British Government encourages Honduras to keep improving protection of journalists
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) released its Human Rights and Democracy Report 2014 on 12 March, which underlines Honduras challenges and advances toward the protection of journalists.
Ambassador Sarah Dickson in Honduras
The overall document provides a UK perspective on the global human rights situation during 2014, and examples of what the British government is doing to promote human rights and democratic values overseas.
On 26 March the British Ambassador to Honduras, Sarah Dickson, hosted a roundtable on “freedom of expression” to analyse some conclusions of the report and define a roadmap of actions to address the situation of journalists.
The Ambassador highlighted the support given by the UK government in this area, including the funding of a PEN Centre (a worldwide organization that works in favour of freedom of expression) that opened in Honduras to provide help for those journalists and media communicators who have been victims of violence.
In November last year, a first ever visit by a group of British parliamentarians took place under the auspices of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The visit allowed an exchange of views on a wide range of human rights issues with government officials, NGOs and journalists themselves.
The British Ambassador also welcomed the Honduran Government’s approach of cooperating fully with a visit from the IACHR in December 2014, and recognised efforts by Congress to resume the discussion on the law of protection for journalists.
To mark her visit to Honduras, British Ambassador, Sarah Dickson, said:
The United Kingdom is willing to work together with Honduras to combat impunity, reform the Honduran security and justice sectors, and enhance the capacity of Honduran institutions that protect journalists to operate effectively.
The full case-study for Honduras is available here