Civil Society Building

Scenes from a meeting on Honduras by Teyo van de Schoot: There is an apparent low profile war going on against progressive circles in Honduras, and this edition of Envio magazine demands that the international community take notice. It reports on an international  expert meeting in which Hivos teamed up with CEJIL, ERIC and Jueces por la Democracia to talk about impunity, freedom of expression and Justice.

The goal of the event, held in october 2011, was to support Honduran human rights activism with reflextions and lessons from neighbouring countries.

Urgency
Contributions by several expert speakers, including Judge Bathasar Garzon(ICC) and Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue (UN) convey an acute sense of urgency. While the country increasingly falls prey to drugs  related criminal groups, the contested government of president Lobo  limits itself to remilitarize the country following "mano dura" policies  that become more en vogue in the whole region. Civil protesters denouncing human rights violations are criminalized rather than protected by the government. The killing of activists of all sorts (journalists, poor farmers, transgenders, sympathizers of the political left) continues despite international pressure and a formal return to  democracy. Impunity reigns the political scene, as it did in the  past.The meeting served to give a new impulse to the domestic struggle  for a return to democracy that can only be sustained thorugh continuous  strategic analysis and international solidarity. This issue of Envio  offers inspiring insights for both and therefore merits attention from  practitioners, academics and observers interested in to see democracy  and justice prevail, in Honduras, beyond.

Photo: copyrights Flickr David Nallah

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