PBI celebrates 10 years supporting human rights defenders in Honduras
In 2024, PBI celebrated 10 years of green vests in Honduras. “The green vests,” that's how we are recognised. Throughout these years, with nothing more than a vest, a notebook, and a pencil, PBI has traveled to a total of 16 different regions in Honduras, providing protective accompaniment to human rights defenders at risk as they carry out their diverse work. Dressed in green, we have seen the country change and we have contributed to the change. Dressed in green, we have listened, we have reflected, we have given, we have received, we have laughed, we have cried, we have embraced, we have lived.
Our work would not exist without the commitment, courage and resistance of the human rights defenders we have supported over these 10 years. Here, we present some of the key moments of PBI's work in 2024 through the voices of defenders themselves.
Commemorating these 10 years of protective accompaniment, PBI Honduras’ anniversary event took place on 30 July 2024. We were fortunate to have the presence of human rights defenders who we have supported at the event, as well as various international institutions that wanted to share the day with us.
Thanks to the participation of the human rights activists, we were able to host a discussion called “Walking together: voices and perspectives on protection and international accompaniment in Honduras,” which allowed everyone present to learn about and better understand both the current context of human rights defense in Honduras, and the specific difficulties and challenges faced by each organisation. We also presented a photo exhibition “Voices and perspectives on the work of women human rights defenders in Honduras,” which featured the stories and testimonies of 15 women human rights defenders PBI has supported over the past 10 years.
During the anniversary event, funded by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), we also presented PBI’s recent publication, "Walking Together: Celebrating 10 years of PBI accompaniment in Honduras." In this celebratory book, we put Honduran women defenders at the center in order to highlight and celebrate the important role they play in their communities and within their organisations - a role that is often rendered invisible, undermined, or discredited in the societies in which we live.
Between 25 and 27 November, Rocío Walkiria Reyes, a human rights defender with the Honduran Center for the Promotion of Community Development (CEHPRODEC), participated in the United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland. Subsequently, Rocío traveled to the Netherlands, Germany, and Catalonia to meet with authorities and civil society organisations.
During the tour, organised by PBI and financed by the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) of the European Union, Rocío expressed concern about alleged irregularities in the granting of concessions for renewable energy projects, as in the case of the Puringla-Sazagua hydroelectric project. She also expressed the urgency of declaring Honduras free of industrial metallic mining. Finally, Rocío called for justice for Juan López, coordinator of the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods, who was murdered on September 14, 2024 despite having been the beneficiary of protection measures from the National Protection System.
“I am sure that women are the basis of the organisations and that they are the driving force in the defense of the territories. In this macho culture that we live in Honduras, women are relegated to private spaces according to determined gender roles. Women defenders break with these roles and go out into the public space. And that implies big challenges for them. ”
During the week of 28 October to 1 November, Brent Patterson, coordinator of PBI’s office in Canada, visited Honduras in order to learn first-hand about the reports of human rights violations in Atlántida and the Bajo Aguán area. In visiting, he was able to learn about the important work carried out by the defenders of the Agrarian Platform, the Honduran Black Fraternal Organisation (OFRANEH) and the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods (CMDBCP). The latter organisation was awarded with the Europe Prize for Human Rights in Honduras, due to its work in defense of water and forests.
PBI reiterates the importance of achieving justice for human rights defender Juan López, murdered on 14 September 2024. In this sense, the CMDBCP demands not only progress in the investigations into the intellectual authorship, or actual planning, of the murder and the alleged corruption surrounding the granting of the mining concession to the company Inversiones Los Pinares/Ecotek, but also the implementation of decree 18-2024, which establishes the restoration of the core zone of the national park Montaña de Botaderos Carlos Escaleras and the recovery of the area affected by mining. Similarly, it is urgent to address the situation of lack of protection faced by the defenders of Bajo Aguán who are beneficiaries of measures issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), as the IACHR established in a recent report after its last visit to the area.
“What we are longing for in Guapinol right now is to live. We want to live in a peaceful community where we can enjoy the river, where I can walk around with my girls without fear that we could be kidnapped or murdered. ”
2024 has been an important year for the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras (COPINH). Three people were convicted for the crimes of fraud, falsification of documents, and usurpation of functions in the Fraud on the Gualcarque case, which investigated corruption surrounding the granting of the concession for the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project on the Gualcarque River. In addition, the Supreme Court ruled on a cassation appeal, confirming the sentences of the material authors of the assassination of Berta Cáceres, as well as of the intellectual co-author of her assassination, David Castillo. Despite this ruling, COPINH denounces that the aggravating factors in the sentence of David Castillo have been modified, while the case of Sergio Rodríguez has been sent to the plenary of the Supreme Court, given the lack of unanimity in the ruling on the cassation appeal and the confirmation of the conviction.
COPINH continues to demand advances in the investigations into the intellectual authorship of the assassination. In March 2024, in the framework of the Seeding of Berta Cáceres and to accompany the process of seeking justice, COPINH, PBI, and other international organisations organised, with the financial support of AECID, the screening of the documentary “The Illusion of Abundance” in La Esperanza and at the National Autonomous University of Honduras in Tegucigalpa. This documentary, co-directed by Erika González Ramírez and Matthieu Lietaert, invites us to reflect on the role played by companies and international development banks in promoting extractive projects that affect communities, common goods, and livelihoods in Latin America.
“ My mother always talked about alternative life projects, the communities’ own life projects. I think it is important to continue to maintain our life projects, to build them, to debate them, to collectivize them. We seek well-being as well, but that does not necessarily imply either giving up our rights or handing over our territories.”
In 2025, PBI also celebrates 10 years of providing protective accompaniment to the LGBT Arcoíris Association of Honduras (Arcoíris). In 2024, the trans women of Muñecas of Arcoíris were awarded the Front Line Defenders 2024 Award for the Americas.
In June 2024, Jlo Cordova, coordinator of Muñecas of Arcoíris, and Donny Reyes, technical coordinator of Arcoíris, participated in an advocacy tour to Germany and Spain organised by PBI and funded by AECID. During this tour, Jlo expressed concern about the non-compliance with the measures dictated by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the Vicky Hernandez et al. v. Honduras judgment, including the approval of a Gender Identity Law that would allow transgender people to change their names. This same concern was expressed by trans advocate Grecia O'Hara of the Center for LGTBI Development and Cooperation - SOMOS CDC - in March of this year in an episode of Voices of the Land, part of the Spanish radio program Carne Cruda, a programme organised with the support of PBI.
“I dream of a world without discrimination, without violence, without hate crimes. A world in which the Gender Identity Law is already approved, which would allow trans people to change their names. A world in which we can live in peace. ”
How can you support human rights defenders in honduras?
You can help us to continue to support human rights defenders in Honduras and elsewhere by donating to PBI UK today. Your donation will ensure that we can continue our work supporting defenders on the frontlines, as well as support them in gaining access to spaces to have their voices heard.
You can also sign up for our quarterly newsletter to learn about additional opportunities to support threatened human rights defenders in Honduras and globally.
Keep an eye out for opportunities to be a frontline volunteer with PBI in Honduras here!
However, PBI in Guatemala is currently recruiting volunteers. Get your application in before the deadline on 15th February! Find out more here!
