most of the killings “have often been attributed to individuals or groups with links to the local authorities, business people and the military.”9 46. The Rapporteur further noted that “the authorities have taken little or no action to bring those responsible to justice.”10 Similarly, several local and international nongovernmental organizations have spoken out about the widespread impunity surrounding violations of the human rights of environmentalists in Honduras.11 47. In 2005, Honduras made the following statement to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in connection with the implementation of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: It is a simple fact of life in Honduras that Governments have paid very little attention to the indigenous population, which lives by subsistence activities, especially in remote areas of the country. (…) [A] small group of individuals (politicians and entrepreneurs) (...) have promoted the overexploitation of natural resources, both renewable and non-renewable, and their actions have not only degraded and contaminated the environment, they have also adversely affected the interests of the people as a whole. Their undue, unlawful and arbitrary appropriation of large tracts of land, which is a natural source of wealth, has prevented the residents of local communities from having access to the available resources to obtain the income and food that they need in order to sustain their families. In some instances, [people] who have attempted to defend the local natural resources and the environment have lost their lives while opposing the destruction or undue appropriation of sites that were regarded as the heritage of all because of their scenic beauty and their utility as a source of employment (...), providing families with an opportunity of earning income and obtaining food. Other local people who have attempted to exercise their right to dispose freely of the country’s natural wealth and resources (...) have also been known to lose their lives when they have got in the way of powerful economic interests (...) and these murders have gone unpunished.12 48. In addition, Hina Jilani, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Representative on human rights defenders, stated in 2006 that the defenders of natural resources were the “second most vulnerable group” compared to other human rights defenders.13 Specifically, in connection with the situation of the defenders of natural resources in Honduras, she expressed her “deep concern at the violations of [their] right to life, to security, and to physical and mental integrity.”14 She added that “members of the State’s 9 Annex 1. UN, Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Ms. Asma Jahangir, Addendum, Mission to Honduras, document E/CN.4/2003/3/Add.2, June 14, 2002, para. 63. 10 Annex 1. UN, Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Ms. Asma Jahangir, Addendum, Mission to Honduras, document E/CN.4/2003/3/Add.2, June 14, 2002, para. 63. 11 Annex 2. Amnesty International, “Honduras: Much To Be Done Regarding Human Rights,” August 7, 2001, p. 26; Amnesty International, “Essential Actors of Our Time: Human Rights Defenders in the Americas,” November 2003, AI: AMR 01/009/2003/s, p. 24. See also: Expert testimony on “the situation in Honduras of defenders of the environment and natural resources, and of human rights defenders,” given by Rigoberto Ochoa Peralta in the case of Kawas Fernández v. Honduras. In addition, see: Expert testimony of Clarisa Vega in the same case. 12 Annex 3. UN, Human Rights Committee, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 40 of the Covenant, Initial Report, HONDURAS, CCPR/C/HND/2005/1, April 26, 2005, para. 15. 13 Annex 4. UN, Human Rights Council, Implementation of General Assembly Resolution 60/215 of 15 March 2006 Entitled “Human Rights Council,” Report submitted by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on human rights defenders, Hina Jilani, A/HRC/4/37, January 24, 2007, para. 45. 14 Annex 5. UN, Economic and Social Council, Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Human Rights Defenders, Report submitted by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on human rights defenders, Hina Jilani, Addendum, Compilation of developments in the area of human rights defenders, E/CN.4/2006/95/Add.5, March 6, 2006, para. 724. 7