Help Bajo Aguán Defenders During COVID
Donation protected
The Bajo Aguán of Honduras is one of the most dangerous countries on earth for human rights, land rights, and environmental defenders.
In the decade since the 2009 coup in Honduras, over 140 subsistence farmers–known as campesinos– have been murdered the Bajo Aguán region. Campesinos report ongoing, widespread, and varied human rights violations, including: murder; enforced disappearances; assault; physical, sexual, and psychological torture; forceful and violent evictions; sexual violence; destruction of campesino property; criminalization; stigmatization and defamation; forced displacement; surveillance; and threats to movement leaders’ families.
Now, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the crisis defenders face. Social distancing measures have cut defenders off from their sources of income, increasing the humanitarian crisis within the land rights movement. The Juan Orlando Hernández regime--which the land rights movements oppose--has politicized distribution of humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, the social distancing measures imposed to prevent the spread of the violence, put defenders at greater risk of violence from paramilitary organizations in the region.
Donations are urgently needed to help defenders purchase food and medical supplies for their families. All money collected will go directly to members of the land rights movements and their families to cover basic costs such as food, housing, and medical expenses.
Thank you!
Photo Credit: "Peasants, corporation locked in deadly land war in Honduras" by icijonline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/
In the decade since the 2009 coup in Honduras, over 140 subsistence farmers–known as campesinos– have been murdered the Bajo Aguán region. Campesinos report ongoing, widespread, and varied human rights violations, including: murder; enforced disappearances; assault; physical, sexual, and psychological torture; forceful and violent evictions; sexual violence; destruction of campesino property; criminalization; stigmatization and defamation; forced displacement; surveillance; and threats to movement leaders’ families.
Now, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the crisis defenders face. Social distancing measures have cut defenders off from their sources of income, increasing the humanitarian crisis within the land rights movement. The Juan Orlando Hernández regime--which the land rights movements oppose--has politicized distribution of humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, the social distancing measures imposed to prevent the spread of the violence, put defenders at greater risk of violence from paramilitary organizations in the region.
Donations are urgently needed to help defenders purchase food and medical supplies for their families. All money collected will go directly to members of the land rights movements and their families to cover basic costs such as food, housing, and medical expenses.
Thank you!
Photo Credit: "Peasants, corporation locked in deadly land war in Honduras" by icijonline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/
Organizer
Valentina Stackl
Organizer
Washington D.C., DC