Ana María Suárez Franco, permanent representative of FIAN International in Geneva, Switzerland shares an update on the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and its process of approval at the UN´s Human Rights Council that is expected on Friday September 28. “To protect, respect and fulfil the rights of peasants”, who defend territories, is the aim of the Declaration, which…
Today, September 26th, marks the fourth anniversary of the disappearance of the 43 students of the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers School in Iguala, Guerrero, while they were on their way to Mexico City to participate in the mobilization of October 2nd to commemorate the Tlateloco Massacre that took place in 1968. A day before the fourth anniversary of the…
The family of Berta Cáceres and their legal representatives filed an action on Monday to disqualify the judges that are hearing the case of the murder of the Honduran defender. This resulted in the suspension of the hearing. In a press conference held on Monday 17, minutes before the first hearing over the murder of the Lenca defender, Berta Cáceres,…
Thousands of demonstrators are marching from different areas of the country and heading to the Guatemalan Congress building to demand the resignation of President Jimmy Morales, and the continuation of the International Commission against Corruption in Guatemala (CICIG) that has been investigating acts of corruption in the government since 2017. Real World Radio interviewed Lucía Ixchiu, independent k'iché journalist who…
The trial over the femicide of Berta Cáceres will begin on Monday, September 17, in Tegucigalpa (Honduras). The crime against the defender took place on the night of March 2nd, 2016, at her home in La Esperanza, Intibucá department. Bertha Zúñiga, daughter of Cáceres and current coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), spoke…
Berta Cáceres, a defender of the Lenca people, was murdered on March 2nd, 2016, at her home in La Esperanza, Intibucá department, 200 kilometers North-West to the Honduran capital city. Her murder took place in the framework of an ongoing and systematic repression suffered by those who defend their territories and human rights in Honduras, especially since the coup d´Etat…
A special report by the United Nations Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous People, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, warns about a common pattern of attack against indigenous peoples at global level by governments in alliance with transnational investment projects related to the sectors of extractive industries, agribusiness, infrastructure, hydroelectric dams and logging, which is displacing the communities from their territories. “I’ve been…
Marta Rivas was born 29 years ago in a settlement for Salvadoran refugees in Honduras known as “Mesa Grande”, where she lived with hundreds of children who grew up during the armed conflict that took place in El Salvador from 1980 to 1992. She was named after her community: Santa Marta, located in Cabañas department, to the North of her…
Re: Publication of the “Zero Draft” text for the negotiation of a Legally Binding Instrument to Regulate, in International Human Rights Law, the activities of Transnational Corporations (TNCs) and other Business Enterprises. (1) We welcome the recent publication of the “Zero Draft” text for the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on Transnational Corporations (TNCs) with regard to human rights…
Stop the violence against Indigenous People; Recognise and Protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples Every year, since 1995, August 09 is observed as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples where every person is “encouraged to spread the UN’s message on the protection and promotion of the rights of indigenous peoples.” [1] 23 years on, and states still need…
