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Washington, D.C. - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) condemns the murder of Salomón Matute and his son Juan
Samael Matute, both Tolupan indigenous persons who belonged to the
San Francisco Locomapa tribe and the Broad Movement for Dignity and
Justice (MADJ, by its Spanish acronym), in the Yoro department.
Salomón Matute was a beneficiary of
precautionary measures granted by the IACHR on December 19,
2013, after assessing the risks he and other MADJ members faced.
They had been subjected to threats, harassment and other acts of
violence in the context of their work as defenders of the
environment and of indigenous peoples.
In
Resolution 12/2013, the Commission said that several members of MADJ
including Salomón Matute were in serious danger. The IACHR therefore asked
the State of Honduras to adopt any measures necessary to protect their lives
and personal integrity and to investigate the sources of such danger, among
other aspects. Once precautionary measures have been granted and the State
has been notified of a situation of risk, the State has a special duty to
protect beneficiaries. Effective implementation of those measures is a tool
to prevent the realization of that risk and a means for the State to avoid
being declared internationally responsible for any such events.
According to public reports, Salomón Matute and his son Juan Samael
Matute died of gunshot wounds on February 25, 2019. The National
Commissioner for Human Rights (CONADEH, by its Spanish acronym) said that
the authorities had launched an investigation on their own initiative and
that the case was being monitored, while the National Prevention Police had
arrested a suspect in this crime.
The Commission has not received concrete information indicating that
Salomón Matute enjoyed any protection measures implemented by the State at
the time of his murder. In 2018, the Commission summoned the Honduran State
during periods of sessions 167 (in Bogotá, Colombia) and 169 (in Boulder,
United States) to monitor the implementation of precautionary measures. The
Honduran State had informed the Commission that, on October 20, 2017, it had
asked the General Director of the Protection System to consider placing
precautionary measure beneficiaries under the Protection Mechanism. The
State reported that this had been done on March 23, 2018, since
beneficiaries were covered by the Act to Protect Human Rights Defenders,
Journalists, Social Communicators and Justice Operators. The Commission
immediately asked Honduras for information on the latest events, to find out
the State’s position.
The Commission asks the Honduran State to investigate with due diligence
the deaths of indigenous leaders, including lines of investigation that
assess the hypothesis that the crime may have been motivated by their
activities as human rights defenders. The IACHR further urges the State to
immediately adopt any measures necessary to protect the rights to life,
personal integrity and safety of all other precautionary measure
beneficiaries.
The Commission stresses that acts of violence and other attacks against
human rights defenders not only affect the guarantees they are due as human
beings. They also impact the fundamental role those defenders play in
society. Such attacks harm the people for whom defenders work, increasing
their vulnerability and potentially leaving them defenseless. The Commission
urges Honduras to take any measures necessary to protect the rights to life,
personal integrity and safety of all human rights defenders in the country.
In that context, the IACHR urges the State to make any adjustments to the
Honduran Protection Mechanism that are necessary to provide defenders with
adequate and effective protection.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
No. 053/19