Thank you.
We would like to state something categorically. First, poverty is something that we don't understand, insofar as it is so severe in our country. When we hear Peter talking about all that is good, there are a number of serious violations of labour rights. We are working on that, because we are not getting a reaction or a response from the internal legislation. We have presented our concerns to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. That's with regard to the Gildan enterprise. For us, it is a basic fact that young women make up the bulk of the workforce. There is never a clear vision of the health impact on these women in terms of the work they do. We wish to deal with that issue legally and with due process.
With regard to your question, I will answer it this way. We cannot deny that in Honduras there is drug trafficking and generalized violence; that is why the country has been called the most violent country. But what we are talking about, in the area in which we work, is not linked to organized crime or drug trafficking. It really has to do with human rights violations generated by state authorities against political dissidents. So we want to be very clear here.
It is difficult to work in the area of human rights right now in Honduras, because the level of crime has gone beyond what can be done. But we know that the number of deaths and arrests, with the political persecution and the accusations that have been generated within the legal system, are factors that discourage the population from making demands.
We are talking about deaths that follow a pattern. It is clearly established that the pattern is there, because there is a squad leading those murders. There is a state agent that either by omission or agency allows it. Our reiterated denunciations are that there are clandestine places, like in the old days, when COFADEH was born, where people are taken and where they are tortured. If they're lucky, they are then set free. In most cases, however, they are killed.
So yes, we cannot deny what has been said here. There is drug trafficking, and there is activity linked to drug trafficking. But we cannot allow serious human rights violations to take place with the excuse that in fact the drug trafficking problem is creating such a problem for us. In the community of Ahuas, we saw what happened there. Four people were murdered: two pregnant women, one minor, and one man of about 40 years old. The attack was important not only because there were four people killed; four people were also injured, two of whom were minors. They cannot now have a full life because of the damage caused by the attack.
So there are human rights violations, serious human rights violations, being committed under cover of drug trafficking. These attacks are against political dissidents.
We are here to ask you to consider ratifying this treaty. Think about it, look into it, go to the areas, go to Honduras, and meet with the different social groups that make up Honduras, not only with the groups that agree with this project. Don't only speak to them.
There must be an exercise to include and to create democratic stability in Honduras. It's not something that can be done in four years because what we see are fierce violations of human rights.