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TITLE: HONDURAS HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1993
DATE: JANUARY 31, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
HONDURAS
Honduras is a constitutional democracy with a President and a
unicameral Congress elected for 4-year terms, and an
independent judiciary headed by a Supreme Court of Justice
(CSJ). Liberal Party candidate Carlos Roberto Reina was
elected President in November and took office on January 27,
1994. The November elections were marked by higher than usual
absenteeism but little indication of fraud. Deputies continued
to be elected indirectly from a slate, based on the vote totals
for the presidential candidate.
The Honduran Armed Forces (HOAF) comprise not only the army,
air force, and navy but also the national police (Public
Security Force--FUSEP) as a fourth branch. Credible allegations
of extrajudicial killings by members of the FUSEP, particularly
its Directorate of National Investigations (DNI), led to
establishment of an Ad Hoc Commission on Police and Judicial
Reform. It recommended creation of a new Public Ministry to
manage every aspect of the investigative phase of criminal
cases and a new Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DIC) to
replace the DNI. Congress passed enabling legislation for the
Public Ministry in December.
The HOAF operates with considerable institutional and legal
autonomy, particularly in the realm of internal security and
military affairs. The military also plays a sizable role in
the national economy, operating numerous enterprises usually
associated with the private sector. In 1993 Congress passed a
resolution restricting the jurisdiction of the military court
system to military crimes committed by active duty personnel.
Since then enlisted military personnel accused of crimes
against civilians were in fact remanded to the civilian
judicial system, although the congressional ruling has not been
tested by an accusation against a senior military officer.
The Honduran economy is based upon agriculture, with a small
light manufacturing sector. Despite a relatively low inflation
rate in the past few years, estimates for 1993 were above
10 percent. In 1993 real economic growth was expected to be
about 3.5 percent. Per capita income in 1992 was estimated to
be $637, combined unemployment and underemployment as high as
58 percent, and literacy only 67 percent. The United Nations
Development Program estimated that 74 percent of Hondurans
lived in poverty.
The principal human rights problems were extrajudicial killings,
arbitrary and incommunicado detentions, and torture and abuse
of detainees. However, reports of such abuses fell sharply
following the establishment in March of a joint civilian-
military supervisory board to oversee the activities of the
DNI, the agency whose officers were most frequently criticized
for abuses. The root cause of Honduras' human rights problems
is the near-complete impunity before the law enjoyed by members
of the civilian and military elite. The weak judicial system,
intentionally underfunded and plagued by corruption, is unable
to press cases against the wealthy and the powerful. Almost no
elected official, member of the business elite, bureaucrat,
politician, or anyone with perceived influence or connections
to the elite was tried, sentenced, or even fined in 1993. Some
progress in eroding the traditional impunity of military
officers was made with the arrest and incarceration of three
colonels pending trial or sentencing.
National Human Rights Commissioner Leo Valladares at the end of
December issued his preliminary report on politically motivated
disappearances occurring between 1979 and 1989. The report
states that 184 individuals of various nationalities
"disappeared" in Honduras during that period and that the HOAF
and the former Nicaraguan Resistance were apparently
responsible for the majority of the crimes. Valladares called
on the judiciary to use his report as a basis for investigation
of these matters. He included in his report unsubstantiated
material from news articles dating from the 1980's which
claimed that U.S. advisers were working with the HOAF and
Nicaraguan Resistance in Honduras and may have known of and
tolerated the disappearances.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
Freedom from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
As in previous years, some members of the police and security
forces were involved in extrajudicial killings; those
prosecuted tended to be only from the ranks of enlisted men.
Officers continued to enjoy impunity, despite the notable
exception of the military officers tried and convicted in 1993
in the Riccy Mabel Martinez case (see below).
In November five DNI agents were arrested and turned over to
civilian judicial authorities for the torture and murder of
narcotics suspect Jorge Alcides Medina Hernandez. He had been
arrested earlier and then released; when his body was found,
investigation revealed that he had been picked up a second time
by the DNI agents. Authorities concluded he had been killed
during interrogation; the fact that the DNI surrendered the
perpetrators reflected compliance with the congressional decree
requiring all but strictly military crimes be handled by
civilian courts (see Section 1.e.). After the end of the year,
seven FUSEP agents were arrested for robbing and killing a
Nicaraguan in mid-December.
In late January, San Pedro Sula businessman Eduardo Pina Van
Tuyl was killed in a drive-by shooting. A television reporter,
Eduardo Coto, witnessed the killers fleeing the scene. Later
he claimed to have been threatened that day by a military
officer who warned him not to implicate the armed forces in the
crime. Fearing for his life, Coto sought refuge in the offices
of Tiempo newspaper and later fled to Spain under Spanish
government sponsorship. Following Coto's flight to Spain, the
Commission for Human Rights (CODEH) alleged that he had
identified several serving members of the armed forces as the
perpetrators. The home of Yani Rosenthal, editor of Tiempo,
was bombed in what was alleged to be retaliation for having
sheltered Coto. Upon Coto's return from Spain in June, he
recanted his earlier statements made through CODEH implicating
the military personnel, and identified two common criminals,
already in prison on unrelated charges, as having been
responsible for the assassination. The two persons identified
by Coto remained in jail awaiting trial at year's end.
In February Eli Josue Zuniga, a former member of the San Pedro
Sula office of the DNI, alleged that the office's antinarcotics
unit had killed Pina and committed a number of other murders
related to the unit's involvement in drug trafficking. Despite
Zuniga's low personal credibility (he had been dismissed from
the DNI for misconduct) and the fact that his information
consisted almost entirely of hearsay, many Hondurans found
credible his allegations that the DNI was involved in criminal
activities, including murder and drug trafficking.
Zuniga and others alleged that the January killings of San
Pedro businessman Guillermo Agurcia Lefebvre and his companion,
Lourdes Enamorado, were also perpetrated by the supposed clique
of drug traffickers within the DNI. Although the medical
examiner ruled the deaths a murder-suicide, Agurcia Lefebvre--
who supposedly killed Enamorado before committing suicide--
died of two gunshots to the chest. Agurcia Lefebvre's mother
claimed that four police agents committed the crime and that a
Captain Mendieta, then allegedly a member of the San Pedro Sula
DNI, ordered the killing to cover up the unit's involvement in
drug trafficking. No investigation of the victim's mother's
allegations of DNI involvement was conducted, and none of the
five police personnel she named was indicted. The FUSEP
investigation resulted in detention of a common criminal and
initiation of court proceedings against him; he remains in
prison awaiting trial. Mrs. Lefevbre claimed in November that
she was removed from the list of candidates for election as
deputy to the Central American Parliament under pressure from
HOAF Commander in Chief Discua, owing to his annoyance with her
continued allegations of wrongdoing by military personnel.
General Discua denied the charge.
Also in January, Liberal Party Congressional Deputy Carlos
Montoya was accused of killing a laborer, Juan Jose Menendez,
who was reportedly illegally fishing on his land. First
reports by eyewitnesses claimed that Montoya arrived in a
vehicle with 2 bodyguards and ordered 30 people fishing off his
land, waving a submachine gun and firing shots in the air, one
of which hit Menendez in the back, killing him instantly.
Seven eyewitnesses, including Menendez' nephew, reported the
crime to both the press and a justice of the peace. Montoya's
claim of self-defense does not appear credible, based on his
own initial remarks and the eyewitness testimony; Montoya at
first admitted shooting Menendez but called it an accident.
Montoya later denied that he had fired any shots, claiming that
his bodyguard had fired the fatal shot when he feared for
Montoya's safety, although the victim appeared to be fleeing
the scene when he was struck.
Within days, the judge who had begun to investigate the case
was removed from office by the Supreme Court. Although the
judge was relieved for corruption unrelated to the Menendez
killing (in fact, the process to remove him had begun weeks
before), the timing of his firing caused the perception that
the Supreme Court took the action to protect Montoya. As a
congressman, Montoya had enjoyed immunity from prosecution, but
in November he failed to win reelection. Subsequently, his
immunity was restored in December via special legislation
granting "Honorary Deputy" status to all former congressional
presidents (Montoya served as president of the Congress in the
1980's). Montoya will thereby have immunity from judicial
action, including with respect to the killing of Menendez, at
least while Congress is in session. Menendez' family protested
the extension of immunity to Montoya.
Rural leader Cleofes Colindres Canales, a member of a
cooperative granted land in 1980 by the National Agrarian
Institute (INA), was murdered in November. In July a combined
force of FUSEP agents and military troops, acting on orders
from INA, had forcibly removed the cooperative from the site
and destroyed members' homes. Colindres was organizing a move
back to the land when he was killed, apparently with FUSEP
involvement and perhaps in collaboration with the wealthy
original owner of the land. No action was taken against the
guards or landowner, nor did it appear that the crime was being
investigated.
Soldiers from the 15th infantry battalion shot and killed
Glenda Patricia Solorzano Medina and injured three others in
May in Olancho when troops fired wildly at a youth seeking to
avoid being forcibly recruited into the military. Armed Forces
Commander Discua publicly blamed the commander of the 15th
battalion for the incident, whom he said had violated Discua's
order to cease forced recruitment nationwide, pending the
national elections. The military promised an immediate and
full investigation and removed and detained the battalion
commander. No legal action was taken against the commander or
the soldier or soldiers involved in the incident, and the dead
woman's mother claimed she was pressured to cease her efforts
to bring those responsible to justice.
In December CODEH president Ramon Custodio criticized the
failure to investigate two recent murders of former leftist
political activists. Roger David Torres Vallejos, who had been
a member of the "Cinchoneros" terrorist group, was killed in
October; Rigoberto Quezada Figueres, a former member of the
Honduran Communist Party, was murdered in November. Both had
returned to Honduras under the 1991 amnesty issued by President
Callejas for leftist opponents of the Government. In both
cases, police authorities called the killings the work of
common criminals.
In July both defendants in the July 13, 1991, rape and murder
of 18-year-old student Riccy Mabel Martinez were convicted.
Colonel Angel Castillo Maradiaga was sentenced to 16 years and
6 months in prison. Of this sentence, 10 years and 6 months
were levied for the crime of simple homicide (equivalent to
second degree murder), and 6 years for rape. Sergeant Santos
Ilovares Funes was sentenced to 10 years for simple homicide.
The family of the victim appealed the verdict and requested
that the defendants be convicted of first degree murder.
In December Lt. Colonel Leonel Galindo Knutsen, accused in the
May 1991 killing of five peasants at El Astillero, was
released. Galindo had been detained since 1991 by judicial
military authorities, but in May 1993 his case was transferred
to the civilian courts. The private attorney prosecuting the
case for the victims' families announced her intention to
appeal Galindo's release.
There has been no investigation or judicial followup in the
following cases from past years:
--The July 1992 killing of Juan Humberto Sanchez,
allegedly by the HOAF;
--The July 15, 1992, assassination of Rigoberto Borjas, in
which the deposed leftist leadership of the Electrical Worker's
Union was a prime suspect;
--The 1992 killing of Ramon Castellon Baide, allegedly by
the Morazanista Patriotic Front;
--The July 1992 killing of University professor Cayo Eng
Lee;
--The December 1991 murder of Manuel de Jesus Guerra, a
leader of the National Central of Farm Workers (CNTC), allegedly
committed by members of the San Pedro Sula DNI unit;
--The 1990 killings of labor leader Francisco Javier
Bonilla Medina and student leader Ramon Antonio Briceno. A
suspect in Briceno's murder was arrested but was later released
for lack of evidence.
b. Disappearance
There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances
in 1993.
During the election campaign, when local human rights groups
and Amnesty International continued to press for an official
accounting of the approximately 145 claimed disappearances
(which mainly occurred during the early 1980's under the tenure
of former armed forces Commander General Gustavo Alvarez
Martinez), the presidential candidates discussed suggesting
formation of a "Truth Commission" to investigate the
disappearances. However, after consultation with the
Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, the candidates concluded that any
investigation or report should be left in the hands of the
judiciary and the Government's Human Rights Commission.
In November National Human Rights Commissioner Leo Valladares
announced that he was undertaking a review of the 1979-89
disappearances and would report by the end of December. The
nearly 1,000-page preliminary report, entitled "The Facts Speak
for Themselves," is a comprehensive collection of news
articles, eyewitness accounts, and other materials related to
the disappearances. In announcing release of the report, Dr.
Valladares called upon judicial authorities to use the report
as a basis for initiating investigations.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
The Constitution prohibits torture, and police and military
authorities issued assurances that the practice had been
stopped. After release of the Ad Hoc Commission report and the
creation of a civil-military board to help oversee the
activities of the DNI, allegations of torture and abuse by that
police agency dropped sharply. An earlier case of alleged
torture occurred in February, when Jose Efrain Orellano Garcia
claimed he had been beaten and submerged in a tank of water
before being released from detention.
The FUSEP Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) is
supposed to investigate cases of alleged torture and to
recommend sanctions for police agents found guilty of such
abuse. However, neither the FUSEP General Command nor the OPR
is empowered to mete out punishment for wrongdoers; only the
commander of the accused wrongdoer has the authority to do so.
There are no known instances of members of the Armed Forces
ever being convicted of torture in a court of law.
After a number of killings reportedly committed by DNI agents,
an Ad Hoc Commission on Police and Judicial Reform was formed
in February. It recommended creating a new Public Ministry to
manage every aspect of the investigative phase of criminal
cases; Congress passed the enabling legislation for the
Ministry on December 10. The new Ministry is to be responsible
for a Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DIC), which would
replace the DNI; the head of the DIC must be a civilian. A
supervisory board consisting of two civilians and one police
officer was created to investigate allegations of misconduct,
dismiss wrongdoers or poorly trained agents, and generally
oversee DNI activities during the transition to the DIC.
Alfredo Landaverde, one of the civilian members of the new
board, told the press in December that 150 DNI agents
(42 percent of the DNI work force) had been dismissed as a
result of the board's work. The police and military also began
in-house training programs to prevent the practice of torture
and other forms of abuse.
In contrast to these signs of progress, however, in December
the nongovernmental Committee of the Families of the
Disappeared of Honduras (COFADEH) alleged that two DNI agents
had illegally detained and tortured three minors arrested on
suspicion of robbery in November. They were released a week
later after COFADEH requested assistance from board member
Landaverde. COFADEH asked the criminal court to order the
arrest of the two DNI agents involved and an investigation of
the allegations.
Prison conditions in Honduras are consistently deplorable.
Prisoners suffer from severe overcrowding, malnutrition, and a
lack of adequate sanitation. In December the Government
inaugurated a larger detention facility in Tamara to replace
the antiquated central penitentiary in Tegucigalpa. Prisoners
with money routinely buy private cells, decent food, and
conjugal visitation rights, while prisoners without money often
lack the most basic necessities.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
The law states that a person may be arrested only with a court
order, unless the arrest is made during the commission of a
crime, and that the person must be clearly informed of the
grounds of the arrest. A detainee must be brought within 24
hours before a judge who then must issue an initial temporary
holding order within 24 hours, release an initial decision
within 6 days, and conduct a preliminary investigation to
decide whether there is sufficient evidence to warrant further
investigation. While bail is legally available and used, poor
defendants, even when represented by a public defender, are
often unable to take advantage of it.
Under the 1984 Code of Criminal Procedures, criminal
proceedings may be initiated by a judge, the police, public
officials, or any citizen. Perhaps as many as 80 percent of
the cases reported to the police are never referred to the
criminal justice system but instead are settled administratively
by the police or by municipal courts (the latter are separate
from the regular judicial court system).
There continued to be allegations that the FUSEP, in particular
the DNI, and other security force elements continued to
practice arbitrary arrest and detention in a substantial number
of cases. Local human rights monitoring organizations
asserted, however, that this situation improved markedly since
the issuance of the Ad Hoc Commission report. They reported
that the police were more aware of the need to comply with
holding order limits and to respond to writs of habeas corpus,
and that the courts were more aware of the need to process
cases in a timely manner.
"Land invasions" were both less common and much smaller in
extent than in the past, although they still sometimes resulted
in armed conflicts among groups of peasants or squatters and
landowners and military forces. The Government abrogated an
unpopular antiterrorist law previously used to arrest
squatters, although on occasion the military was employed to
carry out forcibly court orders.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
An accused person has the right to a fair trial, which includes
the right to an initial hearing by a judge, to bail, to an
attorney provided by the State if necessary, and to appeal.
Defendants in military tribunals have the same due process
rights as those being tried in the civilian system with the
exception of bail. The military court system does not have its
own courts of appeal; appeals and confirmations of military
court verdicts are referred to the civilian judicial system.
The judicial system applies justice inequitably. The poor are
punished in accordance with the law, but the rich or
politically influential are almost never held in jail, much
less brought to trial or convicted. Those few who are
incarcerated usually buy their way out or "escape."
In March Congress took action to resolve a longstanding dispute
over jurisdictions by civilian versus military courts, which
arose when a member of the military was alleged to have
committed a crime against a civilian in circumstances unrelated
to official duties. The Congress decreed that civilian courts
will have jurisdiction in such cases; the military will
maintain jurisdiction only in cases of a crime committed on
duty. The decree also stated that in the event of a conflict
of jurisdiction between civilian and military courts, the
civilian court shall have precedence. Since the passage of the
decree, all cases of enlisted men accused of "civilian" crimes
were in fact turned over expeditiously to the civilian legal
system. Nonetheless, since no officers were involved, and
since the armed forces determine when an officer or soldier is
on duty, it was clear that this controversy had not been
definitively resolved.
Until improvements are made in the civilian justice system,
however, military officers are no more likely to be convicted
of human rights abuses or other crimes than they were under
military justice. The civilian judiciary is weak, underfunded,
politicized, inefficient, and corrupt. Honduran society
continues to rely on influence, pressure, and accomodation
rather than the rule of law to resolve disputes.
The nine magistrates of the Supreme Court are elected by the
Congress by a majority vote for 4 years and confirmed by the
President. The period of their terms coincides with those of
the Congress and the President. The Supreme Court appoints all
of the judges in the lower civilian courts. While some headway
was made in using a career system to depoliticize the
appointments process, both major political parties ignored the
recommendation by the Ad Hoc Commission that they agree to a
completely apolitical, independent judiciary. The judicial
system also suffers from woefully inadequate funding.
Detention of criminal suspects pending trial averaged 14 months
and constituted a serious human rights problem. A significant
number of defendants serve the maximum possible sentence for
the crime of which they are accused before their trials are
ever concluded or even begun. Approximately 85 percent of the
prison population in 1993 had neither been sentenced nor
exonerated. In midyear, the court allocated extra judges,
prosecutors, public defenders, and funds to clear up the
backlog.
These judicial weaknesses, along with the FUSEP's own problems
of underfunding and poorly paid and ill-trained personnel,
greatly undermine the right of Hondurans to a speedy, fair
public trial. Judicial authorities were also subjected to
threats when they attempted to perform their duties. The judge
in the Riccy Mabel Martinez case received a number of death
threats during the trial.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
The Constitution specifies that a person's home is inviolable
and that entry by persons authorized by the State may only be
made with the owner's consent or with the authorization of a
competent authority. Entry may only take place between 6 a.m.
and 6 p.m. or at any time in the event of an emergency or to
prevent the commission of a crime. However, as in previous
years, there were credible charges that police and armed forces
personnel failed at times to obtain the needed authorization
before entering a private home. Police authorities claimed
that part of the problem was the unavailability of judges to
issue orders at night and on weekends. As a result of a DNI
request, the Supreme Court refined procedures to ensure that
"duty judges" will be available 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.
It is too early to judge the effectiveness of the new system.
Government monitoring of mail or telephones may be authorized
by judicial order for specific purposes, such as criminal
investigation or national security. Carlos Kellner, former
president of the Honduran Telecommunications Union and now
living in self-imposed exile in the United States, made credible
allegations in 1993 that the armed forces took advantage of its
operation of the national telephone company to monitor illegally
telephone lines of influential people in the Government, the
military, and the private sector.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and press, and
these freedoms are largely respected in practice. The media,
while often openly critical of the Government and frequently
willing to expose corruption, are subject to high levels of
corruption and politicization. There continued to be credible
reports of intimidation by authorities, instances of
self-censorship, and payoffs to journalists. In February FUSEP
Chief Colonel Hung Pacheco told the press that the military
maintained "dossiers" on journalists.
The Government respects academic freedom and has not attempted
to curtail political expression on campus.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The Constitution provides for the right to peaceful assembly
for political, religious, or other purposes. The Government
does not generally require prior authorization or permits but
may ask for a permit to "guarantee public order." In most
cases, neither the Government nor the armed forces interfere in
the right of citizens to assemble. For example, police did not
interfere in the demonstrations marking the second anniversary
of the murder of Riccy Mabel Martinez, nor during public
protests over the perceived mildness of the sentences imposed.
However, the police used excessive force in April near
Choluteca when members of the 6th regional police command and
the 101st army brigade used tear gas, rifle butts, and gunshots
to break up a demonstration of 600 fishermen. The fishermen
were illegally blocking the Pan American Highway to protest
Nicaraguan confiscation of Honduran fishing boats in contested
waters of the Gulf of Fonseca. The police, who were attempting
to clear the road to permit passage by the President, claimed
that some of the fishermen carried firearms but reportedly did
not attempt to negotiate with or give warning to the protesters.
At least 14 of the protesters were injured, including several
women.
c. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution protects all forms of religious expression,
and there is no state religion. While most Hondurans are
nominally Roman Catholic, foreign missionaries of various
Protestant sects work and proselytize throughout the country.
There were no reported incidents of harassment or intimidation
of the clergy by the military in 1993.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
Citizens enter and exit Honduras without arbitrary impediment,
and travel within the country's borders is freely permitted.
There were no known instances in which citizenship was revoked
for political reasons. Of the 250 Haitian refugees who arrived
in Honduras in November 1991, 45 remain. There were no
reported human rights abuses committed against the refugees.
In 1993 a total of 14 Cuban citizens requested and received
political asylum.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
Hondurans continued to exercise the right to change their
government through democratic and peaceful means in the
November elections. International observers found the election
free and fair. A last-minute effort by the Liberal, Christian
Democrat, and PINU parties to permit voters to cast ballots
even if their names did not appear on the voting list was
thwarted by the National Party-controlled Supreme Court. This
controversy did not affect the results of the election or its
essential fairness. National and municipal governments are
chosen by free, secret, direct, and obligatory balloting every
4 years. Suffrage is universal, but serving members of the
armed forces are not permitted to vote. Any citizen born in
Honduras or abroad of Honduran parentage may hold office except
for members of the clergy and the armed forces. A new
political party may gain legal status by obtaining 20,000
signatures and establishing party organizations in at least
half of the country's 18 departments.
In a significant change, voters in the 1993 elections were able
to split their ballot by voting for a mayor from a different
party, instead of being required to cast a single ballot for a
single-party slate of candidates for almost all elected
offices, from the President on down. Neither the names nor the
photos of the mayoral candidates appeared on the ballot,
however, which hampered the democratic process, given the
predominantly illiterate electorate. The vote for President
continued to be a vote for the entire congressional slate of
that candidate's party.
The inability to split tickets in contests for other offices
not only adversely affected small parties, but also limited the
institutional effectiveness and independence of the Congress
and municipal government, since those elected officials have no
independent mandate. In addition, the internal candidate
selection process in both major parties limited direct, popular
participation in the process, particularly at the regional or
local levels. Both major parties have an extensive
"precandidate campaign" period, following which the
presidential candidates are selected through internal party
elections, held approximately 1 year prior to the national
elections. Once selected through the internal elections, the
parties' presidential candidates choose their slate's
congressional and mayoral candidates.
There are no legal impediments to women and minorities
participating in government and politics. In practice, the
proportion of women in political organizations and elected to
office is far lower than their overall representation in
society. Women tend to continue to be relegated to
"traditional" roles. This may be changing, however; for the
first time a woman, Guadalupe Jerezano, was elected as one of
the three vice presidents in the November elections, and many
women were elected mayors. Several women served in high
appointed positions in the outgoing Callejas administration.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
of Human Rights
The Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras
(CODEH) and the Committee of the Relatives of the Detained and
Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) are the best known and most
active local nongovernmental human rights organizations. Prior
to the Government's establishment of the Office of the Human
Rights Commissioner, CODEH, with its network of offices
throughout Honduras, was often the only recourse available to
victims of abuses, particularly those living in rural areas.
The nongovernmental Center for the Investigation and Promotion
of Human Rights (CIPRODEH), established in April 1991, offers
basic human rights courses, holds monthly seminars, carries out
research on issues affecting Hondurans, and serves as a source
of information on human rights. CIPRODEH continued its human
rights training of police officers and added training programs
for the military.
Government officials continued to meet and cooperate with
representatives of local and international human rights
organizations in 1993. In 1992 President Callejas appointed
experienced and widely respected human rights activist Dr. Leo
Valladares as the Human Rights Commissioner. Since then, his
office has grown from a staff of 5 to 21 persons, and published
a "preliminary" study of the politically motivated
disappearances which took place during the 1979-1989 period
(see Section 1.c.). The governmental Inter-Institutional
Commission on Human Rights (CIDH), established in 1987 to
respond to domestic and international inquiries and to
investigate human rights violations, is largely ineffective, as
it does not receive full cooperation from military and civilian
judicial authorities.
There were no reported incidents of harassment against members
of human rights organization in 1993.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
Disability, Language, or Social Status
Although discrimination on the basis of class is banned under
the Constitution, in fact, both the military and the political
and social elite generally enjoy impunity before the legal
system. Members of the socioeconomic upper class are rarely
arrested or jailed. The Constitution provides for 2 years of
compulsory military service for male citizens between the ages
of 18 and 30, although only Hondurans from the middle and lower
classes are forcibly recruited into the armed forces.
Women
The Constitution also bans discrimination for reasons of race
and sex. Women are represented in at least small numbers in
most of the professions, but cultural attitudes act to limit
their career opportunities. In theory, women have equal access
to educational opportunities, but cultural attitudes within
families often serve to brake the ambitions of women intent on
obtaining higher education. Women are supposed to be paid
equal wages for equal work, but their jobs are often classified
as less demanding than those of men, as a justification for
paying them lower salaries.
Efforts to combat violence against women are severely impeded
by serious weaknesses in the Penal Code. Visitacion Padilla, a
women's human rights group, has called for legislation to make
violence against women a serious crime. Violence against women
remains widespread, according to the group. An example of the
weakness of Honduran law in this regard is the case of rape.
Except in the case of children age 12 or under, rape is
considered a private crime. Rape victims over age 12 are
therefore required to hire a private prosecutor, a luxury few
can afford. The penalties for rape are relatively light,
ranging from 3 to 9 years' detention.
There are no shelters specifically maintained for battered
women. Although the law offers some redress, few women take
advantage of the legal process. This reluctance stems from a
lack of education and the perception that judges would be
unwilling to apply the law vigorously. Some organizations have
begun to offer assistance to women, principally targeting those
living in the rural sectors and marginal neighborhoods of
cities. The Honduran Federation of Women's Associations, for
example, provides home construction and improvement loans,
offers free legal assistance to women, and lobbies the
Government on women's causes. CIPRODEH began an education
program to make women aware of their rights under the law.
Children
The Government is committed to providing basic education and
health care to children, and succeeds in some measure in this
task. Lack of resources is a limiting factor. The Constitution
and the Labor Code prohibit the employment of minors under the
age of 16, but the Ministry of Labor lacks resources to
exercise its responsibility to ensure enforcement.
Indigenous People
There is no formal mechanism for the small community of
indigenous people to present petitions to the Government or to
participate in decisions regarding traditional lands. With the
assistance of international organizations and local human
rights groups, the principal indigenous groups have succeeded
in establishing organizations to focus governmental and public
attention on their wishes.
People with Disabilities
There are no formal barriers to participation by disabled
persons in terms of employment, education, and health care, but
neither is there specific statutory protection for them. There
is no legislation that requires accessibility for the disabled.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
Workers have the legal right to form and join labor unions, and
with the exception of some "parallel" unions formed by the
Government, the unions are independent of government and
political parties. Although only about 20 percent of the work
force is organized, trade unions exert considerable economic
and political influence. They frequently participate in public
rallies against government policies and make extensive use of
the media to advance their views. There are also three large
peasant associations directly affiliated with the trade unions.
The right to strike, along with a wide range of other basic
labor rights, is provided for by the Constitution and honored
in practice. The Civil Service Code, however, stipulates that
public workers do not have the right to strike. In 1992, the
International Labor Organization's Committee of Experts again
noted that the Labor Code should be reformed to include workers
of certain agricultural enterprises, and to eliminate provisions
which prohibit more than one trade union per establishment and
which impose restrictions on the right to strike.
A number of private firms instituted "solidarity" associations,
which are essentially aimed at providing credit and other
services to workers and management who are members of the
association. Organized labor, including the American
Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations and
the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU),
strongly opposes these associations on the grounds that they do
not permit strikes, have inadequate grievance procedures, and
neutralize genuine and representative trade unions. The
membership of such associations remained static during 1993.
The Government afforded official recognition to a parallel
union in the Union of National Agrarian Institute Workers
(SITRAINA) in April. It dismissed workers supporting the
elected union and then replaced them with supporters of the
government-backed union. The National Agrarian Institute also
fired a number of workers in violation of the Labor Code, but
40 of these, who staged 2 lengthy hunger strikes to protest the
dismissals, were later reinstated. Carlos Kellner, former
leader of the Telecommunications Workers Union, SITRATELH, who
had continued to challenge and appeal the imposition of a
parallel union in 1992, left the country following severe and
continued harrassment; he continued to live abroad at year's
end.
There were no killings of trade unionists in 1993. However,
the ICFTU cited the Government as being unable or unwilling to
bring the perpetrators of worker rights abuses to justice,
including those responsible for a number of extrajudicial
killings of trade unionists in 1992.
The trade union movement maintains close ties with various
international trade union organizations.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The right to organize and to bargain collectively is protected
by law and collective bargaining agreements are the norm for
companies in which the workers are organized. However,
retribution by employers for trade union activity was not
uncommon, in spite of its prohibition in the Labor Code.
Employers threatened to close down unionized companies,
harassed their workers, and in some cases fired them for trying
to form a trade union. Relatively few workers are actually
dismissed for union activity once the union is recognized;
these cases, however, served to discourage other workers from
attempting to organize. Workers in both unionized and
nonunionized companies are under the protection of the Labor
Code, which gives them the right to seek redress from the
Ministry of Labor. Depending on the decision of the labor or
civil court, employers can be required to rehire employees
fired for union activity. Such decisions are uncommon.
The same labor regulations apply in export processing zones
(EPZ's) as in the rest of private industry. Working conditions
and wages in the EPZ's are generally considered superior to
those prevailing in the rest of the country. There was a
strike and plant seizure in September in an EPZ in Choloma,
which was declared illegal. However, since in this instance
the strike occurred concurrently with the clearly illegal plant
seizure, it remains unclear whether under other circumstances a
strike in an EPZ might be declared legal.
Unions are active in the government-owned Puerto Cortes free
trade zone, but factory owners have resisted efforts to
organize the new privately owned industrial parks.
Blacklisting is clearly prohibited by the Labor Code.
Nevertheless, there was credible evidence that informal
blacklisting occurred in the privately owned industrial parks.
When unions are formed, a list of initial members must be
submitted to the Ministry of Labor as part of the process of
obtaining official recognition. Before official recognition is
granted, however, the Ministry informs the company of the
impending union organization. Ministry inspectors have
consistently been unable to provide effective protection to
workers, including the provision to plant owners of Ministry of
Labor documentation for union formation. The inadequacy of
inspectors is particularly obvious in the EPZ sector. Some
companies in the industrial parks have taken the information
and dismissed union organizers before recognition was granted.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
There is no forced or compulsory labor; such practices are
prohibited by law and the Constitution.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The Constitution and the Labor Code prohibit the employment of
children under the age of 16. Violations of the Labor Code
occur frequently in rural areas or in small companies. High
adult unemployment and underemployment has resulted in many
children working in small family farms, as street vendors, or
in small workshops to supplement the family income. The
Ministry of Labor has the responsibility for enforcing child
employment laws, but it lacks the resources necessary to carry
out the task.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
In May organized labor and the private sector umbrella
organization agreed on a 14.35 percent increase in the minimum
wage, which became effective June 1. Daily pay rates vary by
the sector of the economy affected and geographical zones: the
lowest minimum wage is $1.70 (12 lempiras) per day in the
agriculture sector. The highest minimum wage rate paid is in
the mining sector, at $3.20 (22.60 lempiras) daily. Urban zone
workers earn slightly more than in the countryside. The
Constitution and the Labor Code require that all labor be
fairly paid. Minimum wages, working hours, vacations, and
occupational safety are all regulated, but the Ministry of
Labor lacks the staff and other resources for effective
enforcement. Even after the third consecutive annual increase,
the minimum wage is considered insufficient to provide a decent
standard of living, particularly in light of inflation. In
addition, many workers receive even less than the minimum wage.
The law prescribes an 8-hour day and a 44-hour workweek. There
is a requirement for at least one 24-hour rest period every
8 days.
The Labor Code provides for a paid vacation of 10 workdays
after 1 year and 20 workdays after 4 years. The regulations
are frequently ignored in practice as a result of the high
level of unemployment and underemployment.
The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing national
health and safety laws. Due to a lack of resources, the laws
are not well enforced. There is no provision for a worker to
remove himself from a dangerous work situation without jeopardy
to continued employment. Reliable reports indicate that there
are still as many as 50 deaths per year resulting from serious
health and safety hazards facing Miskito Indian scuba divers
employed in lobster and conch harvesting off the Caribbean
coast of Honduras. Some complaints have also arisen about the
failure of foreign factory managers to comply with the Labor
Code in factories located in free zones and industrial parks.
[end of document]
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