271.
As appears from the facts proven, nor is it controverted that the region, populated mainly by
members of the Miskito indigenous community, was known for the absence of employment options, the main
source of employment in underwater fishing. As a result, some of the victims even went back to work in deepsea fishing in the same unsafe conditions, even after having had accidents stemming from decompression
syndrome. The Commission already recapitulated that the right to freely choose work, which, as a corollary,
calls for the existence of sources of employment, is part of the essential contents of the right to work.
272.
In addition to the foregoing, the IACHR finds that the employment relations between them and
the fishing companies were characterized by very low wages, informality in the labor relationship, and various
sorts of abuses that were possible due to the extreme vulnerability of the victims and lack of protection by the
State, a situation that affected the essential contents of the right to work and the right to fair, equitable, and
satisfactory conditions.
273.
The IACHR considers that as part of the general duty to ensure rights, the State should pay
special attention to the groups that historically have suffered discrimination and exclusion and should take
measures so that when those groups enter a labor relationship with companies that they comply with the
respective domestic statutes and regulations on labor benefits and social security. In this respect the
Commission has already indicated that the indigenous populations suffer a differential impairment of their
rights, for example, due to the persistent obstacles to the realization of the right to a dignified job, through
marked barriers that they face to a full professional education, to opportunities for dignified employment, and
to sufficient social security, which finds its origins in the existence of a pattern of structural discrimination and
historic exclusion, making it possible to reproduce the cycle of poverty and impair their ability to exercise their
fundamental rights.363 Similarly, in relation to persons with disabilities, the Commission has indicated that they
have a greater likelihood of experiencing adverse socioeconomic situations, such as lower levels of education,
worse health conditions, and high unemployment.364
274.
The IACHR observes that the Honduran State, despite being aware of the situation of the divers
and the perverse situation of the labor relations in which they found themselves, did not take any deliberate,
concrete measure aimed at upholding that right; to the contrary, it allowed the employer companies to
interfere, without justification, in access to social security for those workers due to the labor conditions to
which they exposed them.
275.
Based on the foregoing, it appears that the failure of the State to oversee and supervise those
working conditions, in particular the situation of informality and the absence of contracts between the divers
and the employer companies, as well as the abuses by them, obstructed at least the guarantee of a minimum of
social security under a contributory regime. Nor has the State shown that it took any actions aimed at protecting
core contents or minimal levels of this right through assistance or minimal non-contributory social protection
mindful of the situation of poverty and disability of most of the Miskito divers identified in the petition, thereby
limiting the possibility of those workers being able to work in other economic activities, and therefore
deteriorating their incomes, on which their ability to secure a dignified life depends.
276.
As was already analyzed in detail in the previous sections of this report, deep-sea fishing was
performed in a manner highly risky to the life, integrity, and health of the Miskito divers, without the State
complying with its duties to oversee and inspect, despite being knowledgeable of the situation. As a result, the
Commission already determined that the State is responsible for the deaths and serious physical impacts of the
victims who suffered the accidents at issue in this case. The Commission establishes, on this point, that this
situation also impaired the right to health.
277.
In addition, the Commission already determined, in this report, that in the face of the accidents
suffered by the victims, they did not receive timely and adequate health care so as to prevent their deaths or
the permanent physical sequelae that were described with respect to all of the surviving victims, including
situations of disability in the terms already analyzed. The Commission notes that this lack of timely medical
363
364
IACHR. Report on Poverty and Human Rights in the Americas. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.164, September 7, 2017. Paras. 367 and 375.
IACHR. Report on Poverty and Human Rights in the Americas. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.164, September 7, 2017. Para. 428.
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