The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has posted on social media:
“Tomorrow [November 29] is International Women Human Rights Defenders Day. Two days before the general elections [on November 30] in Honduras, we celebrate the important role that #women #humanrightsdefenders play in Honduras to ensure that human rights are respected for everyone. Today, we highlight the work of #humanrightsdefenders Lilian Borjas of the National Confederation of Rural Workers (CNTC) for her advocacy on the issue of access to #land and food sovereignty.”
The CNTC website notes: “The CNTC has extensive experience and a strong national and international reputation for carrying out land reclamations throughout the country through direct action (occupying and remaining on the properties) and facing hostility from landowners or alleged owners of the properties and from the governments in power. This hostility includes eviction orders, violent evictions where our comrades have been beaten, imprisoned, and even murdered. This is why the CNTC has many martyrs in its struggle for land rights.”
The quote from Liliana below says: “Previously, there wasn’t much talk about women’s empowerment. Now, there are women on boards of directors.”
The CNTC website adds: “The CNTC is currently the peasant organization that provides the most training to its members and, of course, to its male and female leaders.”
This year, UN Women noted: “In 2024, OHCHR documented the killings of 56 WHRDs, journalists, and trade unionists in conflict-affected countries—a number that likely underrepresents the real toll.”
The CNTC, created in 1985, is a small-scale farming and trade union organization, that fights for the distribution of land.
The CNTC is affiliated with the Unified Confederation of Honduran Workers (CUTH) which in turn is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), along with 150+ labour organizations including the Canadian Labour Congress.
Peace Brigades International has been accompanying the National Union of Rural Workers (CNTC) since May 2018.
Additional reading: PBI-Honduras concerned by arbitrary detention of CNTC El Progreso general secretary Lilian Borjas (May 2, 2024).
