Miriam Miranda and members of OFRANEH Harassed by Police Officers

On 11 January 2017, members of the National Police attempted to detain human rights defender Ms. Miriam Miranda while she was passing through a checkpoint in La Ceiba, on the Northern coast of Honduras, with fellow human rights defenders Mr. Luis Gutierrez, Mr. Oscar Gaboa and Mr. Luis Miranda.

On 11 January 2017, the vehicle that human rights defenders Miriam Miranda, Luis Gutierrez, Oscar Gaboa and Luis Miranda were travelling in was stopped by four police officers. After reviewing the driver's documents, the police officers aggressively demanded that the defenders "get out of the vehicle, you are going to jail". The police officers used extremely racist and discriminatory language to address the human rights defenders. Miriam Miranda made phone calls to alert support groups and other human rights organisations about the situation and in response the police demanded that they be silent, otherwise they would be beaten, speaking directly to Luis Miranda. The incident took approximately thirty minutes and it is believed that the police officers gave up on the arbitrary arrest due to the calls made by Miriam Miranda.

Miriam Miranda is the coordinator of the Organización Fraternal Negra de Honduras (Black Fraternal Organisation of Honduras, OFRANEH). In October 2016, Miriam Miranda was awarded the Carlos Escaleras Prize in recognition of her human rights work, which involves protecting and defending ancestral territories of the Garífuna people in Honduras. After being granted precautionary measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on 20 September 2011 (MC 322/11), Miriam Miranda has continued to face threats and attacks, including violent arrest, kidnapping and harassment. OFRANEH is an organisation that has worked since 1978 for the promotion of the Afro-Caribbean Garífuna people's right to self-determination through programmes that support their political, social, economic and cultural advancement. In October 2016, OFRANEH was the recipient of the Nota SOL Prize, which recognises groups that implement projects to strengthen the culture of indigenous peoples, foster sustainable development and defend their human rights. In 2015, OFRANEH was awarded the Food Sovereignty Prize, which honours grassroots activists working for a more democratic food system. Luis Gutierrez, Oscar Gaboa and Luis Miranda are members of the Plataforma de los Movimientos Sociales y Populares de Honduras (Platform of Social and Popular Movements of Honduras, PMSPH).

Human rights defenders in Honduras are constantly reporting incidents of harassment and attacks perpetrated by police officers against them. Members of OFRANEH specifically have been subject to attacks, harassment, threats and criminalisation. OFRANEH has two pending cases against the Honduran State at the Inter-American Court on Human Rights. The organisation has recently brought Randy Jorgensen, a Canadian businessman, to trial in Trujillo, Honduras, in relation to a large-scale tourism project that displaced Garifuna communities from their ancestral lands.

Honduras is considered to be one of the most dangerous countries and is known for failing to protect human rights defenders, as stated by the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteurs for human rights defenders in a joint statement last year. In 2016, at least 33 human rights defenders were killed with several others surviving attempted assassinations as a result of their human rights work as reported in Front Line Defenders Annual Report.

Front Line Defenders condemns the harassment and attempted arbitrary detention of members of OFRANEH and the PMSPH and calls upon the State to guarantee that law enforcement officers protect, rather than attack, the human rights defenders in the country.