I want to welcome our witnesses with us today. Thank you for your comprehensive presentation.
Mr. Reeder, you mentioned, and I'm quoting from your remarks, that “President Lobo of Honduras recognizes that human rights and security are serious challenges”. He has made serious efforts to address this, including, as you cited, “the formation of a national unity government; the creation of a ministry of human rights and justice, and a commissioner of human rights”.
You acknowledge, of course, that progress was slow in this complex environment, but what I found particularly serious in the reports we have read and the research that has been done for us are two factors, on which I want to focus. Reference has been made to them. One is that Honduras at this point is the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists. The second point is that significant violence against human rights lawyers and human rights defenders caused the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay—after one of the murders in September 2012—to note:
There is a menacing climate of insecurity and violence in Honduras, and human rights defenders have been targets of threats, harassment, physical assault and murder. She then concluded, again to use her words: I call on the Government of Honduras to urgently adopt measures to address the vulnerability of human rights defenders, as recommended by the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, who visited the country in February this year.
My first question is, has Honduras adopted the urgent measures that were asked for to address the vulnerability of human rights defenders?
The second question, not unrelated, is this. One of the human rights lawyers who was murdered was Antonio Trejo Cabrera, in September 2012. As you know, he was a lawyer who advocated for peasant rights, and as part of that opposed the creation of the special development regions known as charter cities. Are these charter cities regarded as privileged entities with respect to matters of trade and investment, and are they part of the Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement?
Those are my two questions.