“It’s going to keep raining over waterlogged soil. The land can’t handle so much water”. This is how the leader of the Fraternal Black Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) described the situation in Honduras in a tweet on November 231. And she was right. The next morning, La Lima, a city in northern Honduras, flooded for the fourth time in a fortnight.
Andrea Regina Pineda is a Honduran lawyer commited to the defence of land rights and human rights with the Honduran Centre for the Promotion of Community Development (CEHPRODEC). In of October, he participated in a virtual tour in which she held meetings with various europenas authorities in the framework of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which will examine the human rights situation in Honduras during this month of November.
“When the COVID-19 crisis began, we met with communities and decided that we would be the ones to control who would enter and leave our communities” explains Sebastián Reyes, General Secretary of the Regional Board of the National Union of Rural Workers (CNTC) in La Paz department, Honduras, and a resident of El Encinal.
In February, Honduran smallholder farmer organisations presented the “Emergency Law for the Reactivation of the Agricultural, Livestock and Forestry Sector to Combat Poverty” before the National Congress. The legislation aims to end the environmental, agrarian and food crisis in Honduras.
PBI is delighted to welcome Mary Lawlor into her new position as UN Special Rapporteur for human rights defenders (HRDs) and excited to collaborate with her to ensure she can fulfil her mandate; increasing the security for HRDs across the world, drawing attention to their specific needs and challenges and addressing State shortcomings in terms of their protection. We had the pleasure of speaking with Mary about her priorities and goals for her new position.
The difficulties faced by rural communities prior to the COVID-19 health crisis were already alarming. However, with the arrival of this global pandemic, smallholder farmers have seen their problems multiply. Under a state of emergency, where basic rights like access to health and food are limited, the helplessness of many families is concerning. This comes in addition to the intensified militarisation of the countryside under Decree PCM-052-2019, published in October 2019.
In this extraordinary time of uncertainty, fear and instability, Peace Brigades International (PBI) extends our solidarity to all of you who are struggling to remain optimistic in the face of such unique and global challenges.
PBI accompany human rights defenders in different parts of the world who push for social justice and respect for the rule of law. This work often implies considerable risk. PBI supports many defenders who have been crimianlised for the work they carry out, meaning the legal system is used against them in order to stop their resistance.
This December, and continuously, PBI puts human rights defenders at the centre, in the position they deserve given the fundamental role they play in the protection of human rights and the construction of fair and peaceful societies. Human rights defenders continue to provide voices for the voiceless, pushing for social justice. They often risk their lives to stand up for what they believe in, holding states to account and pushing for human rights to be respected, protected and fulfilled.
At the end of 2018, small-scale farmers became protagonists at the United Nations.