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Six years after the assassination of human rights defender Berta Cáceres, there has been an escalation of attacks and murders against women defenders of land and territory in Honduras.

Most of the attacks against these defenders have been perpetrated by public officials: state authorities, police and armed forces and paramilitary groups in alliance with corporate groups.

One in three women human rights defenders murdered in Honduras is a defender of land, territory, water, and common resources. On the sixth anniversary of Berta's death, we remember that the struggle for justice and against impunity for women defenders of land and territories continues.

Since 2020, four women land and territory defenders have been murdered in Honduras, two of them Garifuna defenders . Half (49 percent) of the personal attacks against women land and territory defenders in Honduras have been characterized by harassment and surveillance; threats have occurred in 28 percent of cases; psychological violence has reached 18 percent; and smear campaigns have affected 12 percent of cases.

There is a significant presence of collective attacks against women defenders of land and territories. In 2020, physical violence and cruel and degrading treatment in collective attacks accounted for 27 percent, with more than half of them perpetrated by state authorities: police and armed forces.

Physical violence and cruel and degrading treatment that occur in the context of forced evictions demonstrate a continuum of violence that in collective attacks can escalate to the murder of women defenders.

Defending the land: a reason to be attacked

The territories and their defenders live under threat, and the perpetrators of these attacks have names and faces. In 2020 in Honduras, 25 percent of personal attacks against women defenders of land and territories were perpetrated by state authorities: 14 percent by police and armed forces, and 19 percent by paramilitary groups. We know that behind these direct aggressors are businesspeople, bankers, and others who wield the power of patriarchal capitalism.

A year ago, we warned about a growing trend of attacks against women land and territory defenders in Honduras . Today, we denounce once again that, following the assassination of Berta Cáceres, attacks and murders against women land and territory defenders have multiplied. However, Berta's spirit has also multiplied in the struggle, the resistance, and in the women defenders who sustain life.

We continue to demand justice for Berta

On July 5, 2021, a ruling was issued convicting David Castillo as a co-perpetrator of the femicide of Berta Cáceres. Castillo coordinated the murder of the human rights defender on March 2, 2016. However, to date, no sentence has been handed down, nor has there been any progress in the investigation of the other masterminds behind the murder.

Women human rights defenders are the backbone of life in their communities. Therefore, every attack against them is an attack on the entire community , revealing an extractive, capitalist, and predatory development model that is deeply patriarchal and thus specifically and disproportionately targets women. The murder of a women human rights defender has crucial repercussions for communities and territories in resistance.

That is why we, the women defenders, stand together and will continue to seek justice, honoring the memory and lives of our sisters. The murderous hand will not be able to erase them from history.

Berta and her words, so relevant and necessary, resonate in these times when we demand the maximum sentence for David Castillo and the intellectual authors: "They thought that impunity is eternal, but they are wrong, the people know how to do justice."

Justice for Berta, no more impunity!

For Berta with rage, for Berta with rebellion, we are fighters, we walk with her energy!