RIGHTS-HONDURAS: Functions of Human Rights Commission Restored

By Thelma Mejía Reprint | | Print |

Thelma Mejia

TEGUCIGALPA, Apr 28 1999 (IPS) - The Honduran parliament lifted the restrictions slapped on the government’s Human Rights Commission, which had drawn an outcry from the international community and civil society last week.

Opposition parties, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and international figures described the limits on the functions of the Commission, headed by Leo Valladares, as an attack on democracy and the country’s legal foundations.

The new decision came Tuesday night, when the president of Congress, Rafael Pineda Ponce, agreed that the legislature had made a mistake in limiting the Commission’s functions.

Opposition lawmakers say ruling party legislators approved the restrictions in reprisal for the Commission’s denunciation of corrupt management of the international aid sent to assist the survivors of hurricane Mitch, which devastated the country in late October.

The latest parliamentary decision enables the Human Rights Commission to “faithfully ensure respect for human rights, without having to humble ourselves or bow our heads before anyone,” Valladares said Wednesday.

“We believe democracy has won, and that pleases us. Defenders of human rights are representatives of the citizenry, and the attempt to limit our functions was an attempt at silencing the people’s freedom and their right to expression,” he added.

On the initiative of the government of Carlos Flores, the legislature agreed a week ago to bar the Commission from investigating or monitoring government actions – functions which are established by the Honduran constitution and the law that created the Human Rights Commission.

The ruling party lawmakers also attempted to cut the Commission’s term from six to four years, and to limit to a simple majority the number of parliamentary votes needed to approve the designation of Commission members.

On Wednesday, President Flores described the parliamentary decision to lift the restrictions as the “right” one. “We were not going to allow the Commission’s powers to be encroached on by one single millimetre. It is not true that I proposed that initiative, and I want to make it clear that I am a democrat.”

The president underlined that “the important thing is that (the error) was rectified in time…we are sending a message to the international community” that Honduras is “a country that respects human rights, to which my government has always been committed.”

The annulment of the restrictions of the Commission’s functions was closely followed by demonstrators who massed outside parliament in the rain Tuesday night to hear the final verdict and accompany Valladares.

A group of lawmakers kept Valladares from entering the parliamentary chamber, arguing that he “was not invited.”

Previously, the parliamentary chamber was cordoned off by police, who engaged in a dispute with indigenous protesters who wanted to greet and applaud Valladares in a spot out of the rain alongside parliament.

Ramon Custodio, with the non-governmental Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH), said Wednesday that the parliamentary decision to eliminate the restrictions was “a triumph by democracy and the Honduran people, who rejected a preposterous action, with one voice.”

According to Custodio, the demonstrations were evidence of an awakening by Honduran society and “the vigilance of the international community, determined to support the strengthening of democracy rather than authoritarian regimes.”

Analysts say parliament’s reversal of a decision initially held up as “irrevocable” was a response to protests at home and the international community’s howl of outrage. Several countries threatened to cut off aid, and harshly worded editorials appeared in U.S. dailies.

Observers said that if the restrictions were still in place by the time of next month’s meeting of presidents of Central American nations affected by the hurricane and governments of donor nations in Stockholm, Flores’ image would have been tainted with shades of authoritarianism, and reconstruction efforts could have been undermined.