Pajuiles
Following up on our January 2019 International Field Experience, students in the Spring 2019 Human Rights in Action Clinic (HRAC) prepared an amicus brief on behalf of the Promise Institute in support of the Water and Sanitation Board of the Community of Lower Pajuiles (the Water Board). The Water Board successfully sued the municipality of Tela, Atlántida for violating the rights of the community to potable water, health, and a healthy environment, obtaining from the trial court an injunction to halt construction of a dam on the headwaters of the Rio Mezapa and prevent further contamination of their drinking water.
The appellate court, however, revoked the injunction without an opinion and sent the case to the Constitutional Chamber of the Honduran Supreme Court. The community and their legal team in the the Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y la Justicia (MADJ) requested an amicus on the right to water, health and a healthy environment under international human rights law.
Students from the J-Term experience were intimately familiar with the community's situation and the facts of the case. Together with other clinic students, they researched the jurisprudence on these rights under various regional and state systems, with a particular focus on the Inter-American system for Human Rights. The resulting amicus brief (in Spanish) was filed in the Honduran Supreme Court in March of 2019. The case is still pending.
Amicus Brief (Spanish)
U.S. Policy
The HRAC began a project to develop an in-depth analysis and critique of U.S. Policy in Honduras since the 1980s, and its role and responsibility in the current human rights and humanitarian crisis in the country. The Clinic collaborated with the Human Rights Clinic of Western Massachusetts School of Law in the Spring of 2019. Student teams from each law school researched particular areas of U.S. policy: political, economic, narcotics enforcement and military assistance, and immigration. The student memos are first inputs, and Professor Berra along with Professor Lauren Carasik of Western Massachusetts School of Law are continuing the project to produce a white paper in 2020. The resulting white paper will support the work of the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission-USA and other advocacy groups in Washington D.C. seeking to hold accountable U.S. policymakers and re-orient U.S. policy to support democracy, human rights, and equitable development in Honduras.
Washington Trip
The Promise Institute supported a learning and advocacy trip by HRAC students to Washington D.C. in April of 2019. The trip focused on the Inter-American system for human rights, U.S. policymakers, human rights organizations with a focus on Honduras and Central America, and multi-lateral institutions like the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Students met with attorneys and staff of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the issues of migration and the rights of the child, as well as with attorneys from the Center for Justice in International Law (CEJIL), the leading regional litigation organization in the Inter-American System. Students met with representatives of the State Department, USAID, and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement regarding Honduras policy, as well as with the Honduran program officer of the IDB and the independent accountability mechanism for investigating complaints to the IDB of communal harms caused by IDB-funded projects. We also met with our partners at the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission-USA and the office of Congressman Pete Aguilar.
Garifuna Human Rights
After meeting with Garifuna leaders from the Fundación Luagu Hatuadi Waduheñu "Por la Salud de Nuestros Pueblos" (LHW Foundation) and the Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña (OFRANEH) during J-Term in Honduras, the HRAC drafted a memo on the international legal framework and international best practices on human rights protections for Indigenous and Afro-descendent communities. This memo served as technical input for an activist research and community organizing and education project of the LHW Foundation on the human rights in Garifuna communities in Honduras.
The Case of Margarita Murillo
Margarita Murillo was a political and human rights activist who was assassinated in August of 2014. She was a leader in the opposition to the coup of 2009, and had a long trajectory in the agrarian and more recently women's rights movements in Honduras. Her death was linked to powerful political actors involved in drug-trafficking and organized crime. The prosecutor investigating the case was herself assassinated days before she planned to bring a first round of indictments. Since then the investigation has languished.
Students in the J-Term accompanied attorneys with the Foro de Mujeres por la Vida representing the daughters of Margarita in a meeting with the public prosecutor to demand access to information on the case and hold the office accountable for its lack of due diligence. The HRAC later prepared an initial draft of the facts of the case based on information provided by the Foro. The Promise Institute, through Professor Berra's Human Rights in the Americas Initiative, has been working in collaboration with the Foro and the Equipo de Reflexión, Investigación y Comunicación (ERIC) on preparing a petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in the case.