WHRDIC Statement: Justice for Berta and Stop to Violence against Women Human Rights Defenders

WHRDIC Mourns the Death of the Indigenous Leader and Feminist ActivistBerta Cáceres.

We Demand Justice for Berta and Call on the HonduranGovernment and the International Community to Stop Violence against Women HumanRights Defenders

“I have beenpersecuted not just for political leadership but also for being a woman, forbeing Lenca. In this country it’s not the same being a male leader and being afemale leader. And that comes with a very heavy weight.”

Berta Cáceres

Berta Isabel Cáceres Flores was a Woman Human Rights Defender (WHRD) andprominent Lenca indigenous and feminist activist in Honduras. In the morning ofMarch 3rd, 2016, Berta Cáceres was murdered in her sleep, in her home inIntibucá, Honduras.

Ms. Cáceres was the General Coordinator of the Civic Council of Popularand Indigenous Organisations of Honduras (COPINH) and a member of Honduras'National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders. Berta led the struggle forthe rights of the Lenca indigenous peoples and against the construction of ahydroelectric project, Agua Zarca, by the Honduran company DesarrollosEnergéticos S.A. (DESA). The regional Central American Bank for EconomicIntegration (CABEI), the Dutch development bank FMO and Finnfund from Finlandfinance the project and Voith-Hydro (Siemens) supply the project’s equipment. Followingthis and other murders and violent attacks, FMO and Finnfund have announcedtheir intention to withdraw from Agua Zarca project.

This political assassination is intended to silence the people’sopposition to a destructive and profit-driven model of development that has been violentlyimposed by corporate and state authorities. Berta was murdered because she confronted the country’s economic andpolitical elites in the struggle for life, justice and the environment. She wasconstantly attacked due to her human rights work and also for being anindigenous woman.

Berta’s life was in grave danger for a long time and she has receivedcountless death threats. She was subjected to attacks, threats and sexualharassment from people associated with DESA as well as arbitrary arrests andcriminalization by Honduran State officers and entities. For this reason, Bertawas granted precautionary protection measures by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) in 2009.

“They have threatened me with death. I have received threats by cellphone. Sexual harassment from the security guards of these companies. I havereceived threats against my family, against my daughters, against my son.”(Berta Cáceres, May 2014, Jacobin)

The WHRDIC warns that Berta’s assassination issymptomatic of the global backlash against WHRDs. Struggles for land and territory entail particular risks due toconfronting powerful corporate actors. Indigenous women worldwide leadstruggles to protect their territories and to counter the exploitation andabuse of people and nature. They confront “profit over people” paradigms aswell as ingrained social structures of patriarchy and white supremacy.

“Ithink it may be easier to confront the transnationals and the army than it isto confront the patriarchy, because that we encounter everywhere.”

When women take leadership, they challenge gender norms and oftencontest the patriarchal culture perpetuated by communities, states andcorporations. As a result, WHRDs are subjected to gender-specific and sexualviolence and intimidation. Threats against their families and loved ones areintended to force them to abandon their critical work for rights and justice.

With lethal violence is on the rise worldwide, states have theresponsibility to act for the gender-specific integrated security and safety ofWHRDs. States have the opportunity todayto express true commitment to WHRDs in two key processes in the United Nations.Member States of the United Nations can endorse and fulfil theirobligations on protection measures, currently debated in the Commission on theStatus of Women (CSW) and negotiated at the 31st Session of theHuman Rights Council around the Resolution on Human Rights Defenders.

The WHRD IC reiterates thatprotection measures for Human Rights Defenders cannot be detached fromgender-specific analysis, informed by an intersectional framework of race,ethnicity, class and sexual identity.

“We (compañeras fromCOPIHN) have not accepted the notion that we first had to fight againsttransnationals, and later against racism, and lastly against violence againstwomen. We all experience multiple forms of domination – women being the mostaffected – so the fight must also be multiple and diverse, recognizing thesemultiple forms of domination”

We celebrate the clarity and coherence of Berta’svoice and political action; her enormous generosity towards people and nature;her rebellious integrity to resist powerful institutions and the profit-driven,patriarchal and racist ideologies that justify them. We stand together increating alternatives to global systems of economic and patriarchal dominationand exploitation of human lives and natural resources. In the spirit offeminist solidarity, we reaffirm our commitment to Berta’s vision that tiestogether human life, social equality and environmental justice.

We Call on the Government of Honduras

• To ensure animpartial and transparent investigation with the collaboration and oversightfrom regional and international human rights mechanisms, primarily the IACHR;

• To immediately assumeresponsibility to end repression and lethal violence against the members ofCOPINH and all women and men Human Rights Defenders; to fully comply with the precautionary measures provided by the IACHR toBerta’s family, COPINH and the Honduran WHRD Network;

• To acknowledge itsresponsibility in failing to provide adequate protection measures to BertaCáceres and to investigate previous attacks and threats against Berta andCOPINH;

• To take measures toend to the murder, persecution, and criminalization of all Human Rights Defendersand environmental activists, to commit to their individual and organizationalsafety and security, and to develop gender-specific measures of protection forWomen Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs);

• To immediately removeall movement restrictions for the witness to Berta’s murder - Gustavo CastroSoto, the Coordinator of Other Worlds/Friends of the Earth Mexico – and toimmediately ensure his safe return to Mexico.

We Call on DESA, FMO and Finnfund

• To definitively withdrawfrom the Gualcarque River and put an end to the death and destruction that theAgua Zarca project brings upon the local communities;

• To consult indigenouscommunities and women prior to commencement of any project, and to withdrawfrom projects imposed on communities undemocratically and against their will;

• To take pro-activemeasures to prevent violations against HRDs by personnel, including securitypersonnel.

We Call on the Governments of the Netherlands and of Finland

• To direct FMO and theFinnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation (Finnfund) respectively to completelydivest from the Agua Zarca project and to monitor this process.

We Call Upon Civil Society Organizations Worldwide

• To continuemonitoring the progress towards an independent and transparent investigation;

• To raise awarenessabout the gender-specific risks that Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) face,and promote adequate protection measures;

• To acknowledge andpay respect to the critical work of WHRDs resisting patriarchy, racism, sexismand homophobia, among other important causes of their human rights work andstruggles for justice.

  For more information about the WHRDInternational Coalition, our work and coalition members please visit: http://www.defendingwomen-defendingrights.org/