• Urgent Action

Urgent Action: WATER DEFENDERS KILLED (Honduras: UA 003.23)

July 5, 2023

Oquelí Domínguez, brother of defenders Aly and Reynaldo Domínguez was killed in the community of Guapinol (department of Colón, northern Honduras) on June 15, 2023. Five months earlier, defenders Aly Dominguez and Jairo Bonilla Ayala, members of the resistance of Guapinol against an iron ore mine, were also found dead. In February 2023, six other defenders of the Guapinol river found out that they could face criminal prosecution for peacefully questioning the legality of a mining project in the Carlos Escaleras National Park. We demand the Honduran authorities to ensure a prompt, thorough and impartial investigation of the attacks against the defenders of the Guapinol river, and to refrain from using the justice system to harass them and to ensure their protection.

TAKE ACTION

  1. Please take action as-soon-as possible. This Urgent Action expires on August 14, 2023.
  2. Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide to one or both government officials listed. You can also email, fax, call or Tweet them.
  3. Click here to let us know the actions you took on Urgent Action 003.23. It’s important to report because we share the total number with the officials we are trying to persuade and the people we are trying to help.

Contact Information

Attorney General
Oscar Fernando Chinchilla
Posta Edificio Lomas Plaze II,
Col. Lomas del Guijarro.
Tegucigalpa,
Honduras
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MP_Honduras / @ofchb

Ambassador Jorge Alberto Milla Reyes
Embassy of Honduras
3007 Tilden Street, NW, Suite 4M,
Washington DC 20008
Phone: 202 966 7702
Email: [email protected]

Sample Letter

Dear Attorney General,

I am writing to express my concern about the serious risk situation of the defenders of the Guapinol River in Tocoa, department of Colón. Five months after the killing of human rights defenders Aly Magdaleno Domínguez Ramos and Jairo Bonilla Ayala on January 7, 2023, Oquelí Domínguez was killed in the community of Guapinol on June 15, 2023. The authorities have yet to identify all responsible for these murders. Oquelí Domínguez is the brother of Aly and Reynaldo Domínguez. Reynaldo is one of the five Guapinol defenders that on February 7, 2023 were notified that the prosecutor’s office in Tocoa had appealed in December 2022 a favorable resolution of the Supreme Court of Justice that annulled unfounded criminal proceedings.

The authorities responsible for the investigation of the killings of Oquelí and Aly Domínguez, as well as Jairo Bonilla must respect the right of the human rights defender’s families to justice, truth, and reparation. According to international human rights standards, authorities must consider the victim’s human rights work as a hypothesis for these crimes. Therefore, I urge you to urgently to conduct a prompt, independent, impartial, and exhaustive investigation to identify all responsible for the murders of both defenders. Authorities must refrain immediately from using the justice system to harass the defenders of the Guapinol river and take immediate steps to fully provide appropriate protection.

Yours sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES