Murder of the prominent human rights defender Berta Cáceres

Paris-Geneva, March 3, 2016 – The Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights, a joint FIDH-OMCT program, strongly condemns the murder of Ms Berta Cáceres, Leader of the Lenca indigenous community. This murder demonstrates thereluctance of the Honduran authorities to ensure the protection of human rightsdefenders.

Ms.Bertha Isabel Cáceres Flores, member of the Lenca indigenous community,Cofounder and Coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and IndigenousOrganisations of Honduras (COPINH), was killed at about 1am on March 3, 2016 (andnot 11:45 pm on the March 3rd, as stated previously) in the city of La Esperanza, adepartment of the south-west of Intibucá, her hometown, by unidentifiedindividuals. According to local sources, the perpetrators waited for her tofall sleep before forcing the door to her house and killed her.

Human rightsdefender Gustavo Castro Soto, memberof the organisation OtherWorlds of Chiapas, and of the Mexican Movement of People Affected by Dams andin Defense of Rivers (MAPDER) in Mexico, as well as of the MesoamericanMovement against the M4 Mining Model and the Latin American Network againstDams and for Rivers, their Communities and Water (REDLAR), who was present inthe country as part of an exchange of experiences with COPINH on energyalternatives according to indigenous vision, was also injured during theattack.

Ms. Berta Cáceres fought for the rights of the Lenca indigenous people,notably the right to recover their land in Rio Blanco (the White River) inIntibucá, and against the construction of the hydroelectric dam Agua Zarca bythe Energy Development Company S.A. (DESA), on Lenca territory. The Lenca peoplehave long been struggling for the defense of their ancestral lands and for theprotection of the White River. As a result, the Lenca population has beenpersecuted some were forced to abandon their territories. Some members of thecommunity were injured, and in 2014, four Lencas were killed. These attackswere perpetrated in total impunity.

Onseveral occasions, Ms. Cáceres denounced the expropriation of the Lenca fromtheir ancestral territories and the lack of protection in terms of health andagricultural . Additionally, she opposed the establishment of US military basesin Lenca territory. Last week, she participated in a press conference anddenounced the murder of four leaders of her community and the threats madeagainst other Lencas. Recently, Ms. Cáceres was awarded the Goldman Prize 2015for Latin America because of her continuous commitment and work in favor ofhuman rights.

The Observatory notes with concern andstrongly denounces the increasing attacks and the criminalisation of individualsand communities who engage in the defense of human rights, including landrights, in the context of investment projects (hydroelectric, mining,mono-culture, etc.) in Honduras, as a form of intimidation to their work. Thistrend is addressed in the Observatory Report entitled “Criminalisationof human rights defenders in the context of industrial projects: a regionalphenomenon in Latin America”, in which the harassment faced by Ms. Cáceres wasanalysed.

The Observatory alsodenounces the Honduran authorities' lack of will to implement and enforce theprotection measures for human rights defenders. Ms. Berta Cáceres was benefiting fromprecautionary measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rightssince June 29, 2009.

In this context, the Observatory urges the authorities of Honduras torespect the work of human rights defenders and to take seriously andresponsibly their obligation to ensure that urgent protection measures areeffectively implemented and benefit from an adequate budget.

Finally, the Observatory urges the Honduran authorities to carry out animmediate, thorough, impartial and international investigation into all attacksagainst defenders, and that all those responsible are brought to justice.

The Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights Defenders (OBS) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). Theobjective of this programme is to intervene to prevent or remedy to situationsof repression against human rights defenders.

For more information, please contact:

• FIDH: Arthur Manet/AudreyCouprie: + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18

• OMCT: Miguel Martín Zumalacárregui / ChiaraCosentino: +32 2 218 37 19