Thank you very much for your comments and your questions, sir.
Mr. Chair, for sure we do recognize and acknowledge that there are serious issues in Honduras. I think I mentioned that very explicitly in our statement. There is cause for concern, and yes, human rights defenders and journalists are the subject of human rights violations.
In terms of where this is going, again, the one thing we can state for fact is that the current government is taking some measures. If we go one step beyond that, is an impact of all of these measures being felt on the ground in reality? There are some, and I will give you a few indicators in a moment, but I think that we all recognize that the impact of the total sum of these measures will probably be felt only gradually over time. Building institutions, whether it's human rights specific institutions or improving the way the police conducts its business, takes some time and it is difficult to expect results in the very short term. I think the results will be gradual over time and we will have to keep monitoring the real progress or the absence thereof on the ground.
This being said, some of the measures already taken do have a certain impact. I will offer one example. In the Bajo Aguan region where there's a lot of violence related to land rights issues, as I mentioned before, the government decided to engage in a collaborative capacity with civil society to address this issue. As a concrete result, the number of homicides in this particular region related to land rights issues has dropped from 40 in 2012 to 20 in 2013, so the number has dropped by half. Of course, this is still 20 homicides too many, but it is an indicator that shows there has been some progress.
In one other area, which may be a little less tangible but is nevertheless meaningful, as a consequence of all of the work that has been done to strengthen the capacity and the approach of security forces in dealing with violence and human rights issues, the authorities are telling us that there are now more witnesses and more community leaders who are prepared to work with security forces to investigate crimes and human rights violations.
If this is happening, then the odds of resolving cases and pursuing cases and reducing impunity over time are higher.
I use those two examples, but again acknowledging that the real meaningful impact of all of this we will have to monitor over time.