27 de February de 2010 Press Release

Impunity Reinforced in Honduras

Washington D.C., February 26, 2010.

Honduran authorities have taken several alarming steps to prevent accountability for human rights violations surrounding the coup d’etat of June 28, 2009, the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) said in letters to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT), and other United Nations rapporteurs earlier this month.

 On January 13, the Honduran Congress named the former leader of the de facto government that arose from the coup, Roberto Micheletti, to be a “congressman for life,” effectively protecting him from prosecution for his role in the coup.  On January 26, the Supreme Court dismissed cases against six high-ranking military officers who supported the coup on the specious grounds that they ousted and exiled the elected president in order to defend peace and democracy in Honduras.  That same day, the Congress approved an amnesty decree for crimes related to the coup; its terms are ambiguous and therefore its implementation could cover serious human rights violations. 

All three of these steps fly in the face of Honduras’ duty under the American Convention on Human Rights to provide both truth and justice to victims of human rights violations. 

The granting of a lifetime membership in the Congress to Roberto Micheletti violates both domestic and international law:  Honduras’ Constitution does not include such a position and the IACHR has previously determined that such action violates political rights and equality before the law, both guaranteed under the American Convention.  The Commission’s ruling on this issue came several years ago in response to a similar provision in the Chilean Constitution that benefited former Gen. Augusto Pinochet[1].

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court’s absurd ruling that ousting an elected president was necessary to preserve democracy is consistent with its clear political support for the coup from the outset, noted by the IACHR in its report on the coup released last month[2].

The IACHR has repeatedly indicated that States must “guarantee that their domestic procedures for investigating and punishing take effect and particularly, that they not use tools such as amnesties or the establishment of exclusions from criminal responsibility[3].” The duty of governments to investigate and punish serious human rights violations and to limit the scope of amnesty laws have been reaffirmed by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the United Nations Committee against Torture, and other international protection mechanisms that bind Honduras.

Following the June 28 ouster of elected President Manuel Zelaya, Honduran security forces engaged in widespread human rights violations, including the murder of at least seven unarmed individuals demonstrating against the coup, thousands of illegal and arbitrary detentions, numerous cases of mistreatment, torture, and in a few cases, sexual abuse, as well as sweeping restrictions on and harassment of independent media.

The recent actions by the Honduran government could not only limit the victims’ right to an effective remedy but may also prevent the Honduran society from officially acknowledging the violations that took place and determining responsibility where necessary.  Both steps are essential in preventing the recurrence of these violations.

In her letters, CEJIL’s Executive Director Viviana Krsticevic asked the various regional and United Nations bodies to solicit information from the Honduran government about these actions; make recommendations to the government to reverse them; and guarantee that all the human rights violations that have occurred since the coup are properly investigated and punished according with the international human rights legal framework that binds Honduras.  CEJIL also asked that the human rights monitoring bodies plan visits to Honduras so that they can investigate the government’s actions and press for the needed changes. 

CEJIL calls on the international community to demand that Honduras fully comply with its international human rights obligations and, specifically, that it eliminate all obstacles to the prosecution of those responsible for serious human rights violations since the coup.  Genuine reconciliation is only possible with the establishment of truth and justice.

The different branches of the Honduran government should ensure that all the human rights violations would be properly investigated and punished as a necessary step to reconstruct democracy.  If it fails to do so, the international bodies of human rights protection of the U.N. and Organization of American States should take appropriate actions as called for in their founding documents.

CEJIL wrote to the IACHR, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, the chair of the U.N. Committee Against Torture, and the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, on Torture, and on the situation of Human Rights Defenders. 

 

Press Contact in Washington D.C.

Mauricio Herrera Ulloa
[email protected]
Tel: (202) 319-3000
(202) 445-4676

www.cejil.org

The Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) is an advocacy of human rights in the Americas. CEJIL’s main objective is to ensure full implementation of international human rights standards in the Member States of the Organization of American States (OAS), through the effective use of the Inter-american human rights system and other international protection mechanisms. CEJIL is a nongovernmental nonprofit with consultative status at the OAS, the Organization of the United Nations (UN) and observer status with the African Commission on Human Rights.

 

[1] IACHR. Report 137/99. Case 11,863. Andrés Aylwin Azocar and Others (Chile). December 22, 1999, par. 110, 114, y 115.

[2] IACHR. Honduras: Human Rights and the Coup d’État. December 30, 2009, par. 232.

 

[3] Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Case of the “Las Dos Erres Massacre v. Guatemala. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs.  Judgment of November 24, 2009. Serie C No. 211, par 129. In the same sense, see, Inter. alia, Case of Carpio Nicolle et al v. Guatemala. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of November 22, 2004. Series C No 117, par.130; Case of Barrios Altos v. Peru. Judgement of March 14, 2001. Serie C No. 75, par. 41.130.