Article by PBI-Canada
On September 28, Tilly Metz, a Member of the European Parliament from Luxembourg, tweeted this photo with the text: “Presenting @GreensEFA’s nomination for the #SakharovPrize: Imprisoned Guapinol defenders & Berta Cáceres.”
She adds: “Honduras is not in the everyday media attention, although it has the highest record of killings of environment and land defenders. The award would be so deserved!”
The European Parliament awards the Sakharov Prize every year to honor exceptional individuals and organizations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms.
This year, the Guapinol activists and Berta Caceres in Honduras have been nominated for the Sakharov Prize by the Greens/European Free Alliance and the European United Left–Nordic Green Left.
The Brussels Times has noted: “The Guapinol activists have been imprisoned after taking part in a peaceful protest against a polluting mining company in Tocoa, Honduras. Berta Caceras was assassinated in 2016, and was a land-rights activist and protestor against illegal logging and land-grabbing from indigenous peoples in Honduras.”
The winner of the Sakharov Prize will be announced on October 22 and the award ceremony will take place on December 16.
The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project accompanies COPINH, the organization that Berta Caceres co-founded, and accompanies processes related to the calls for the criminalized Guapinol water defenders to be released from prison.
