Indigenous Rights

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that Honduras's newly approved agroindustrial law could harm indigenous and rural communities' land and territorial rights and deepen social conflict, urging Congress to align it with international standards.

Residents of Azacualpa, Copán, elected a Maya-Chortí Indigenous Council to defend their territory against Minosa, which continues operating despite its concession expiring in 2023 and having destroyed the community's ancestral cemetery.

A judge in San Pedro Sula convicted four indigenous leaders of usurpation despite the National Agrarian Institute granting the Lenca community legal title to the disputed land in El Cacao, prompting rights groups to appeal and take the case to international bodies.

Honduras granted a 2013 oil concession covering 35,256 square kilometers of Caribbean waters in La Moskitia, a UNESCO World Heritage site, without consulting the four indigenous peoples living there, violating international law.