Irma Lemus
Irma Lemus is a member of the Observatorio Permanente de Derechos Humanos del Aguán - OPDHA (Permanent Observatory of Human Rights of Aguán). The organisation works on reporting human rights violations and provides support to rural communities (campesinos), particularly those who are forcibly evicted from their homes and are victims of violence due to land disputes.
Human rights defenders suffer extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment as well as judicial harassment, threats and stigmatisation. Since the 2009 military coup, the number of killings, threats and acts of intimidation against campesinos and environmental rights defenders has increased. The perpetrators of violations against many defenders of environmental, land and indigenous rights, are often influential landowners or logging companies.
