PBI-Canada notes international court’s ruling that Honduras provide protection measures for Mabel Robledo, report by November 7

Published by Brent Patterson on October 29, 2025 October 29, 2025

Photo: On October 31, 2024, PBI-Honduras and PBI-Canada visited with Mabel Robledo in Nueva Armenia on Garifuna territory in Honduras.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) has noted: “Mabel Robledo is quiet but firm, qualities she uses to lead the Nueva Armenia Land Defense Committee, a grassroots organization fighting to reclaim Garifuna lands. Her leadership has drawn attention – and significant risks.”

And IM-Defensoras says: “Mabel Robledo is member of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) and president of the Armenia community board. …Mabel Robledo is beneficiary of the Protection Mechanism because she has been the victim of continuous harassment, persecution and threats for her work as a woman defender of territory, the commons and ancestral cultures.”

On October 24, Criterio.hn reported:

“On October 15, 2025, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR Court) issued a resolution for provisional measures in the case of Garifuna Community Cayos Cochinos and its members v. Honduras, ordering the Honduran State to immediately and effectively protect the life and integrity of the human rights defender Ana Mabel Vílá Robledo, after verifying deficiencies and risks in the State’s protection.”

“The decision, the result of complaints filed by the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (Ofraneh), confirms a serious scenario of risk and structural violence against Garifuna communities and those who defend ancestral territory.”

The article further explains:

“The case was submitted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in November 2023 and addresses the situation of Garifuna leaders who face harassment, threats, and violence for their work in territorial defense. During the process, Mabel Robledo suffered – on June 21, 2025 – a police attack on her return from Nueva Armenia to Jutiapa, where armed agents intercepted her, shot, beat her and later took her to a police station, ignoring her status as a beneficiary of the National Protection Mechanism.”

The Inter-American Court’s resolution requires Honduras to “immediately adopt the necessary measures to effectively protect her life, integrity, and personal security” and “report to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights no later than November 7, 2025, on the provisional measures adopted to comply with this decision.”

We continue to follow this situation.

Further reading: Honduras: Armed attack and arbitrary detention of human rights defender Mabel Robledo (UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders).