GENEVA / TEGUCIGALPA (14 August 2019) – UN Special Rapporteur Diego García-Sayán will carry out an official visit to Honduras from 16-22 August 2019 to assess the status of the independence of judges and prosecutors, and of the free exercise of the legal profession, along with measures adopted by the Government to guarantee judicial independence.
The UN expert will consider various forms of threats and issues faced by judges, prosecutors and lawyers in the exercise of their duties, as well as measures adopted by the State to mitigate the risks to which legal professionals and members of their families are exposed. He will also analyse the impact that corruption in public and private institutions may have on the independence of the judiciary.
“Far too many people from the legal profession in Honduras are threatened or have lost their lives at the hands of corruption and organised crime, and the vast majority of these crimes remain unpunished. This is simply not acceptable in a State governed by the rule of law,” said García-Sayán, who was designated by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor and report on the independence of judges and lawyers.
August 17, 2019. Meeting with the President of the Supreme Court of Honduras, Mr. Rolando Argueta.
Image credit: Supreme Court of Honduras.
August 17, 2019. Meeting with the President of the Supreme Court of Honduras, Mr. Rolando Argueta.
Image credit: Supreme Court of Honduras.
August 17, 2019. Meeting with Ms. Karla Cuenta, Minister of State, Department of Human Rights.
Image credit: Human Rights Department of Honduras.
August 17, 2019. Meeting with Ms. Karla Cuenta, Minister of State, Department of Human Rights.
Image credit: Human Rights Department of Honduras.
Meeting with Ms. Karla Andino, the President of the Association of Public Prosecutors of Honduras.
Image credit: Association of Public Prosecutors of Honduras.
Meeting with Ms. Ana María Calderón, of the Support Mission Against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH).
“The Mission, installed in 2016 in Honduras, indicated that in order to strengthen judicial independence in Honduras in February 2018, it proposed a constitutional reform project to the Honduran Parliament for the establishment of guarantees for judges and magistrates.
The project is based on the judgment of the López Lone et al. case of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which establishes “the obligation of the State to adopt the necessary measures to guarantee the stability and immobility of judges and other guarantees as a mechanism to ensure their independence” according to Maccih.
Image: Proceso Digital
Meeting with Ms. Julissa Villanueva, former Director of the Honduras Public Prosecutor’s Office Forensic Medicine Department.
Image Credit: Criterio HN
