Garífuna Women Call for End to Evictions in Ongoing Protest at Honduras's Supreme Court

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams Joins Solidarity Call with Territory and Land Defenders

OTTAWA, CANADA, September 17, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams joined a solidarity call on September 14, 2026, with Garífuna women human rights defenders who are camped in front of the Supreme Court of Justice in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, protesting a rise in violent evictions from their ancestral territory and demanding that the government comply with binding rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR).

The Garífuna are an Afro-Indigenous people who have lived in coastal villages across Honduras for over two centuries, sustaining their communities through fishing and farming and preserving a culture recognized by UNESCO for its language, dance, and music. They hold recognized rights to their ancestral lands under four separate rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which also call for the protection of their predominantly women leaders.

The Honduran government has not implemented these rulings; moreover, it has intensified violent and illegal evictions, while the Public Prosecutor's Office has brought criminal charges of "aggravated usurpation" against five land defenders from OFRANEH, a leading organization representing Garífuna communities. In addition, according to OFRANEH representatives present on the call, a smear campaign has been launched through co-opted local media outlets, equating Garífuna defenders of human rights, land, and territory with organized crime. Amnesty International has condemned this move as criminalizing the legitimate exercise of Indigenous rights. (https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr37/1427/2026/en/)

During the call organized by the Mesoamerican Initiative for Women Human Rights Defenders (IM-Defensoras), representatives of OFRANEH spoke directly and powerfully with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams about the crisis their communities face:

"Our struggle is a struggle to survive."

"With the new administration, evictions are increasing in the protected lands."

"They are discrediting us in the media by equating organized crime with the defense of territory and human rights.”

“Resistance must continue because justice is on our side." — Garífuna women defenders, OFRANEH, speaking with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams from the camp in front of the Supreme Court of Justice in Honduras.

Following the solidarity call with Garífuna women, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams shared:

“The Garífuna women camped outside the Supreme Court in Honduras are doing what governments across the Americas are failing to do: defending human rights, protecting ancestral land and territory from exploitation and extractivism. The Honduran government has ignored four rulings from the Inter-American Court and is instead responding by intensifying evictions and prosecuting the very people it is supposed to protect. That's not governance - that's intimidation, and it has to stop."

Nobel Women's Initiative has stood with the Garífuna people since 2009. Nearly six years later, that solidarity remains just as important. NWI's Executive Director Maria Butler emphasizes:

"Garífuna women continue to show incredible courage in the face of growing persecution. They shouldn't have to do this alone. Nobel Women's Initiative calls on the Government of Honduras to immediately halt all evictions of Garífuna communities, drop the criminal charges against OFRANEH defenders, and fully comply with all Inter-American Court of Human Rights judgments. We call on international governments and multilateral bodies to condition their engagement with Honduras on respect for Indigenous territorial rights and the safety of women human rights defenders. And we urge international media to include the voices of Garífuna women defending their land, their communities, and their lives."

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BILL OMONDI
Nobel Women's Initiative
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