Honduras Has Much to Explain in Human Rights Exam

[Judi Lynn]

Honduras Has Much to Explain in Human Rights Exam
By Thelma Mejía

TEGUCIGALPA, Nov 2, 2010 (IPS) - Honduras must answer to the United Nations Human Rights Council this week with respect to the numerous complaints of human rights violations committed before, during and after the Jun. 28, 2009 coup d'état that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya.

"The human rights debt that is owed is enormous, in particular since the events of Jun. 28," Sandra Ponce, the prosecutor who heads the human rights unit in the Attorney General's Office, told IPS. "We feel there has been a regression, and we have to work to keep it from ever happening again."

Ponce forms part of the delegation that will represent Honduras on Nov. 4 in its first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in the 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

Although the Honduran delegation, headed by Vice President María Antonieta Bográn, has expressed moderate optimism, it is aware that "there are many things to be resolved…We have started out on a path and that is what we are going to explain," Bográn said.

More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53441

[social_critic]

1. Slight pressure is the best way

I like the UN approach to this point. There should be slight pressure applied on these regimes so they improve human rights. It would also help if the emphasis is placed on reform of the judiciary and police system, so that the police do not violate human rights, and the judiciary can punish those who do. This process is painful, and it needs to be supported from the outside. Once the police and judiciary are reformed, it is easy to improve in other areas.

I never thought much of Kirchner, the peronista president of Argentina, because his regime was so corrupt, but I thought his effort to punish those guilty of violations during the military dictatorship was a key to Argentina's future. He may have been corrupt, but his efforts in the human rights area do give him enough credit to make up for his failings.