Elvin Hernández, a human rights investigator for ERIC-Radio Progreso, discusses the impact of mining operations in Honduras during an event in Toronto October 19. Photo: Juan Emilio Hernandez/CJI
Toronto
Elvin Hernández, a human rights investigator for the Jesuit-run ERIC-Radio Progreso, a Canadian Jesuits International (CJI) partner in Honduras, is urging Canadians to sign a petition asking the Honduran government to investigate the killings of land defenders and recompense their families; cancel mining projects with irregularly issued licenses; strengthen environmental laws; and restore protected areas in the country.
Hernández made the plea during a speaking event in Toronto October 19, which was co-organized by CJI with Development and Peace, the international solidarity agency of the Catholic Church in Canada.
Honduras is facing “a tragic situation,” said Hernández, noting that in the last three years alone, 507 mining permits have been issued in his country, which is tiny compared to Canada. (Canada, which covers a total area of 9,984,670 km², is 88 times the size of Honduras, which covers 112,490 km². )
“Can you imagine that many mining activities in such a small place?” asked Hernández, as he discussed the social and environmental impact that extractive industries have had on local, mostly poor communities in Honduras.
Hernández presented the case of Guapinol, where at least five community members have been killed, and more than 30 others jailed for protesting an open-pit iron mine in Carlos Escaleras National Park.
The Inversiones Los Pinares mining operation, which is upstream of the Río Guapinol, has polluted 16 rivers, where about 200,000 people rely on water for drinking, cooking, cleaning and irrigation, said Hernández.
There have been no investigations into how a permit was issued for a national reserve, and who is responsible for the killings, he said.
The permit is irregular since the surrounding communities were not consulted, no environmental impact assessment was made, and mining is taking place in “the nucleus of a reserve,” he said. The country’s environmental laws are so weak that mining corporations are only required to give between 1% -3% of their profits to the Honduran government, but nobody really knows how much profits they make, he added.
In 2020, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders reported that Honduras “has become one of the most dangerous places on earth for land rights and environmental defenders.” This year alone, at least five land defenders have been murdered, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
Photo taken during a CJI visit in 2018 shows members of the Municipal Committee for the Defense of Public and Common Assets of Tocoa in Honduras. They are referred to as the “defenders of the water of Guapinol and the San Pedro sector” in the municipality of Tocoa, Colón. The man on the right is the father of one of those imprisoned for opposing the operations of the mining company Empresa Minera Inversiones los Pinares. Photo: Jenny Cafiso/CJI
Hernández added that the environmental laws of Honduras are so weak that mining corporations are only required to give between 1% -3% of their profits to the government, and even then, nobody knows if they’re being truthful since there’s no mechanism in place to ascertain how much profits they really make, he added.
The way things have unfolded in Guapinol is a familiar pattern in Honduras and in other developing countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia, he said. Poorer nations are paying the price for minerals that rich nations use, ironically, to switch to what has been dubbed as green technology, he said.
Canadians often ask what they can do to help address this injustice, and one way would be to pressure their government to enact a due diligence law so that Canadian mining companies who operate overseas are held accountable, said Hernández. He noted that 60% of the world’s mining capital is sourced from Canada.
The dreams of Hondurans are very simple, according to a study conducted by ERIC-Radio Progreso, said Hernández. “They want to be safe; they want their children to have a good education, they want clean water, jobs, and the ability to run a business.”
Despite the difficulties they are facing, Hondurans “still have a vision of hope,” he said. They are energized by their cause and by the support they receive from Canadians and other people around the world, he added.
Hernández, who conducts research and reports on abuses of human and environmental rights in poor and marginalized communities in Honduras, will also be speaking at events in Niagara, Montreal, and Ottawa, where he will also meet with some Members of Parliament. His visit was organized by Development and Peace as part of its Stand for the Land campaign.
