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2 July 2021

Joint Statement: Justice for Berta Cáceres

We, the undersigned organisations, support and accompany the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras (COPINH) and the family of Berta Cáceres on the path towards justice in Honduras.

The trial against David Castillo began on April 6, 2021, after more than three years of delays. This trial comes more than five years after the femicide of the human rights defender, the ultimate expression of the violence carried out for years against Berta Cáceres including threats, harassment, defamation and criminalisation in retaliation for her work in defence of the ancestral lands of the Lenca people and her struggle against the imposition of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project.

Today, after almost 50 days of the trial, the undersigned national and international human rights organisations hope that this ruling will bring some justice in a case in which the intellectual authors responsible for the planning and financing of the crime have yet to be tried. In Honduras, one of the most dangerous countries in the region in which to defend human rights – where human rights defenders were killed in 2020 and for which the perpetrators remain unpunished – this trial represents a historic moment on the road to justice, tirelessly led by the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras (COPINH), the family of Berta Cáceres and the Lenca communities.

We recognise that Berta Cáceres' struggle represents the resistance of peoples who have faced dispossession, criminalisation and human rights violations in a context of atrocious extractive operations in Honduras and throughout the Latin American region. This trial exposes the violence faced by defenders of land, territory and human rights, and reveals how institutions and corporations operate against those who defend rights, against indigenous peoples and women throughout the region.

For all of the above reasons, we call on the Honduran State and the responsible authorities to seek a ruling in accordance with the law and international human rights standards in order to guarantee access to truth and justice for the family, COPINH, the Lenca people, women human rights defenders, Honduran society and Latin America. Achieving justice for Berta Cáceres is justice for the people.

We hope that this ruling contributes to truth, justice and guarantees non-repetition. While systemic violence that has claimed many lives and threats against human rights organisations and defenders persists, we continue to raise our voices and once again reaffirm our commitment. The case of Berta Cáceres will not be subjet to impunity and oblivion. Thanks to COPINH, the family and the whole team for allowing us to accompany you and demand with you: Justice for Berta!

Signed:

  • ACI PARTICIPA
  • Aluna Minga e.V.
  • Aruanas Iniciativa pela Democracia
  • Honduras Delegation, Europa
  • Honduras Delegation, Alemania
  • Informationsgruppe Lateinamerika,
  • Viena, Austria - IGLAASOPEDES, Honduras
  • Asociación para una Vida Mejor - APUMIVEH
  • ASOPEDEHU, Honduras
  • Association of Ethical Shareholders Germany
  • Bufete Justicia para los Pueblos – BJP,
  • Honduras
  • Centro de Derechos de Mujeres – CEMH
  • Centro de Prevención, Tratamiento y
  • Rehabilitación de las Víctimas de Tortura y sus
  • Familiares – CPTRT
  • Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho
  • Internacional – CEJIL
  • Christliche Initiative Romero e.V.
  • Centro di Iniziative per la Verità e la Giustizia –
  • CIVG
  • Colectivo CADEHO, Alemania
  • Colectovo Contrast
  • Colectivo Brazil – Alemanha pela Democracia
  • Comité Municipal de Bienes Comunes y
  • Públicos de Tocoa
  • Comunicadores y comunicadoras Populares
  • por la Autonomía
  • Coordinadora de Organizaciones Populares del
  • Aguan (COPA)
  • Diakonia Programa Honduras
  • Equipo Jurídico por los Derechos Humanos
  • Centro de Investigación y Documentación,
  • Chile-América Latina – FDCL
  • Fondo de Acción de Acción Urgente para la
  • América Latina y el Caribe
  • Foro Honduras Suiza
  • Front Line Defenders
  • Fundación San Alonso Rodríguez
  • Guatemala Humans Rights Watch
  • Hermanas de la Misericordia
  • Informationsstelle Lateinamerika ILA e.V.
  • Bonn
  • Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Mujeres
  • Defensoras
  • Initiative Mexiko – INIMEX
  • JASS Mesoamérica
  • Latin America Working Group – LAWG
  • Mesa por la Defensa de Islas de la Bahía
  • Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y la
  • Justicia
  • Movimiento Comunitario Alga y Omega
  • Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de
  • los Pueblos
  • Oficina Ecuménica por la Paz y la Justicia
  • Otros Mundos A.C.
  • Plataforma de Solidaridad con Honduras,
  • Madrid, España
  • Plataforma Internacional contra la
  • Impunidad
  • Protection International Mesoamérica
  • Red de Abogadas Defensoras de
  • Derechos Humanos
  • Red de Colectivas La Araña Feminista
  • Red de Solidaridad con los Pueblos en
  • Guatemala en Zurich, Suiza
  • Red Europea de Comités Oscar Romero
  • Red Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos
  • Humanos
  • Fíjate, Alemania/Suiza
  • Trócaire
  • Unión Nacional de Mujeres
  • Guatemaltecas
  • Unión Popular Revolucionaria Emiliazo
  • Zapata - UPPREZ
  • Utopix, Venezuela