HONDURAS: Independent investigation needed into human rights abuses

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Independent investigation needed into Honduras human rights abuses
3 December 2009 - http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/independent-investigation-needed-honduras-human-rights-abuses-20091203


At the end of a 10-day visit to Honduras during the country's presidential elections, Amnesty International has called for an independent investigation to ensure all those responsible for human rights abuses are brought to justice and the victims given reparations.

"The crisis in Honduras does not end with the election results, the authorities cannot return to business as usual without ensuring human rights safeguards," said Javier Zúñiga, head of the Amnesty International delegation in Honduras.

"There are dozens of people in Honduras still suffering the effects of the abuses carried out in the past five months. Failure to punish those responsible and to fix the malfunctioning system would open the door for more abuses in the future."

During its visit to Honduras, Amnesty International's delegation documented numerous cases of human rights abuses carried out since last June, when President Manuel Zelaya was forced into exile.

These included killings following excessive use of force, arbitrary arrests of demonstrators by police and military, indiscriminate and unnecessary use of tear gas, ill treatment of detainees in custody, violence against women, harassment of activists, journalists, lawyers and judges.

The organization found that members of the military assigned to law enforcement duties were involved in committing serious human rights violations such as killings following excessive use of force, arbitrary arrests and illegal raids.

Amnesty International also found that the civilian de facto authorities failed to do anything to prevent the indiscriminate use of tear gas against protesters. In some cases gas canisters were thrown inside offices.

Most people interviewed said that after being injured or made ill by the gas, they were too scared to seek medical assistance as police and military entered hospitals in order to intimidate them.

On 23 September, Marta (not her real name) was attacked by police while she was taking part in a demonstration. She was hit with a tear gas can, which burned her leg and caused her to have breathing problems. While she was hiding from the gases in a church, police caught up with her and hit her so badly they broke her arm. She didn’t go to the hospital until several days later because she was scared the police would harass her there. Her arm still hasn’t recovered and the burn to her leg is still visible.

"We spoke to people who still had eye irritation and burns to the skin several weeks after having been affected by tear gas," said Javier Zúñiga. "Not only did police use gas against peaceful protesters and in enclosed buildings, doctors were not given information about the chemical substances used in the cans to enable them to treat victims properly."

"The security forces' use of tear gas raises questions about the level of training received that could have minimized the risks of serious injury or death," said Javier Zúñiga.

Representatives of human rights organizations, journalists, lawyers and judges told Amnesty International about the threats and harassment they received for being seen as opposed to the de facto authorities.

Members of a national judges association were called to a hearing to account for their participation in peaceful demonstrations.

"During the crisis, institutions in Honduras have blatantly failed to protect basic human rights," said Javier Zúñiga. "It is particularly worrying that in Honduras the conditions which enable human rights abusers to go unpunished exist."

Amnesty International urged the future Honduran government to:

* Repeal all legislation, decrees and executive orders issued by the de facto authorities;
* Ensure the military return to their barracks and that their law enforcement function is withdrawn;
* Ensure that all members of the security forces are held accountable for human rights abuses committed between 28th June and end of November;
* Develop a National Plan for the protection of human rights.

"It is essential that the international community does not forget people in Honduras by giving a blank cheque to the new authorities over-looking the abuses of the past five months," said Javier Zúñiga.

* Call on Honduras to hold security forces accountable for human rights abuses

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1. Three Senior Administration Officials On Recent Developments in Honduras

Three Senior Administration Officials On Recent Developments in Honduras
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/dec/133121.htm

Senior Department Official
Senior OfficialOffice of the Spokesman
Via Teleconference
Washington, DC
December 3, 2009

OPERATOR: Tim Padgett with Time Magazine, your line is open.

QUESTION: My question goes to a statement Arturo Valenzuela just made when he said that the status quo remains unacceptable. But it seems to a lot of us that the United States helped foster that status quo by accepting and recognizing the results of the election. By acquiescing to that very important aspect of this crisis, it seems that we were, as I said, fostering the status quo rather than thwarting it.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: Let me make clear, as we’ve said over the last several weeks, and I mean, more specifically as the election came up, that the electoral process in Honduras was a necessary step to resolve the problems of Honduras, because this is an electoral process that began way before the military coup took place. This is an election that began in November of 2008. When the primaries took place, the vice president resigned from office and actually became a candidate. That was Mr. Santos.

So the coup d’état takes place while this electoral process, in fact, was coming to a conclusion. And that electoral process, we have always felt, was an important step to the solution of the problems of Honduras, but not a sufficient one, because the restoration of the democratic and constitutional order had to go by additional measures, and the additional measures were implementation of this negotiated accord. The negotiated accord had as its various steps, as you know, the creation of a government of national unity, this vote that the Congress was supposed to take on the restoration of Zelaya, and a truth commission in particular. And when we supported the elections, we by no means meant that the problems of Honduras or the crisis in Honduras was resolved.

So – and that’s exactly where we are today. The elections were just simply a step in this process. That process is not over. That’s why we were disappointed. And the fact that the Congress, in fact, did not vote President Zelaya back into office and, as we were saying in this statement that Arturo Valenzuela just read, that we really do believe that additional steps are essential to move forward in order for Honduras to be able to return to the inter-American system.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL TWO: , if I might, or (inaudible), if I might, I think what’s important to recall here is the absence of democratic and constitutional order is the unacceptable status quo. And the elections, as Senior Administration Official Number One was saying, is a step towards the day where Honduras will have an electorally legitimate government in place after January 20 – on January 27th of 2010.

There are other intermediate steps – a government of national reconciliation, truth commission, the mere act of national reconciliation – that are important toward reestablishing the democratic and constitutional order in Honduras. So that’s what we’re getting at here. And it’s – again, so the elections themselves were an important reaffirmation of the democratic will of the Honduran people. They got an opportunity to express themselves on who their leaders should be in a way that they were deprived of on June 28th.

QUESTION: But hasn’t U.S. recognition of the elections simply given – hasn’t Congress simply told you with the vote they took this week that because you recognized the election, all the rest really doesn’t matter to us; we got what we wanted from the U.S. with the recognition of the election, and therefore, the rest is just kind of immaterial at this point? ...............

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