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Investment can be in excess of the Human Rights

Before the development of political-business event "Honduras is Open for Business" on 05 and 06 May this year, the Convergence for Human Rights northwestern pronounce as follows:

FIRST: We recognize that trade and investment is an essential tool for developing nations, but only if done in a real footing, if we take into account the conditions of each country, especially if it is a means to achieve general welfare by respect and promotion of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

SECOND: We express our concern regarding this event as it represents the deepening of the implementation of the National Investment Promotion Honduras 2010-2014 brought about a profound process of institutional and legal reforms further weakened state institutions and puts more precarious environmental conditions, social, economic and labor of millions of Hondurans.

THIRD: We denounce in the framework of this program, Lobo Sosa regime has been established and adopted a national vision and a National Plan that places the interests of investors above the interests and rights of the individual; legitimize the privatization of key assets such as education and public health legalize the theft, exploitation and de-nationalization of our natural resources , and more harshly criminalized the peaceful social protest is against this vision of development that ignores human dignity.

FOURTH: We demand that developed countries take seriously the obligation to take steps to ensure that their companies have developed or economic relations and trade with poor countries like Honduras, respect the rules international human rights, especially those relating to economic, social and cultural rights.

FIFTH: We urge the regime Lobo Sosa, the international financial institutions and companies involved in this process seriously evaluate their incompatibility with the international obligation to respect and guarantee human rights for non-compliance can lead to international responsibility and contravention identified by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the sense that "international financial institutions, notably the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and regional development banks, should pay greater attention to the protection of [human rights] to influence policies and credit agreements and international measures of these institutions. "

SIXTH: We confirm that we are not against the country's development but we demand that it take place in conditions of respect and guarantee human rights and human dignity, and that if implemented actions that threaten them both the State and companies are responsible and both have an obligation to correct them.

SEVENTH: We express our commitment to use all political and legal tools that gives us the Inter-American Human Rights of due process transparency, monitoring of development programs, environmental impact studies, and consultation and community participation in development projects and exploitation of resources, with the goal of requiring that the Honduran government and non-state actors State comply with the obligation to respect the universal norms and inter-American human rights.

Convergence for Human Rights of the Northwest Area


Given in the city of San Pedro Sula, Cortés, with 05 days of April 2011.