A/HRC/33/42/Add.2
indigenous organizations in the country. Various indigenous organizations have also put
forward their own legislative proposals on prior consultation.
15.
The Office of the National Commissioner for Human Rights informed the Special
Rapporteur of its plan of action for the period 2014-2020, which sets out measures to
support vulnerable groups, including indigenous peoples, providing greater access to the
system of complaints and claims, reforms to that system and action to ensure coordination
between State bodies and civil society to devise plans of action in support of vulnerable
groups. Other objectives were to provide public officials, the private sector and civil society
with human rights training and to monitor the public services and social programmes
provided by central Government and municipalities. The Special Rapporteur was told that
the Office had supported indigenous peoples in their complaints concerning land-related
problems and indigenous individuals involved in criminal proceedings.
16.
With regard to education, a presidential decision of 1994 recognized the
“multicultural and multilingual nature of Honduran society” and established a national
programme to promote intercultural bilingual education. 6 The General Subdirectorate of
Education for Indigenous and Afro-Honduran Peoples is responsible for implementing this
programme, which includes overseeing the training of indigenous teachers, developing
educational materials and ensuring that in indigenous population centres education will be
conducted “in the mother tongue by indigenous and specialized teachers, with a view to
helping to preserve and strengthen the language, the world view and the identity of the
indigenous peoples”.7
17.
The recent administrative reform and the establishment of various ministries do not
seem to have resulted in any improvement in incorporating the rights of indigenous peoples
into State activities, owing to poor coordination and institutional weakness.
IV. Principal concerns
18.
Indigenous peoples face systemic problems that hinder the full enjoyment of their
rights. The lack of protection for their lands, territories and natural resources, together with
impunity and inadequate access to justice, are fundamental problems that leave them totally
defenceless in the face of acts of violence by various parties. They also suffer from a
precarious social and economic situation of multidimensional poverty as a result of extreme
inequality, corruption and the lack of basic social services.
A.
Violence and impunity
19.
Honduras is one of the most violent countries in the world and indigenous peoples
are drawn into this violence and general insecurity. According to various statistics, the
homicide rate per 100,000 head of the population in Honduras was somewhere between
85.6 and 90.4 in 2012, and in 2014 it was about 68. 8 A person who becomes a human rights
defender in Honduras stands an increased risk of falling victim to violence.
20.
The murder of indigenous leaders who defend their lands, including a large number
of leaders of the Tolupán, Garífuna, Lenca, Chortí and Pech peoples, is among the subjects
that give rise to the most complaints to the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Ethnic
6
7
8
6
Presidential Decision No. 0719-EP-94.
Executive Decision No. 1359-SE-2014, art. 49.
See Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Situation of Human Rights in Honduras,
OEA/Ser.L/v/ii, Doc. 42/15 (2015), paras. 32-34.
GE.16-12632