TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “Since the military coup in Honduras, opponents of the regime have been assaulted, raped and killed.
“Despite these appalling human rights abuses, the European Union continues to give the regime legitimacy through preferential trade rights.
“Rather than standing idly by the international community must put political and economic pressure on the regime to end its human rights abuses and restore the democratically elected Government.”
A full press release is below.
The TUC is today (Wednesday) calling on the European Commission to suspend its preferential trade agreement with Honduras because of repeated human rights abuses since the military regime overthrew the democratically elected government earlier this year.
Since the military coup on 28 June 2009, 20 people have been killed (12 of whom were trade unionists), while another 500 people have been injured and 3,000 arrested. Honduran trade unions have reported their members being subjected to physical and psychological torture, including rape.
Last month the TUC wrote to European Commissioner Baroness Catherine Ashton calling on the European Commission to suspend its GSP+ trade agreement with Honduras.
Under its Generalised System of Preferences or ‘GSP+’ scheme, the European Union rewards countries that are implementing fundamental human and labour rights conventions with additional trade preferences.
The TUC believes the Honduran regime has violated several UN and ILO human and workers’ rights conventions including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture and the ILO conventions concerning Freedom of Association.
Despite acknowledging concerns about the military regime, the European Commission has refused to withdraw GSP+ status from Honduras. In her response Baroness Ashton claimed: “We have not yet received any indication that the situation is yet affecting the implementation of the Conventions linked to GSP+”.
The TUC call was made ahead of the event Restore Democracy in Honduras being held in central London tonight.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “Since the military coup in Honduras, opponents of the regime have been assaulted, raped and killed.
“Despite these appalling human rights abuses, the European Union continues to give the regime legitimacy through preferential trade rights.
“Rather than standing idly by the international community must put political and economic pressure on the regime to end its human rights abuses and restore the democratically elected Government.”
UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt said: “Trade unionists in Honduras faced violence before the coup. But the situation today is far worse.
“Sadly when dictators crack down on democracies, trade unions are often the first to be targeted.
“We urge the European Commission to put pressure on the Honduran military regime by suspending its preferential trade agreement.”
