/a\u003E fundamental for building a more just country based on the protection of human rights.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EThere is much to do and all of it urgent. In the previous elections of 2017 \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/documents\/amr37\/8289\/2018\/en\/\"\u003Ewe witnessed the violent repression of mass demonstrations\u003C\/a\u003E in which thousands of people denounced electoral fraud. The Military Police and the Army used excessive and even lethal force to disperse the demonstrations. However, four years on, the Public Prosecutor's Office has yet to convict anyone over the 22 related deaths under investigation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E    \u003Cfigure class=\"pict pict_land pict_move_posc 0 cs_img cs_img--curr rule--ss_c\" data-shot=\"pict\" data-hint=\"pict\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"pict__pobj text-overflow\"\u003E\u003Cimg src=https:\/\/elfaro.net\/get_img?ImageWidth=2000&ImageHeight=1333&ImageId=36978 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"In the wake of the 2017 reelection of Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez (colloquially known as JOH) in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, some protestors told El Faro that they took to the streets not to support his opponent, Salvador Nasralla, nor the opposition party Libre. The protests, they said, were a referendum on Hern\u00e1ndez's reelection. \"Fuera JOH!\" (\"out with JOH!\") was the protestors' most often-used rallying cry. Photo: Fred Ramos\/El Faro\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cfigcaption class=\"pict__text cs_img_caption folk_content typo_buttons line--ss_s0c line--ss_s0c--auto block full-width text-overflow rule--ss_l relative\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"__content block-inline full-width align-top tint-text--idle relative\"\u003E In the wake of the 2017 reelection of Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez (colloquially known as JOH) in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, some protestors told El Faro that they took to the streets not to support his opponent, Salvador Nasralla, nor the opposition party Libre. The protests, they said, were a referendum on Hern\u00e1ndez's reelection. \"Fuera JOH!\" (\"out with JOH!\") was the protestors' most often-used rallying cry. Photo: Fred Ramos\/El Faro \u003Cdiv class=\"photographer text_italic rule--ss_l tint-text--idle\"\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EMeanwhile, innocent people \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2021\/08\/honduras-fiscal-oscar-chinchilla-debe-retirar-cargos-contra-jhony-salgado-fuentes\/\"\u003Elike Jhony Salgado\u003C\/a\u003E, who was not even participating in the protest in which he was arrested in December 2017, continue to be criminalized. Jhony is still awaiting trial after four months of wrongful imprisonment and remains at risk of another severe punishment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EThe use of strategies to deter and repress protests has become a common practice to silence those who bravely take to the streets. The new government must guarantee the right to demonstrate peacefully, stop criminalizing those who do so, and ensure that the perpetrators of human rights violations do not go unpunished. Honduras must also withdraw its militarized forces from the streets once and for all, as recommended by the \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.oas.org\/en\/iachr\/reports\/pdfs\/honduras2019-en.pdf\"\u003EInter-American Commission on Human Rights\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/oacnudh.hn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Honduras-Follow-up-report-accountability-for-HR-violations_FINAL-EN-2.1.20REVIEWED.pdf\"\u003Ethe United Nations\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EThe violence and criminalization facing human rights defenders, particularly those defending the right to land, territory, and the environment, is another urgent matter. In a context where the lucrative exploitation of natural resources collides with the demand and guarantee of human rights \u2014 such as the prior, free, and informed consent of the Indigenous Peoples or the right to a healthy environment \u2014 Honduras has become one of the most dangerous countries for defenders. The Hern\u00e1ndez administration\u2019s disinterest and negligent inaction on these issues was evident in Honduras\u2019s failure to sign the \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.cepal.org\/en\/escazuagreement\"\u003EEscaz\u00fa Agreement\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EThe trial of eight defenders of the Guapinol River, who have been unjustly imprisoned for more than two years and \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2021\/12\/honduras-amnesty-international-urges-authorities-immediately-release-eight-prisoners-conscience\/\"\u003Edeclared prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International\u003C\/a\u003E, is currently underway. The case file reveals multiple shortcomings in the investigation, showing they are detained solely for their activities in defense of the right to clean water and a healthy environment.\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EThe rights of women, girls, and LGBTI+ people must be another priority for the new government. In 2012, Honduras became one of the world\u2019s most restrictive countries in terms of access to sexual and reproductive rights, when the \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.womenslinkworldwide.org\/files\/2723\/gjo-honduras-dictamenaoe-es-pdf.pdf\"\u003ESupreme Court ruled that the ban\u003C\/a\u003E of the emergency pill was constitutional. Ignoring \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/undocs.org\/en\/A\/HRC\/46\/12\/Add.1\"\u003Eseveral United Nations recommendations\u003C\/a\u003E, subsequent governments have continued to deny women and girls the right to make decisions about their own bodies, including by passing a \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/AMR3735942021ENGLISH.pdf\"\u003Econstitutional reform\u003C\/a\u003E last year that effectively blocked the legalization of access to safe and legal abortion.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003ENo woman should have to spend another day going through the ordeal of a clandestine abortion or be criminalized for using emergency contraception. The government\u2019s commitment to the rights of half the population is fundamental in a country where \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/iudpas.unah.edu.hn\/dmsdocument\/11857-boletin-muerte-violenta-de-mujeres-y-femicidios-ed-no-9-25-nov-2021\"\u003Ea woman is murdered every 21 hours\u003C\/a\u003E, among other high levels of gender-based violence, including discrimination and violence against LGBTI+ people.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EHonduras urgently needs change based on the guarantee of human rights. The participation of civil society in decision-making and full cooperation with regional and international human rights bodies and mechanisms will be key to reversing one of the country's darkest periods and complying with its international obligations. We hope that Xiomara Castro's government takes this historic opportunity to build the fair and equitable country that the Honduran people long for.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E    \u003Cfigure class=\"pict pict_land pict_move_posc 0 cs_img cs_img--curr rule--ss_c\" data-shot=\"pict\" data-hint=\"pict\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"pict__pobj text-overflow\"\u003E\u003Cimg src=https:\/\/elfaro.net\/get_img?ImageWidth=2000&ImageHeight=1333&ImageId=36977 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"Erika Guevara Rosas is a human rights attorney and the Americas Director at Amnesty International.\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cfigcaption class=\"pict__text cs_img_caption folk_content typo_buttons line--ss_s0c line--ss_s0c--auto block full-width text-overflow rule--ss_l relative\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"__content block-inline full-width align-top tint-text--idle relative\"\u003E Erika Guevara Rosas is a human rights attorney and the Americas Director at Amnesty International. \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E"}

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