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PRESS RELEASE
International Mission reports human rights crisis in Bajo Aguán
From Feb. 25 through Mar. 4, 2011, an International Mission formed
by international networks and organizations,1
and backed by national organizations,2
conducted an on-the-field investigation to assess the state of human
rights in Bajo Aguán. Towards this aim, it met with members of
various peasant organizations and communities, as well as with a
range of authorities in the region, including the Prosecutor’s
Office, judges, and the National Agricultural Institute (INA).
Members of the mission also interviewed representatives of the
international community, the Special Human Rights Prosecutor’s
Office, and the Truth Commission.
Based on its observations, the International Mission found a serious
human rights crisis in Bajo Aguán, including the following:
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Nineteen peasants from Bajo Aguán organizations have been
murdered since January 2010, and according to the Prosecutor’s
Office no arrest warrants have been issued in any of these
cases. In most of these cases, no preliminary inquest was even
conducted, and thus there is a high risk that all of them will
go unpunished.
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Multiple violations of the right to physical integrity,
including threats and constant harassment against leaders and
members of peasant organizations, perpetrated by members of the
police and private security companies that guard the properties
of the area’s large landowners. The Mission also learned of
cases of kidnapping and torture, multiple injuries, and sexual
abuse.
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Peasants continue to be forced off their land, in violation of
their food, housing, and health rights, and their settlements
are being destroyed, ignoring international law provisions and
due process.
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The state is failing to comply with legal provisions and
political agreements establishing land grants, including the
obligation to hand over all the land of the former Regional
Military Training Center (CREM) to the peasant companies
gathered in the Movimiento Campesino del Aguán (Aguán Peasant
Movement, or MCA), the obligation to transfer a total of 11,000
hectares to the cooperatives of the Movimiento Unificado
Campesino del Aguán (United Peasants Movement of Aguán, or MUCA)
before Apr. 13, 2011; and the obligation to respect and
guarantee the land rights of the cooperatives of the Movimiento
Auténtico Reivindicativo Campesino del Aguán (Authentic Movement
for the Rights of Aguán Peasants, or MARCA).
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The commitments to guarantee education, health, and housing
rights undertaken by the state in the Agreement with MUCA have
so far been ignored.
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Instead of effective policies and measures to solve the area’s
agricultural problems, a process of stigmatization and
criminalization of peasant struggles is observed, with arbitrary
arrests, 162 people processed, and the systematic persecution of
peasant leaders.
IN CONCLUSION:
The
Mission has established with concern that the repression and
violence against members of the peasant communities and
organizations has not stopped, and that these communities and
organizations are completely exposed and vulnerable in the face of
biased authorities. The deadly crimes committed in Bajo Aguán are
going unpunished, making it easier for human rights violations to be
repeated.
In
view of this situation, the Mission calls on national
authorities to meet their obligation to investigate and prosecute
the murders and crimes committed against the peasants of Bajo Aguán,
and to criminally punish the direct and indirect perpetrators of
these crimes. They must also act immediately to cease all repressive
actions and violence against the peasant movement and adopt
effective measures to protect anyone at risk. They must also enforce
legal provisions and honor the political agreements they have
signed, to enable the communities still living in precarious
conditions to access land, health, education, and housing.
The
current model of rural development needs to be urgently redefined,
abandoning the model based on agribusiness and land concentration in
favor of policies that promote sustainable peasant farming, and the
implementation of a comprehensive agrarian reform, which is a
constitutional mandate in Honduras.
In
this context, the international community plays a key role in the
protection and promotion of human rights. This means that the
diplomatic community must contribute with concrete and firm measures
to enhance the protection of the people who are at risk, in
particular the people of Bajo Aguán, by conditioning its cooperation
to full respect for human rights.
In
addition, the international community must ensure that the financial
cooperation it provides state bodies and private companies does not
contribute to human rights abuses. Therefore, we ask that, in the
specific case of Bajo Aguán, bilateral cooperation agencies and
multilateral banks review financial cooperation agreements entered
into with any police forces and private security companies that may
be implicated in acts of violence, harassment, and human rights
violations in the region.
The
international organizations that have participated in this Mission
will make the findings of this investigation public through a report
that will be delivered to the Truth Commission, the Inter-American
Commission for Human Rights, the United Nations’ Human Rights
Council, the European Union, and the International Criminal Court,
and will continue monitoring the situation very closely,
accompanying the struggle for human rights and against impunity in
Bajo Aguán and the rest of the country.
Tegucigalpa, March 4, 2011
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