AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2016/17

outbreak. The UN continued to deny all
attempts by victims to gain access to legal
remedies.
RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,
TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE
In September, public threats, including by
several parliamentarians, were made against
individuals and NGOs who were planning an
LGBTI Film Festival event. In September, the
Public Prosecutor of Port-au-Prince ordered
its cancellation for security reasons. In the
following days, there was a marked increase
in reports of homophobic attacks.
IMPUNITY
No progress was made in the investigation
into alleged crimes against humanity
committed by former President Jean-Claude
Duvalier and his collaborators. 3
1. Haiti: Internal displacement, forced evictions, statelessness – the
catalogue to violations continue (AMR 36/4658/2016)
2. “Where are we going to live?”: Migration and statelessness in
Dominican Republic and Haiti (AMR 36/4105/2016)
3. Haiti: Move ahead with ex-dictator case (AMR 36/3478/2016)
HONDURAS
Republic of Honduras
Head of state and government: Juan Orlando
Hernández Alvarado
A general climate of violence forced
thousands of Hondurans to flee the country.
Women, migrants, internally displaced
people, human rights defenders – especially
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and
intersex (LGBTI) people as well as
environmental and land activists – were
particularly targeted with violence. A weak
criminal justice system contributed to a
climate of impunity.
BACKGROUND
The government assigned several public
security tasks to units made up of officers
with military training in an attempt to tackle
violence, corruption and organized crime.
The Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights (IACHR) raised concerns about the
military carrying out public security
operations, including use of excessive force.
The presence of military corps on Indigenous
territories contributed to social unrest. Over
100 high-ranking police officers were
dismissed in a move to purge security forces
accused of being infiltrated by organized
crime.
REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS
Widespread violence across the country
forced many to flee – mostly women,
children, youth and LGBTI people. People
perceived by criminal gangs to have refused
to comply with their authority or who had
witnessed a crime were routinely harassed,
attacked and extorted; young people in
particular were forced to join criminal gangs.
Deportees forcibly returned from Mexico
and the USA continued to face the same lifethreatening
situations which initially pushed
them to leave. In July, an asylum-seeker who
had been forcibly returned from Mexico after
the rejection of his asylum application was
murdered less than three weeks after his
return. 1
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
Honduras remained one of the most
dangerous countries in Latin America for
human rights defenders, especially for
environmental and land activists. According
to the NGO Global Witness, Honduras had
the highest number per capita of killings of
environmental and land activists in the
world. 2 Berta Cáceres, leader and co-founder
of the Civil Council of Popular and Indigenous
Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), was
shot dead in her home on 2 March. The
Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights had granted her precautionary
measures since 2009, but the authorities
failed to implement effective measures to
protect her. Along with other COPINH
members who protested against the
construction of the Agua Zarca dam in the
community of Río Blanco, she suffered
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