Tegucigalpa.- An International Solidarity Delegation asked the State of Honduras this Saturday to comply with four rulings issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) in favor of four Garifuna (Black) ethnic communities, a representation of which has been demanding justice from a camp in front of the Judiciary in Tegucigalpa.
“It is essential that -the State- stop favoring private interests and take decisive steps for the process of sanitation of the registry and titling of ancestral Garifuna lands, so that their full use is guaranteed“, indicated the International Solidarity Delegation with the Camp for the Life of the Garifuna People in a statement read at the camp, where more than a hundred Afro-descendants have been demanding justice for more than a month.
The Inter-American Court has issued four condemnatory judgments against Honduras for violations of the territorial rights of the communities of Triunfo de la Cruz and Punta Piedra (2015), San Juan (2023), and Cayos Cochinos (2026), all in the Caribbean.
“There are more than 30 organizations and media outlets from Latin America, Europe, the United States, and international ones here, who traveled to Honduras to participate in the International Solidarity Delegation with the Camp for the Life of the Garifuna People, in addition to 13 other international organizations that have been accompanying and supporting this solidarity action from a distance,” the statement adds.
The Delegation arrived last Thursday in Tegucigalpa to express its “solidarity and admiration” for the Garifuna people gathered in the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH), “to observe and denounce the serious human rights violations to which they are subjected and to demand that the State of Honduras comply with its national and international obligations regarding human rights”.
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The international mission, which was not received by the Honduran president, Nasry Asfura, nor by the heads of the Legislative and Judicial branches, and other institutions, expressed its concerns regarding the situation of the Garifuna people to the European Union delegation in Honduras, the embassies of Germany, Spain, and France, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras.
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“We regret that, practically, no Honduran state institution received the Delegation despite having made the request in a timely manner. The only exception was the meeting held with two female magistrates and one male magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice, an institution that, at the last moment and after the pressure exerted by the Delegation, granted us an audience,” the statement adds.
OFRANEH coordinator Miriam Miranda told EFE that they have been at the camp for a month and a half and have filed more than 60 legal actions regarding the claims of the Garifuna people, and that the only response they receive is “no ha lugar” (motion denied).
“So, we decided that we are no longer going to continue insisting before a system that is totally biased towards people who have economic power in this country. Here in this Court, we have seen people accused of serious crimes parade by, and they have been granted dismissals,” Miranda emphasized.
He added that the communities that have a ruling from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights are facing “criminalization trials, judicialization, persecution, and armed attacks by the Police, together with the judicial systems, which we find to be serious”.
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“We also want to tell you that this camp is not being dismantled, it is indefinite,” the leader concluded.
