Environmental Human Rights: News & Updates

The criminalization of human rights defenders, the destruction of water sources, contamination of their environment and the destruction of the community cemetery, is the terrible scenario experienced by the Maya-Chortí community of Azacualpa, La Unión, Copán and that was verified by the Minister of Human Rights, Natalie Roque Sandoval, after making an On-Site visit in the sector where the inhabitants live the constant violations of their fundamental freedoms by the mining company Aura Minerals-MINOSA.

For our last installation of this year’s Black History Month series, we at the Quixote Center are highlighting the life and work of Honduran Garifuna activist Miriam Miranda. Miriam Miranda is a Honduran Garifuna human rights activist and land defender. As the head of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH)—which defends the rights of Garifuna communities—Miranda has worked to stop land theft by the tourism industry, to reclaim ancestral Garifuna land, promote sustainability, and support community leadership development for youth and women. In 2015, Miriam received the Óscar Romero Human Rights Award, alongside fellow Honduran activist Berta Cáceres, who was assassinated less than a year later. In 2016, Miriam received the Carlos Escaleras environmental prize for her 30 years of activism defending Garifuna communities.

The Six Guapinol water defenders have finally been freed!! 

 

A few hours ago, they walked out of the Olanchito prison where they have been held for over 900 days. Outside the prison, their families and community members gathered to greet them. Several Honduran media were there covering their release and all travelled in a large caravan to Guapinol where the six defenders were greeted by the community. 

The Supreme Court of Justice of Honduras declared the Law for the Protection of Plant Varieties, also known as the Monsanto Law and approved by the Congress of the Central American country in 2012, for unconstitutional. As of this legislation, it was prohibited to save seeds, give them away and exchange them. This initiative took place within the framework of the advance of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), an organization that works exclusively and explicitly for the privatization of seeds throughout the world, through the imposition of intellectual property rights on plant varieties. The Honduran State is one of those that signed the UPOV Convention. The National Association for the Promotion of Ecological Agriculture (ANAFAE), a group that has defended organic agriculture and food sovereignty in Honduras for more than 25 years, has been denouncing this law since it was approved and in 2016 had filed a legal appeal to declare it unconstitutional, which was rejected. Two years later, groups of peasants and independent producers presented a new appeal, which led to the declaration of unconstitutionality of the law last November and publicly communicated at the end of January of this year. 

The Court of Appeals of Francisco Morazán, in respect to the resolution of the Constitutional Chamber that annulled the criminal proceeding against the eight defenders of Guapinol, resolved the appeals filed by the defense on March 3, 2020, in relation to the indictment for the crimes of unjust deprivation of liberty and aggravated arson. Said court ordered that the proceedings be sent back to the court of origin, which is the Court of Trujillo. It should be noted that this judicial body has tried by all means to keep the defenders in prison despite the fact that it has never had any argument to do so, much less after February 9 of this year when the Constitutional Chamber admitted two appeals filed by the defense against the indictment and the denial of the change of measures of preventive detention to defend themselves in freedom.

With clever Super Bowl ads, an irresistible fruit and apparently insatiable appetite from U.S. consumers, Mexico’s avocado producers have so far been able to separate avocados from the conflictive landscape that produces them — at least until a threat to a U.S. agricultural inspector essentially shut down their exports last week. But as producers continue to suffer extortion from organized crime, and loggers continue to chop down pine forests to clear land for avocado orchards, another threat looms: Campaigns for greener competition and perhaps even a boycott.

What a turnaround. On February 9, six Guapinol water defenders were found guilty, A decision widely denounced and which left them with the, supposedly, only hope in the new amnesty bill. Yesterday morning, they lawyers presented an appeal based on the bill. But then all of this became redundant as the Supreme Court finally resolved the appeals in favor of them. "According to the resolution, by unanimous vote, the Constitutional Chamber ruled in favor of two appeals filed by the defense of the 8 defenders criminalized by the Public Prosecutor's Office and the mining company Inversiones Los Pinares, for the crimes of deprivation of liberty, aggravated damages and simple damages." This ruling annuls the trial and Wednesday's verdict. OACNUDH welcomed the ruling and called for their immediate release. People in Tocoa took to the streets to celebrate.

The Maya Q’eqchi’ community of Agua Caliente is nestled in the mountains surrounding Guatemala’s Lake Izabal, in the sacred Valle del Polochic. Located in the municipality of El Estor, Izabal, Agua Caliente is also known for its abundant deposits of nickel. These riches have for decades made El Estor a target of looting by multinational corporations seeking to exploit and profit from the land and resources. This case against a particular Fénix nickel marks the first time the Guatemalan state has faced judgement in an international court for violating the ancestral land rights of Indigenous communities. The court’s ruling could force the Guatemalan government to finally recognize the Q’eqchi’ people’s collective rights to their ancestral lands and their right to protect their natural resources from exploitative megaprojects—including the destructive open-pit Fénix nickel mine that stands on the banks of Lake Izabal.