Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras
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The Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH, Spanish: ''Comité para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos en Honduras'') is a
human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
in
Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
founded in 1981.


Background

Honduras had a
history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
of several coups d'etat and military governments during the second half of the twentieth century. A civilian government was elected in 1981, but human rights violations continued. The military unit Battalion 3-16, which received training and support from the United States
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
both in
Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
and at U.S. military bases and in
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
during the presidency of the dictator
Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
,
Equipo Nizkor :''See Nizkor for other organizations with a similar name.'' ---- Equipo Nizkor (from the Hebrew נִזְכּוֹר, "we will remember") is a human rights NGO concerned mostly about events in Latin America, but also Europe. It is affiliated with Der ...

LA APARICION DE OSAMENTAS EN UNA ANTIGUA BASE MILITAR DE LA CIA EN HONDURAS REABRE LA PARTICIPACION ARGENTINO-NORTEAMERICANA EN ESE PAIS.
'' Margen''
carried out political
assassinations Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...
and
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
of suspected political opponents of the government.
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
estimated that at least 184 people were "disappeared" from 1980 to 1992 in Honduras, most likely by the Honduran military.


Creation

The organization was created in May 1981 by Ramón Custodio Lopez, a medical doctor and surgeon and founding member of the Medical College of Honduras. He remained the leader of CODEH until 1999.


Aims

CODEH's
human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
aims were initially narrowly focused, but during the 1990s extended to economic and social human rights.


Structure and leadership

Andrés Pavón Murillo has been president of the organization since 1999. In the spring of 2009
Manuel Zelaya José Manuel Zelaya Rosales (born 20 September 1952)Encyclopædia BritannicaManuel Zelaya/ref> is a Honduran politician who was President of Honduras from 27 January 2006 until 28 June 2009, and who since January 2022 serves as the first Fir ...
invited the organization's leader Andrés Pavón to a meeting. The two talked about Zelaya's constitutional modification plans as well as re-election, according to Pavón. Pavón "became pro-Zelaya" after the meeting.


Government responses

During the 1980s, the organization "withstood harassment and intimidation by Honduran security forces". Following testimony that CODEH regional director in northern Honduras, Miguel Ángel Pavón Salazar, gave against the Honduran government in October 1987 before the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR or IACtHR) is an international court based in San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it was formed by the American Convention on Human Rights, a huma ...
(IACHR), he was shot dead on 14 January 1988. The Council of the
Inter-Parliamentary Union The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; french: Union Interparlementaire, UIP) is an inter-parliamentary institution, international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and coop ...
found that "initial findings" linked the killing with Ángel Pavon's IACHR testimony and stated that former Battalion 3-16 member Fausto Reyes Caballero had declared the names of Battalion 3-16 members responsible for Ángel Pavon's assassination. The present president the organization, Andrés Pavón Murillo, has had three legal cases against him and one attempt was made to kill him because of his human rights activities.


CODEH reports

In mid-2006, CODEH reported that seven former members of Battalion 3-16 (
Billy Joya Billy Fernando Joya Améndola (known as Billy Joya) is a former Honduran military officer who worked in the controversial Battalion 3-16, national security adviser at Manuel Zelaya's government, a post in which he has continued.''The Daily Telegra ...
, Alvaro Romero, Erick Sánchez, Onofre Oyuela Oyuela,
Napoleón Nassar Herrera Napoleón Nazar Herrera (pronounced: Nassar) is a Honduran military officer who worked in the controversial Battalion 3–16 who successively became leader of the General Department of Criminal Investigation (DGIC), high Commissioner of Police fo ...
, Vicente Rafael Canales Nuñez, Salomón Escoto Salinas and René Maradianga Panchamé) occupied important positions in the administration of President
Manuel Zelaya José Manuel Zelaya Rosales (born 20 September 1952)Encyclopædia BritannicaManuel Zelaya/ref> is a Honduran politician who was President of Honduras from 27 January 2006 until 28 June 2009, and who since January 2022 serves as the first Fir ...
. On 11 November 2009, Andrés Pavón stated that the Honduran military planned to disguise soldiers as a fake armed wing of the National Resistance Front against the coup d'etat in Honduras that would massacre members of the Democratic Civic Union on 29 November 2009, the day of the planned Honduran general election, with the goal of discrediting the National Resistance Front and creating a cycle of lethal violence between pro- and anti-coup civilian groups. Pavón said that military officers "loyal to the Honduran people" had informed him about the plan and stated that the plan is to be carried out by supporters of the ''de facto'' government.


References


External links

* {{in lang, es}
Official website
Human rights organizations based in Honduras 1981 establishments in the United States Organizations established in 1981