Honduras : Letter to the European Institutions: Ten years after the murder of Berta Cáceres: the conclusions of the GIEI must mark a turning point for the European Union

The conclusions of the GIEI show that the risks faced by Berta Cáceres and the communities organized in COPINH were known, foreseeable and preventable. The report highlights how business interests, institutional failures and state omissions contributed to creating the conditions that made the crime possible. It also presents key findings on the role played by financial actors that supported the project despite repeated reports of social conflict, violence and violations of the rights of Indigenous peoples.

One of the main international financiers of the Agua Zarca project was FMO, a Dutch development bank, which is mainly publicly owned by the State of the Netherlands. The findings of the GIEI reveal serious negligence and extremely grave deficiencies in the due diligence processes applied before and during its participation in the project. Specifically, the report shows that 67% of the funds disbursed by FMO for the project were diverted for illicit purposes, including the payment of the hitmen of Berta Cáceres. For the affected communities and human rights organizations, the responses and measures adopted to date by FMO have not been sufficient in terms of accountability, full reparation and effective guarantees of non-repetition. 

The case of Berta Cáceres has become an emblematic example of the risks associated with infrastructure projects financed from Europe which don’t have adequate mechanisms to identify, prevent and mitigate human rights impacts. It also demonstrates the limitations of safeguard systems that are insufficient to operate in contexts marked by structural violence, social conflict, criminalization of human rights defenders, corruption, institutional weakness, and lack of consultation and free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous peoples. 

These concerns are particularly relevant today in the framework of the Global Gateway strategy. The EU presents this initiative as an investment strategy based on values, aimed at promoting sustainable development and ecological transition. However, the implementation of Global Gateway depends to a large extent on a wide network of development banks (including FMO), financial institutions and private companies whose due diligence standards and mechanisms vary significantly among them.

To date, there is no single, binding and standardized due diligence framework applicable to all Global Gateway projects. Therefore, in practice, the identification, prevention and mitigation of risks, as well as participation and prior consultation procedures, are left in the hands of the financial institutions and companies involved. This is compounded by the lack of transparency regarding contractual negotiations, project planning and monitoring mechanisms, which limits the ability of affected communities, civil society and other public actors to carry out effective oversight. This situation creates significant gaps in supervision and accountability and increases the risk that projects supported by the European Union may reproduce patterns of action that, as in the case of Berta Cáceres, have contributed to serious human rights violations. 

The lessons from this case are directly relevant for the future of Global Gateway. The murder of Berta Cáceres was not only a tragedy for her family and her community, but also a warning for the international community. The European Union cannot aspire to promote an investment strategy based on rights if the protection of communities and human rights defenders continues to depend on fragmented, heterogeneous and largely self-regulated mechanisms. 

Ten years after her murder, justice for Berta Cáceres remains incomplete. Full accountability requires not only the prosecution of all persons responsible for the crime, but also effective reparation measures for the affected communities and structural reforms to prevent similar events from happening again. Only through these advances will it be possible to ensure that the lessons of this case translate into concrete changes for the protection of human rights in the context of international investments. 

Therefore, we request that the European Union and its Member States to: 

• Call on FMO to publicly acknowledge its responsibility in facilitating a project that generated serious violations of human rights, territory and the environment, and to contribute substantially and proportionately to the “Berta Cáceres Reparations Fund”; 
• Urge the State of Honduras to implement the GIEI recommendations to ensure access to justice, guarantees of non-repetition, and reparation; 
• Establish binding, transparent and standardized rules of due diligence on human rights, environment and the rights of Indigenous peoples for all projects financed under Global Gateway, including respect for the right to free, prior and informed consent, and incorporating obligations to suspend or withdraw funding when there are serious or persistent risks of violations, in line with the European Union’s international human rights commitments; 
• Ensure that all Global Gateway projects include independent human rights and environmental impact assessments, effective mechanisms for the participation of affected communities, and full transparency at all stages through the publication of contracts, monitoring reports and financing decisions; 
• Create independent oversight, complaints, accountability and reparation mechanisms accessible to communities, organizations and human rights defenders affected by EUbacked investments, and adopt specific measures to prevent, monitor and respond to the risks faced by defenders of land, environment and human rights in the context of development and infrastructure projects; 
• Ensure that development financial institutions, including FMO, provide effective reparation mechanisms when their actions or omissions have contributed to negative impacts on human rights. 

Signatures 

Red EU-LAT 

Organización Mundial Contra la Tortura (OMCT)

Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras de Derechos HUmanos (IM_Defensoras ) 

CNCD-11.11.11 

Pax Christi International 

Federación Internacional por los Derechos Humanos (FIDH) 

Protection International Mesoamérica 

Asociación por la Paz y los Derechos Humanos Taula per Mèxic 

Informationsstell e Peru e.V. 

HondurasDeleg ation Alemania 

Entraide et Fraternité 

Oxfam Intermon 

Red europea Comités Oscar Romero 

Trócaire 

CIDSE 

FOEE 

Entrepueblos 

Iniciativas de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo - ICID 

ZeharErrefuxiatuekin 

Reds – Solidaridad para la transformación social 

CATAPA (Comité Académico Técnico de Asesoramiento a Problemas Ambientales) 

ActionAid Guatemala 

Proyecto sobre Organización, Desarrollo, Educación e Investigación (PODER) 

Articulação Agro é Fogo 

Red Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos en Honduras 

KULU -Women and Development (KULU), Denmark 

Peace Brigades International 

Diakonia 

CAREA e.V. 

Deutsche Menschenrechts koordinaton Mexiko 

Counter Balance 

Partner Südmexikos e.V 

Zapapres e.V., Hamburg 

Programa ACTuando Juntas Jotay 

Asociacion de Organismos No Gubernamental es ASONOG 

Red de mujeres indigenas y afrodescendient es con discapacidad de ALC (REMIAD) 

Group on Gender and Trade WIDE+ 

Fundación Ayuda en Acción 

Eurodad (European Network on Debt and Development)