Evidence of meeting #77 for Subcommittee on International Human Rights in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was honduras.
1:55 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
There were. You're right. I'm sorry about that. That's very interesting.
I'm just wondering about the work you're doing. Are you doing research for a thesis?
1:55 p.m.
Coordinator, Central America, Rights Action
My previous work in Honduras has been working with human rights organizations throughout the country in grassroots social movements, but now I'll be returning in May where I will stay for the rest of the year to carry out my thesis research.
1:55 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Thank you very much.
Would you say there's an oligarchy in Honduras, just a small number of families own large swaths of land? Is this how it is, that there's a very small number of families? I guess it's a small country so it would be a small number of families.
1:55 p.m.
Coordinator, Central America, Rights Action
It's an oversimplification but if I had to say approximately how many, I'd say there are about 10 families who own probably roughly 90% of the country's wealth, and they're heavily represented in the congress, in the legal system, and in all parts of Honduran society. I think that's why many human rights groups that I've worked with are demanding a change in the constitution. They want more say in these political and economic decisions.
1:55 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
You say there are some land holdings that are being contested. How does that work in court? They're not really structured that way for that kind of thing.
1:55 p.m.
Coordinator, Central America, Rights Action
There are courts and there are institutions, but they are not responsive to people who are denouncing these violations. In the case of the Aguán valley in Honduras, thousands of peasant farmer families are contesting the land owned by three wealthy individuals. One of them is probably one of the richest men in Honduras.
1:55 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Are they doing it through an institution or is it just protest?
1:55 p.m.
Coordinator, Central America, Rights Action
No, they're doing it by occupying the land. There have been lawyers who have taken cases to the courts. There's one lawyer who was killed in September last year. His name was Antonio Trejo. He was a lawyer who represented the peasant farmer movement. He was successful in pushing the cases through the Honduran courts and he was assassinated for it.
1:55 p.m.
Liberal
1:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Scott Reid
Thank you, Mr. Scarpaleggia. You are unique among our questioners in having kept to your time limit, so thank you.
1:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Scott Reid
You kept to the time limit so I'm just expressing my appreciation.
April 23rd, 2013 / 1:55 p.m.
Gary Schellenberger Perth—Wellington, CPC
Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Spring, for being here today.
We all know that the rule of law, or the lack thereof, seems to add to poverty. You say we should not support the police who are somewhat corrupt. Are you suggesting there could possibly be an uprising before the election in November?
1:55 p.m.
Perth—Wellington, CPC
I mean those people you're talking about who are not happy with the government and feel the police are corrupt. Are those people going to go through a democratic election, or will they try to do something else before?
1:55 p.m.
Coordinator, Central America, Rights Action
I think the people who have been left out of this process have been rising up or protesting publicly a lot since the coup. Immediately after the coup, this group of people, a significant number of the Honduran population, were in the streets protesting for over 150 days. So in a way they're already protesting a lot.
With regard to the election, the social movement has a political party that is running and has a significant chance of winning. My concern as a human rights worker would be that I'm not sure what kind of democratic elections can happen with such a high level of insecurity, and with the number of political assassinations that are occurring that are very targeted. I'm not saying that I don't think the police can possibly be a solution to the issue. I think the police are very corrupt right now in Honduras, and this is noted by people, human rights or Honduran state officials, that the police are very corrupt, completely infiltrated by organized crime. There really can be no level of security as long as the police are like that.
I have hopes for the elections but I would say that the elections are already being affected because of the high levels of insecurity in Honduras.
2 p.m.
Perth—Wellington, CPC
You mentioned the working conditions in some of these factories. What is the unemployment rate in Honduras?
2 p.m.
Coordinator, Central America, Rights Action
I'm not entirely sure of the data, but it's a significant amount.
2 p.m.
Perth—Wellington, CPC
Okay.
So would the jobs that are being offered there be looked on to be good for those people, forgetting about maybe having to work an extra couple of hours?