Let Us Get Mobilised and Rally for Lawyers in Honduras! Sign Our Online Petition!

"Where the security of lawyers is threatened as a result of discharging their functions, 
they shall be adequately safeguarded by the authorities".
(United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, No. 17) 
 

Since the coup d’état in 2009, serious human rights violations committed on a large scale have had a major impact on the Honduran population. The absence of any response by the State commensurate with the seriousness of the situation has been widely condemned by the United Nations agencies and the Inter-American Human Rights Commission.

Lawyers have not been spared either. The practice of law by itself is risky where there is a total loss of faith among the population with regard to the Justice system and its various actors.

The number of lawyers registered with the National Honduran Bar stands at 18,000.

The National Human Rights Commission (CONADEH) has recorded 89 cases of violent death of law professionals between 2010 and March 2015 (lawyers, judges and prosecutors).

A majority of these murders have been committed with firearms and in at least 82% cases, the perpetrators of these crimes remain unpunished.

The absence of any specific schemes set up by the authorities to protect actors in the Justice system has been regularly condemned by the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. All are calling upon the State to take the necessary measures to protect the physical and moral integrity of these actors.

Lawyers are too often held responsible for the dysfunction of the Justice system or merely for a judge’s ruling in favour of the opponent. In a country in which violence is omnipresent, the frustration felt by litigants too often takes the form of often fatal attacks against lawyers or judges.

Lawyers in Honduras should be trained in security, able to be selective in the cases they accept and able to refuse any case that could potentially lead to danger due to the personality of the parties or issues concerned.

Such a situation is not consistent with the role of lawyers and is denounced by all as having a serious impact on the capacity of legal professionals to discharge their functions independently and impartially.

Join the movement to support Honduran lawyers! Sign our on-line petition here! 

We also invite you to disseminate the campaign poster widely (see below).

Support our actions on social networks #UIAforLawyers

For more information about the 2016 Day of the Endangered Lawyer:

              http://dayoftheendangeredlawyer.eu/

              http://www.idhae.org/Observatoire-DEL2016.htm (French only)