A/HRC/33/42/Add.2 I. Introduction 1. This report examines the situation of indigenous peoples in Honduras and makes recommendations in that regard. It is based on information received by the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples during her visit to the country from 2 to 10 November 2015 and on independent research. 2. During her visit, the Special Rapporteur held meetings in Tegucigalpa with representatives of the Government of Honduras, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Directorate of Indigenous and Afro-Honduran Peoples, the Ministry of Human Rights, Justice, the Interior and Decentralization, the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Ethnic Groups and Cultural Heritage, the National Agrarian Institute, the Property Institute, the National Institute for Conservation and Forestry Development, Protected Areas and Wildlife, the Ministry of Energy, Natural Resources, the Environment and Mining, the Honduran Institute of Geology and Mines, the Office of the National Commissioner for Human Rights, the Honduran Social Investment Fund, the General Subdirectorate of Education for Indigenous and Afro-Honduran Peoples, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Committee on Indigenous Peoples of the National Congress and representatives of civil society organizations and the private sector. In Puerto Lempira, she held meetings with municipal and departmental authorities and representatives of the Attorney General’s Office and the Office of the National Commissioner for Human Rights. She also met representatives of the Lenca, Maya Chortí, Nahua, Tolupán, Garífuna, Pech, Tawahka and Miskito indigenous peoples in Tegucigalpa, Puerto Lempira, Auka, Río Blanco, La Esperanza and La Ceiba. 3. The Special Rapporteur wishes to thank the Government of Honduras for its cooperation and for permitting her to conduct her visit freely and independently. She would also like to express her deepest gratitude to the indigenous peoples for the invitation to visit their territories, for the hospitality that they showed her and for the information that they provided. She also thanks the indigenous persons and organizations that helped arrange her programme and also those persons who travelled long distances from their communities of origin to attend meetings. Lastly, she wishes to thank the United Nations Country Team in Honduras and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for their assistance in ensuring the success of her visit. II. Indigenous peoples in Honduras 4. There is no precise or up-to-date information on the indigenous population of Honduras. According to the 2001 national census, 7 per cent out of the total population of about 6 million were indigenous or of African descent. According to a census conducted by indigenous organizations in 2007, the indigenous population or people of African descent amounted to 20 per cent, or some 1.5 million out of a total population of 7.6 million. Of the indigenous population, 80 per cent live on their traditional lands and 20 per cent in urban areas. 5. The extent to which the indigenous peoples of Honduras have preserved their languages and their social and cultural structures varies according to their specific experience and levels of contact with European colonization and subsequent nonindigenous governments and societies. During her visit, the Special Rapporteur noted the strong attachment that members of indigenous peoples had to their identity as distinct peoples and their desire to maintain and strengthen their culture, language, lore, territories and forms of governance. GE.16-12632 3