Media advisories Special Procedures

UN expert on summary executions to visit Honduras

19 May 2023

GENEVA (19 May 2023) – UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Morris Tidball-Binz will visit Honduras at the invitation of the Government from 22 May to 2 June 2023.

Tidball-Binz will examine existing measures and current efforts to investigate potentially unlawful deaths, including those resulting from institutional violence, deaths in custody and gender-based killings.

The UN expert will assess the rights of victims to truth, justice and reparation in the context of unlawful deaths, efforts to conduct effective, prompt, impartial, and independent investigations of these deaths in accordance with international standards as outlined in the revised Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016), and measures aimed at preventing unlawful deaths, including in the context of land disputes and organised crime. He will also assess legislative and institutional frameworks in place to address unlawful deaths and the level of implementation of recommendations from his mandate’s previous visits, in 2001 and 2016.

During his visit, the Special Rapporteur will meet with authorities at the federal, provincial and city levels, civil society, victims and their families. He is expected to travel to Támara, San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba, Bajo Aguán, and Tegucigalpa.

Tidball-Binz will hold a press conference on Friday 2 June 2023, at 11 AM local time at the Hyatt Place, Salón Hyatt III, Avenida La Paz, Paseo los Proceres, Tegucigalpa. Access will be strictly limited to journalists.

The expert will present a report to the UN Human Rights Council’s 56th Session in June 2024.

Mr. Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions is a medical doctor specialised in forensic science, human rights and humanitarian action. He is currently an Adjunct Clinical Professor in Forensic Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Australia and a Visiting Professor of the Department of Forensic Medicine, Ethics and Medical Law, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Portugal and of the Department of Biomedical Health Sciences, University of Milano, Italy. Mr. Tidball-Binz previously worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), where he helped to establish and served as the first director of the Forensic Services and Unit. He also co-founded and directed the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, an organization that pioneered the application of scientific methods to investigate serious violations of human rights and crimes against humanity.

Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

UN Human Rights, Country Page - Honduras

For further information and media requests, please contact: Anna Fischer (+41 22 928 93 22 / anna.fischer@un.org) or write to hrc-sr-eje@un.org.

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts, please contact Maya Derouaz (maya.derouaz@un.org) or Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org)

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