Honduras must stop criminalising defence of indigenous rights, say UN experts
ENEVA (9July 2021) ̶ UN experts* today called on Honduras to stop arbitrarily detaining and criminalising human rights defenders of the Garifuna indigenous communities.
The Garifuna, who number about 300,000 in Honduras, are an ethnic group of mixed African and indigenous heritage. In 2015 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights recognised the violation of human rights of the Garifuna communities and ordered a set of reparations, including the delimitation, demarcation and titling of traditional lands, but Honduras has not yet implemented those measures.
Mary Lawlor, UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, spoke out after the arrest of Marianela Mejía Solórzano, Jennifer Sarina Mejía Solórzano and Silvia Bonilla, defenders of the territory and rights of the Garifuna people, and members of the Black Fraternal Organisation of Honduras (OFRANEH).