Lesbia Yaneth Urquia Urquia
Lesbia Yaneth Urquia Urquia was a community leader and a member of the Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras (Copinh). She joined the organisation in 2009 during the protests against the coup d'etat. She actively worked to oppose the construction of the hydroelectric dam “Aurora I” in the municipality of San José, La Paz. The company behind the project is owned by Gladys Aurora López, president of the National Party and vice-president of the National Congress. Lesbia Yaneth Urquia Urquia was killed on 6 July 2016.
Human rights defenders suffer extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment as well as judicial harassment, threats and stigmatisation. Journalists, lawyers, prosecutors, those defending the rights of women, children, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community, indigenous and Afro-Honduran communities, and those working on environmental and land rights issues are particularly at risk.
