Honduras: Human rights activists abducted while defending children's rights
Source: Amnesty International
Honduras: Human rights activists abducted while defending children's rights
Posted 10 Aug 2013, 12:37am
By Tariq Shabazz
Since 2012 members of the Nueva Esperanza community have been campaigning against a local mining project which is disrupting the lives of local communities and threatens to rob them of their right to self-determination, as stipulated in various human rights documents such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The villagers, many of whom include children, have subsequently been threatened and harassed by armed guards working on behalf of the mining company.
On 24 July Orlane Vidal, a French woman and Daniel Langmeier, a Swiss man, both working for the Honduras Accompaniment Project (Proyecto de Acompañamiento en Honduras – PROAH), witnessed first-hand the type of harassment and threats the local community face on a regular basis. The two international volunteers met with the Nueva Esperanza community in the department of Atlántida to discuss protection issues and international accompaniment.
A family which is active in the campaign and has recently been harassed and intimidated by guards working on behalf of the mining company, were host to the two volunteers on that particular day. The next day, at 9:00am, the host and guests were shocked and terrified when seven heavily armed men approached the house they were staying in. The men carried rifles, while some thirty other individuals carrying machetes surrounded the house.
The armed men forced their way into the house, and ordered the volunteers to leave at gunpoint. Gunshots were heard in the surrounding area and the activists later learnt that the owner of the house had been followed by unknown individuals nearby. The armed men became agitated and loaded their weapons. They called the volunteers communists and members of the Resistance, and claimed that it was because of them that they could not work in mining.
Read more: http://www2.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/childrens-human-rights-network/honduras-human-rights-activists-abducted-while-defending