Calling for the immediate restoration of
democracy in Honduras and the lifting of curbs on fundamental
freedoms, today four independent United Nations human rights experts
voiced serious concern over the situation in Honduras following last
weekend's coup d'e'tat. The four internationally recognized
human rights experts included Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Human
Rights Council's Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, Manuela
Carmena Castrillo; the Special Rapporteur on the independence of
judges and lawyers, Leandro Despouy; the Special Rapporteur on the
situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya; and the
Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression,
Frank La Rue.
The experts said they were especially
disturbed by reported arrests, threats and acts of harassment against
human rights defenders, journalists and social leaders. In a
statement issued in Geneva, the experts deplored what they called
"the alteration of the democratic institutional order" in
Honduras and the breaking of the rule of law in the coup.
The statement follows similar
condemnations this week from the General Assembly and from
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon after military leaders deposed
President Jose' Manuel Zelaya Rosales last Sunday, hours before
a referendum on changing the Honduran constitution was due to be
held.
The experts urged the Government in
Honduras to guarantee the human rights of all citizens, to ensure the
free exercise of fundamental freedoms, the re-opening of media
outlets that had been closed or suspended, and a ban on the use of
excessive force by the armed forces and the police.
