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Article

19 Jan 2022

Author:
UN OHCHR

Honduras: UN OHCHR calls for investigation into murder of Indigenous community radio director Pablo Isabel Hernández to include his work as human rights defender

La Croix Internacional

The Office in Honduras of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) condemns the murder of human rights defender and social communicator, Pablo Isabel Hernández, which occurred on Sunday, January 9, in the municipality of San Marcos de Caiquín, department of Lempira, when unknown men shot him in the back while he was on his way to the church.

The Office urges the competent authorities to carry out a prompt, thorough and independent investigation that includes among their lines of investigation the human rights work carried out by Mr. Hernández, and that allows the punishment of those materially and intellectually responsible for this murder to be established.

Mr. Hernández was a recognized Lenca indigenous leader who defended and promoted the rights of his people from various platforms: he was director of the Tenán Community Radio, Mayor of the Auxiliary of the Vara Alta de Caiquín, president of the Cacique Lempira Network of Agroecologists of the Biosphere, member of the Network of Human Rights Defenders of the department of Lempira and, in addition, it promoted the creation of the Lenca Indigenous University and the Peoples.

Mr. Hernández assumed five years ago the direction of the aforementioned Radio and from that platform he questioned the local administration of San Marcos de Caiquín. It also broadcast the program "Voices against Oblivion" of the Committee of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees in Honduras (COFADEH). Mr. Hernández repeatedly made public his situation of risk and the threats received to close the community media, as well as the sabotage of its electrical installation that occurred in February 2021.

"The murder of Pablo Hernández is extremely serious, since, in addition to being a human rights defender, he was an indigenous leader and social communicator. From the direction of 'Radio Tenán, La Voz Indígena Lenca', he publicly denounced human rights violations against the Lenca indigenous people. Silencing the voices of those who defend human rights and those who inform society is an attack on democracy," said Isabel Albaladejo Escribano, OHCHR Representative in Honduras.

Mr. Hernandez's murder is the first documented by the Bureau in 2022. During 2021, OHCHR recorded violent incidents against at least 208 human rights defenders and 93 journalists, of which 10 were murders of human rights defenders.

"This murder is in addition to the 10 human rights defenders documented by the Office in 2021 and which the authorities must also investigate and punish. Truth, justice and reparation for the victims of these crimes must be guaranteed," the Representative added.

"It is important to highlight the work of informative counterweight that community radios carry out in Honduras. In addition to the fact that community journalism is a form of human rights advocacy, it is also a fundamental means for people to be informed and participate in the political and social life of their community. Those who carry out community journalism in Honduras promote access to information, culture and history, promote plurality and diversity of voices, strengthening democracy and the rule of law," said the Representative.

The Office reiterates its readiness to provide technical assistance to the Honduran authorities in the search for and implementation of structural and sustainable measures for the prevention of aggression and the protection of those who defend human rights and practice journalism.

Finally, OHCHR expresses its solidarity with the family of indigenous leader and human rights defender Pablo Hernández, with the comrades of the spaces it integrated and with the Lenca indigenous community of San Marcos de Caiquín.