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- Press Release
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- Honduras has failed in its obligation to protect human rights defender Gladys Lanza
Honduras has failed in its obligation to protect human rights defender Gladys Lanza
San José and Washington D.C, February 24th, 2012- The State of Honduras has not implemented the protective measures that were ordered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in favor of human rights defender Gladys Lanza Ochoa, on September 3rd, 2010. The defender herself made this statement before the Court at a public hearing monitoring the compliance with provisional protective measures, held during the 94th period of ordinary sessions. The Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), the victim´s representatives, also took part in the hearing.
Gladys Lanza is the coordinator of the Visitacion Padilla Women´s Movement for Peace (Movimiento de Mujeres por la Paz Visitación Padilla), a Honduran organization with over 28 years´ experience in defending women’s rights. After the 2009 coup d’état in Honduras, her organization – along with many human rights defenders – condemned the perpetrators of the coup as well as the country´s military leadership. Since then, she has been subjected to threats and harassment, including intimidating phone calls and e-mails, she has also been followed and her actions monitored by unknown suspects at her home and workplace.
To date, the State has failed to diligently investigate these acts and those responsible remain unpunished. In addition, the protective measures have not been properly implemented by the State. As a result, Ms Lanza told the Court how she has had to take extreme precautions to ensure her own safety.
Since April 2011, Gladys Lanza has been the object of five incidents that have kept her on alert. On one occasion a tear gas bomb landed in the courtyard of her home. On two separate occasions, her NGO´s offices have been under surveillance and broken in to.
This is not an isolated case. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, visited Honduras from February 7-14, 2012. After her visit she referred to the lack of protection facing human rights defenders, even though many of them are beneficiaries of protective measures, granted by the Inter-American Court or Commission of Human Rights.
“As a crucial measure to overcome the distrust of authorities among human rights defenders, an adequately resourced protection program for human rights defenders should be established and implemented as a matter of urgency and an inter-institutional framework developed to assume responsibility for its coordination and regular and transparent review”, the Rapporteur recommended.
At the end of her statement before the Court, Lanza said: “I want to get my life back, my safety but, overall, my family”. She concluded that the State must investigate the incidents that she has suffered and prosecute those responsible to ensure her full protection.
Contact in Costa Rica:
Darío Chinchilla
dchinchilla@twi.btq.mybluehost.me
+(506) 2281-3280
Contact in Washington D.C
Milli Legrain
mlegrain@twi.btq.mybluehost.me
+1-202-319-3000
