Caribbean & Central America - July 2016 (ISSN 1741-4458)

The death of another high-profile female human rights activist in Honduras has prompted the use of the term ‘political femicide’ in a country where a woman is murdered every 13 hours, amounting to over 4,018 deaths in 2014-2015. In 99% of cases, there is impunity. The United Nations (UN) and others are speaking out. The US government is under congressional pressure to withhold official funding.

On 8 July, UN Women’s Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka issued a statement on the killing of the Honduran activist Lesbia Yaneth and the British politician Jo Cox. The statement said UN Women “mourned the death” (a day earlier) of Yaneth, an environmental activist and a member of the Council of Indigenous Peoples of Honduras (Copinh). Noting that her murder closely followed that of her compatriot and colleague Berta Cáceres (killed in March), the statement added that Yaneth and Cáceres “join the growing list of women attacked for their political beliefs and public profile across the world”.

Emphasising that “globally there are more women in public office than at any previous point in history”, the UN agency continues: “Alarmingly, almost universally, increased women’s representation is accompanied by gender-based violence. It is visible in different forms – in the escalation of harassment and aggression in various media, intimidation and sexual and physical violence against public women; in forcing political women to resign…. In its most extreme form, women politicians have been imprisoned or assassinated for exercising their political rights and daring to stand up for what is right” (see sidebar). In a statement Copinh echoed this, calling Urquía’s death a “political femicide”. The organisation said it held the Honduran government, its institutions, and the security forces “directly responsible for this murder”.

According to the authorities, Urquía’s body was found in a rubbish dump in Marcala, La Paz department. Urquía disappeared on 6 July, having apparently gone out for a bike ride. She had suffered “a severe head injury”, and the authorities suggested that a possible motive for her murder was “the supposed robbery of her professional bicycle”. Copinh supporters rejected that as an attempted whitewash. (The authorities initially also suggested that Cáceres had been killed during a violent robbery attempt.)

Copinh noted that Urquía, a mother of three, had been actively protesting the construction of the ‘Aurora I’ hydroelectric dam in the municipality of San José, (La Paz). It added that the dam “has a direct link with the president of the [ruling] Partido Nacional and vice-president of the national congress, Gladys Aurora López”. It accused López and her husband, Arnold Castro, of being “a permanent source of threats and conflicts” over the construction of hydroelectric projects in La Paz department.

This new case will put the government led by President Juan Orlando Hernández under renewed international scrutiny. In June, four US congressionals led by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) introduced the ‘Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act’ requesting the suspension of US security funding for Honduras over concerns about the safety of local activists. According to Johnson, the US has already allocated at least US$18m to Honduran police and military for 2016, while the 2017 budget request calls for an increase in this funding. In addition, he notes, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) has lent US$60m to the Honduran police, with US approval. The Honduran public ministry on 7 July announced a special investigatory commission into Yaneth’s death, but critics accuse the authorities of merely paying lip service to justice. According to an international NGO, Global Witness, over 100 environmental activists were murdered in Honduras between 2010 and 2015.

• UN Women on political violence against women

“This backlash to progress is a global phenomenon. Its existence is one of the most serious obstacles to the realization of women’s political rights today. It is a demonstration of attempts to hold women back and to prevent women from claiming their rights – and from protecting the rights of others. It prevents them from voting or holding public office, campaigning freely, or expressing a political opinion without fear of retaliation or being challenged in their own homes, communities, and in the public realm.” – UN Women’s Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.