A/HRC/33/42/Add.2
title to their lands. 13 In the case of the Miskito, title has been granted to a number of
separate territorial councils made up of various communities in accordance with their own
form of territorial organization. The National Agrarian Institute reports that 1,099,701.59
hectares have been made over to 11 of the 12 existing territorial councils.
38.
Representatives of the indigenous peoples provided information on applications for
title that are still pending, as in the case of the Nahua and Pech communities in Olancho,
and on applications to extend the title of Garífuna, Tolupán, Tawahka and Pech
communities to include their working habitats. In the case of the Maya Chortí people, the
Government signed an executive agreement in 1997 undertaking to acquire 14,700 hectares
to be registered in the name of the Chortí communities in Copán and Ocotepeque
Departments. To date, however, only 4,995.74 hectares have been made over. The Chortí
have repeatedly urged the Government to provide the necessary budget for the purchase and
registration of their lands in order to meet its commitments in full. The Special Rapporteur
has learned that, in some cases, the failure to meet these commitments has made it possible
for private individuals to obtain judicial orders to evict Chortí communities living on their
ancestral lands.
39.
Representatives of the indigenous peoples claimed that, even when they have title to
their lands, they face counterclaims from individuals who seek to break up the indigenous
lands by launching legal and administrative procedures and by buying land illegally sold by
indigenous individuals. Some municipal authorities have been involved in the illegal sale of
indigenous lands and have approved or participated in logging, mining or agricultural
activities on those lands. The communities with title to their land who face this kind of
problem include the Lenca of Lepaterique and Llanos de la Candelaria and also Tolupán
tribes in Yoro that have held title to their land since the nineteenth century. In La
Mosquitia, the problem is also linked with drug trafficking and money-laundering activities.
40.
An upgrade to their title to their lands is urgently required in order to deal with the
presence of third parties on registered lands. Members of the Miskito community of Auka,
part of the Wamakklisinasta Territorial Council, registered in 2013, have reported that
settlers have been illegally granted title and other permits on their lands by municipal
authorities or obtained them through illegal sales. Owing to the outsiders’ ranching or drug
trafficking activities, the Miskito lands have been deforested and members of the
community can no longer reach traditional agricultural or hunting lands. This has given rise
to food insecurity and health problems and death threats have been directed at community
leaders.
41.
In March 2015, following the failure to achieve the territorial upgrading that they
had repeatedly sought, members of the community took 27 settlers prisoner. The
Government sent a special commission to resolve the situation and an agreement was
signed between representatives of the community, the Miskito people, the departmental
government, the Ministry of Human Rights and the Office of the Special Prosecutor for
Ethnic Groups and Cultural Heritage, under which, in exchange for the release of the
settlers, the Government undertook to investigate and punish those responsible for the sale
of lands and the environmental destruction, to finalize the upgrading process and to return
the settlers to their places of origin. Another component of the agreement was the
Government’s invitation to the Special Rapporteur to pay her visit to Honduras.
42.
Once the agreement had been signed, some settlers left the territory and the National
Agrarian Institute and other institutions carried out preliminary investigations on the
ground. However, apart from the visit of the Special Rapporteur, the members of the
community reported that they had been given no details of the implementation of the other
13
10
Decree No. 61-2013.
GE.16-12632