Mesoamerica January 13, 2015

Mr. Ban Ki—moonSecretary General of the United NationsPresent

Warmest greetings from the 300+ Women Human Rights Defenders from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, ElSalvador, Costa Rica, Panamá, Nicaragua and Colombia, who are part of the of the Mesoamerican Initiative forWomen Human Rights Defenders (IM—Defensoras)1

Within the framework of the Official Visit which will take place in Honduras and El Salvador on January 16 th – 19th,we are now writing to you in order to share our analysis of the situation that Women Human Rights Defenders facein the Mesoamerican region, including Mexico and Central America, and particularly in Honduras and El Salvador. Itis the analysis we have written on the violence and impunity faced by us, women, together with ourrecommendations. We consider this document could be am aid to the improvement of the conditions in whichWomen Human Right Defenders carry out their work and their relation to UN agencies.

As you know, most countries within the region are experiencing a crisis of violence, added to sustained high levels ofimpunity and human rights violations, while going through a reality of poverty, inequality and social exclusion whichhave made the effective implementation of peace agreements, signed in the nineties, unviable. According to UNreports, Honduras and El Salvador are among the five countries with the highest homicide rate in the world —Honduras being the country with the highest global murder rate. Along with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvadorare also among the seven countries with the highest number of femicide/feminicide cases worldwide.2 Throughoutthe region, impunity for such cases reaches up to between 95 and 98%, thus limiting seriously women’s access tojustice.

In Honduras, violent deaths of women increased by 263.4% between 2005 and 2013. In 2009 alone, the year of theCoup occurred, femicide increased by 62%, and in 2013, a woman was murdered every 13 hours.3

In El Salvador, a woman is killed every 10 hours. Between 2008 and 2012, the rate of femicide increased by 246.3% 4.In 2012, complaints of sexual crimes increased by 45%, and five complaints of domestic violence were recorded perday.5

1 The Mesoamerican Initiative for Human Rights Defenders (IM—Defensoras) was created in 2010 with the objective of generatingalternative forms of protection, self—care and safety to respond to the violence faced by women human rights defenders as aresult of their work and the gendered circumstances that affect them, and to contribute to support the fights of women humanrights defenders.

2 Femicide: a global problema, Instituto de Graduados de Estudios Internacionales de Desarrollo. 2012

3 Observatorio de Violencia de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras

4 Idem, p.77

5 Informe de violencia y delitos contra las mujeres en El Salvador en 2012. Ref Feminista frente a la Violencia contra las Mujeres,Observatorio de Seguridad Ciudadana de las Mujeres.

Both countries, along with Nicaragua, are among the nine countries in the world that criminalize abortion in allcircumstances. The absolute criminalization of abortion affects poor, young and under-educated women mainly,even in cases where pregnancy is the result of rape or when it endangers the life of the pregnant woman. The resultof such restrictive legislations of sexual and reproductive rights has many women in El Salvador facing prisonsentences ranging from 30 to 40 years.

It is in this context of violence and discrimination against women that Women Human Rights Defenders carry outtheir work. Throughout the region, women participating in peaceful social movements have experienced violencewith the intention of discouraging them from continuing their work on behalf of Human Rights, despite theinternational Human Rights framework that protects them.

Between 2012 and 2013, the IM-Defensoras recorded a total of 1,375 attacks in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala—414 of which were perpetrated in 2012, and 961 in 2013. Honduras recorded the greatest number of attacks forthis period —an outstanding 552 cases—, while El Salvador recorded the least number of attacks for the exact sameperiod —101 attacks—.

Between 2010 and 2012, at least 38 Women Human Rights Defenders from Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexicowere killed because of violence; 9 of them were based in Honduras.

Yet, one of the problems faced by Women Human Rights Defenders is that there are no reliable official figures of theaggressions, or of the gender component to said aggressions. This is, in and of itself, a risk because no adequateprotective measures can be developed.

Psychological intimidation and harassment, threats, warnings and ultimatums, excessive use of force, andcriminalization and prosecution are the main types of aggressions that have been documented by the IM-Defensorasbetween 2012 and 2013. In 2012, 40% of all recorded assaults identified a gender component, and by 2013 thisincreased to 69%.

Particularly worrying is that State actors are becoming, on an aggregate basis, the main actors responsible for theattacks faced by Women Human Rights Defenders.

According to our registry, the Women Human Rights Defenders in Honduras who face greater aggressions areworking with territorial and natural resources rights, as well as women who are working to defend the right to a lifefree of violence. In El Salvador, it is the Women Human Rights Defenders working for the Rights of Women,including Sexual and Reproductive Rights, and the eradication of violence who face the greatest number aggressions.

In response to this situation the networks and organizations integrating IM-Defensoras now present some of theproposals and recommendations we deem necessary to back up the work of these Human Rights Defenders and toadvance better conditions so as to allow them to carry out their work:

We ask you to highlight, during public communication as well as in conversations with the authorities ofHonduras and El Salvador, the situation faced by Women Human Rights Defenders as well as theircontribution to the protection and advancement of Human Rights.

We also ask you to urge the states of Honduras and El Salvador to define, as soon as possible and inconsultation and dialogue with civil society, a comprehensive policy of protection for Women HumanRights Defenders that includes public actions in recognition of their work, effective access to justicemechanisms, and an end to impunity in cases of attacks against Women Human Rights Defenders. A policythat includes a proper gender perspective. We are concerned that in El Salvador there is no public program

to protect Women Human Rights Defenders, and that Honduras has delayed the adoption of the Law onProtection of Defenders, as well as the dismissed gendered dimension in said law.

Finally, we would like to ask that UN agencies in Honduras and El Salvador strengthen their collaborationwith civil society organizations devoted to the defense and advancement of Women Human Rights and thatthey expand their work so as to have all recommendations and decisions of the UN treaty bodies andspecial procedures, as well as other international organizations’, taken into account by the respectiveauthorities.

We are confident that your presence in the region will be an opportunity to advance the recognition and the exerciseof Women and Defender’s Human Rights.

Sincerely,

Red Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos en Guatemala

Defensoras de Nicaragua