Sr.Juan Orlando Hernández
President of Honduras
Sr. Oscar Chinchilla Banegas
Attorney General of Honduras
Dear Sirs:
We are extremely concerned about an assassination attempt against student activist Dayanara Castillo. On November 1 in Tegucigalpa, while she was driving her motorcycle with a friend, a vehicle with tinted windows and no license plates attempted to run over them. They were not physically injured because Dayanara Castillo managed to avoid the other vehicle.
As a result of her activism, Dayanara Castillo has been intimidated by faculty members and security guards at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH), expelled from the university, and received threatening phone calls. Members of her family have been followed by unidentified vehicles. She has also faced judicial harassment. In August 2015 she was detained, beaten by police officers, and threatened with death.
We are deeply concerned about the worsening climate of repression and attacks against human rights defenders in Honduras, including the recent assassination of several leaders of civil society: Berta Cáceres on March 2 (cf our letter of March 7); René Martínez on June 1 (cf our letter of June 23) and José Ángel Flores on October 18 (cf our letter of Oct 25). On August 19 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) jointly condemned the killing of defenders in Honduras, calling it "one of the most dangerous countries for human rights defenders."
We consider the attacks on Dayanara Castillo a retaliation for her peaceful work in defense of human rights and we strongly urge that you
- carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the assassination attempts against Dayanara Castillo, publish the results and bring those responsible to justice in accordance with international standards;
- ensure that the human rights work of Dayanara Castillo is considered as a line of inquiry in the investigation of the attacks she suffered;
- take all necessary measures, in consultation with Dayanara Castillo, to guarantee her physical and psychological integrity and security, as well as that of her family;
- guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders are able to carry out their legitimate activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, including judicial harassment.
Sincerely,
Brian J. Stefan Szittai and Christine Stonebraker-Martínez
Co-Coordinators
