PBI-Honduras accompanies National Union of Rural Workers (CNTC) at meeting with campesino groups

On March 20, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Projected posted, “On March 4, we accompanied the CTNC (National Union of Rural Workers) to a meeting with some peasant groups from La Paz, among them some members accused of usurpation of land and, for absence in a hearing, also accused of rebellion.”

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples has explained that the charge of aggravated usurpation is commonly brought against Indigenous land defenders criminalized as trespassers on their own lands.

The PBI-Honduras post adds, “The national board called to discuss possible steps to be taken in this case, to avoid the capture of the members of the peasant groups.”

PBI-Honduras has previously explained, “The CNTC, created in 1985, is a small-scale farming and trade union organisation, which fights for the distribution of land.”

“It is affiliated to the Unitary Confederation of Honduran Workers (Confederación Unitaria de Trabajadores de Honduras – CUTH) and is part of the Vía Campesina.”

“Its aim is to support affiliated small-scale farming families so that they have access to land and resources and can carry out productive agricultural, fishing, forestry and agro-industrial activities, contributing to their social and economic development.”

“The CNTC organises actions to demand rights, carries out educational processes and manages resources for the implementation of profitable productive projects with a gender and sustainable agriculture approach.”

“In addition, it also conducts research and monitors legal cases: land surveys, land legalisation procedures, evictions and accompaniment to victims prosecuted during these processes.”

PBI-Honduras has been accompanying CNTC since May 2018.