Tearfund seeks greater pressure on Honduras amid instability

|PIC1|The aid agency warns that poor people are suffering the most amid growing violence and the repression of human rights under interim president Roberto Micheletti and the replacement regime.

Negotiations have so far failed to bring a political solution after President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales was ousted from power and forced to leave the country on 28 June. The US has already stated that it would not recognise elections scheduled for November as legitimate.

“Everyone is affected by the political instability in Honduras but the poorest people in society are really suffering,” said Paul Cook, Tearfund’s Advocacy Director.

Tearfund has launched a campaign on SuperBadger, an application on social networking website Facebook that enables people to sign up to a particular call for action.

The campaign invites Christians to call upon the Foreign Secretary to publicly condemn the June coup and denounce human rights violations by the Honduran regime, the repression of peaceful protesters, the murder of peaceful political organisers, and media censorship.

The campaign also urges a halt to all military aid and trade to the interim government, and asks that the UK use its influence within the EU to delay negotiations of the EU-Central America Association Agreement until there is evidence that Honduras is complying with the democracy and human rights provisions within the agreement.

“We are asking David Miliband to put pressure on the interim government to restore democracy,” said Mr Cook. “SuperBadger is a great way for people to get involved and bring about change through campaign action.”

Tearfund appealed to Christians to pray for renewed talks to bring an end to the dispute between Mr Zelaya and Mr Micheletti, a peaceful solution to the crisis, and to ensure that international sanctions against Honduras do not add to the suffering of those in poverty.