Within the framework of the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council, held between February 23 and April 2, 2026, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights presented reports on the human rights situation in Guatemala and Honduras.
In both documents, Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendants held a significant place as a result of being groups particularly affected by multiple problems that prevent them from fully enjoying the individual and collective rights that international norms and also domestic legislation recognize and promise to protect.
Below, the main contents related to Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendants from these reports are shared.
Guatemala
Under the title “Indigenous Peoples, Garifuna, and Afro-descendants,” the report covers various aspects of the reality of this part of the population which, even considering census data as inaccurate, represents at least half of the total inhabitants of Guatemala.
General Aspects
In 2025, racial discrimination and systemic racism continued to impact the enjoyment of rights by Indigenous Peoples, Garifuna, and Afro-descendants.
Nevertheless, OHCHR observed the strengthening of Indigenous institutions with the appointment, in January, of new authorities for the Office for the Defense of Indigenous Women and the Presidential Commission against Discrimination and Racism against Indigenous Peoples.
The President of the Republic and Indigenous authorities continued the high-level national dialogue, achieving progress in actions to protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples within the framework of public constructions on communal lands.
As a result, Congress approved Decree No. 13-2025, which reforms the Organic Budget Law.
Criminalization
Indigenous authorities continued to face criminalization associated with their leadership in the peaceful demonstrations of 2023 and the intimidating effect of such criminalization.
OHCHR is concerned about the growing public accusations that equate the organizational forms of Indigenous Peoples with criminal structures, which limits the exercise of their collective rights to autonomy and self-determination and their right to peaceful assembly, which are fundamental for the defense of their human rights, as well as their survival as peoples.
OHCHR documented a lack of adoption of measures aimed at stopping the contamination of Indigenous territories, generated mainly by open-air municipal solid waste landfills, wastewater dumping, erosion due to poor agricultural practices, and deforestation, such as that occurring in the Lake Atitlán basin (Sololá) and the Palajunoj Valley (Quetzaltenango).
Almost simultaneously with the publication of this report, the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, presented his own annual report, which includes references to the Indigenous Peoples of Guatemala, particularly the Kaqchikel.
In its paragraph 27, it states:
“Persecution, harassment, and targeted killings of land defenders remain a cause for great concern in Guatemala, where families, Indigenous communities such as the Kaqchikel Maya people of San Juan Sacatepéquez, and human rights defenders who resist the occupation of their lands and defend their ancestral territories may be victims of acts of violence, criminalization, environmental damage, and forced displacement at the hands of armed actors, companies, or landowner interests, often in situations where they lack sufficient protection against aggression, destruction of their crops, and threats.”
Consultation and Consent
In March, the ruling issued more than eight years ago by the Constitutional Court was executed by resolution of the competent court, in favor of the communities of Sierra Santa Cruz de Izabal, which ordered the Central Zone Property Registry to initiate proceedings before a competent judge to restore the file and make registry entries.
Regarding the activity of the Escobal mine, Xinka authorities held community consultation assemblies in seven municipalities of Santa Rosa and Jalapa, in which official information from Government institutions on the potential impacts of the mining company was disclosed; this information was reviewed by independent experts. The company has expressed concerns about possible biased management of the information disseminated in these community assemblies.
In May, during a peaceful demonstration, the Xinka Parliament presented the results of the consultation to President Arévalo and the Ministry of Energy and Mines, and reported that it does not grant its consent for the continuation of the mining company’s operations. The Ministry of Energy and Mines is expected to convene a dialogue table to make a final decision on the mine’s operations.
Garifuna and Afro-descendants
Regarding the situation of the Garifuna and Afro-descendant people, in light of the first International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024), positive advances highlighted include the signing of a work agenda between the Government and the Garifuna people, specific training activities for public institutions in Izabal, and the inclusion of the Afro-descendant variant for self-identification in the 2018 census.
However, pending issues remain: the approval by Congress of three legislative initiatives (Bill No. 5398, Law on the National Day of Dignification and Affirmative Actions for Garifuna and Afro-descendant Women; Bill No. 4345, Law Creating the Garifuna Institute for Development; and Bill No. 5133, Law Recognizing the Creole Afro-descendant People in Guatemala), the approval of the national action plan for the International Decade for People of African Descent, and the designation of a lead institution.
Furthermore, the Garifuna people remain unable to enjoy their rights due to limited participation in decision-making spaces; limited access to public resources and services in education, health, housing, and employment; the impact of migration on the loss of their culture; and violations of women’s rights, including gender-based violence.
Conclusions and Recommendations
In the conclusions and recommendations chapter, the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ report states that despite the actions taken by the Government to protect human rights defenders, the institutionalization of dialogues with Indigenous Peoples, and the promotion of agendas on disability and youth, significant challenges persist in Guatemala regarding inequality, marginalization, and justice.
Based on the evidence gathered, the High Commissioner for Human Rights recommends that the State:
- Continue prioritizing the institutionalization of high-level dialogue between the president and Indigenous authorities, including the work agenda with the Garifuna people, and make progress in prior, free, and informed consultation processes on ongoing matters;
- Establish agrarian institutions that integrate rural development and the dynamics of the sector, in accordance with the Agrarian Agreement signed by the president at the beginning of his term and with Guatemala’s international human rights obligations;
- Guarantee the rights of victims to justice through independent, impartial, prompt, and thorough investigations and judicial processes;
- Advance in strengthening the regulatory, institutional, and public policy framework to guarantee the rights of youth, persons with disabilities, and LGBTIQ+ persons;
- Continue efforts to guarantee the rights to truth and memory, including access to and protection of historical archives and memory sites, as well as comprehensive reparation and guarantees of non-repetition with cultural pertinence and a gender perspective, prioritizing the approval and implementation of the National Plan for Dignification and Reparation;
- Strengthen the methodology of the Body for Analyzing Attacks on the Right of Persons, Organizations, Communities, and Authorities of Indigenous Peoples to Defend Human Rights and develop a long-term work plan, in order to move towards adopting stronger and more sustainable prevention and protection measures for human rights defenders;
- Redouble efforts to eradicate violence against women and girls, and take urgent measures to address the structural gaps affecting Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendants, also through the implementation of recommendations from United Nations human rights mechanisms, such as those contained in the concluding observations on Guatemala’s tenth periodic report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, of 2023, and the concluding observations on Guatemala’s combined 18th to 20th reports of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, of 2025.
Honduras
The OHCHR annual report incorporates in several sections content directly related to Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendants, beyond including a specific chapter for them.
Therefore, the most relevant content on the subject is systematized below.
General Aspects
Indigenous and Afro-Honduran Peoples continued to face challenges regarding the recognition, delimitation, demarcation, titling, expansion, and sanitation of their lands, territories, and natural resources, based on their ancestral rights.
They also continued to be affected by extractive projects that impact their livelihoods, cultural knowledge, and their own forms of interaction with nature.
Structural and institutional patterns of historical inequality against Indigenous and Afro-Honduran Peoples persist, which not only hinder the full enjoyment of their human rights, including economic, social, cultural rights, and the right to a healthy environment, but also limit their effective participation in decision-making spaces on matters affecting them.
Human Rights Defenders
OHCHR states that human rights defenders (including Indigenous Peoples) continue to be victims of murders, threats, harassment, smear campaigns, and criminalization by state and non-state actors, while high levels of impunity persist.
During 2025, 17 violent deaths were documented in the departments of Colón, Copán, Olancho, and Comayagua: 13 land defenders and family members, 2 journalists, and 1 environmental defender and his son. This figure represents a significant increase compared to 2024, when only 7 violent deaths were documented.
Human rights defenders continue to receive death threats from criminal structures and economic actors, as well as smear campaigns due to their work defending territory. The criminalization of human rights defense continues to be used as a tool of deterrence.
The Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras has been the target of a systematic campaign in digital media aimed at delegitimizing its work in the cause of Berta Cáceres. Similarly, groups defending the Montaña de Botaderos National Park and the cause of Juan López have suffered harassment and coordinated smear campaigns.
The application of criminal offenses such as usurpation or forced displacement, under a broad interpretation, to prosecute defense work violates the principle of legality and the right to due process. OHCHR documented at least five proceedings against environmental defenders and Garifuna leaders which, although concluded with final dismissals, constitute acts of hostility and intimidation against those defending human rights.
Extractive Projects and their Impacts
Mining projects frequently lack effective control over activities carried out after the concession is granted, generating negative impacts on the human rights of local communities, particularly Indigenous Peoples.
Persistent deficiencies are observed in public participation, consultation, and free, prior, and informed consent processes, as well as in access to environmental justice, particularly in the Azacualpa and Clavo Rico cases.
In the case of the Clavo Rico mine concession in Choluteca, the Honduran Institute of Geology and Mines suspended mining activity in the municipality of El Corpus, due to illegal mining activities in an area of said municipality, although verification of damage to water sources, health, and cultural heritage, and therefore to the enjoyment of human rights, remains absent.
There seems to be insufficient information on the status of the environmental licensing process for the “El Tablón” hydroelectric project in Santa Bárbara. The consultation and participation processes are not adequate. Furthermore, authorities have not taken measures for the restoration and conservation of the Montaña de Botaderos “Carlos Escaleras Mejía” National Park, as indicated in Decree No. 18-2024.
Although the Institute of Geology and Mines resolved not to renew several concessions in the Park, socio-environmental conflicts between different actors and damage in the protected area continue, aggravated by the issuance of new municipal permits for mineral processing without considering due diligence standards and the principles of prevention and precaution.
Garifuna People
Despite ten years having passed since the judgments of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the State has not made progress in complying with them nor in the sanitation of the ancestral territories of the Garifuna communities of Triunfo de la Cruz, Punta Piedra, and San Juan, as well as other Garifuna communities.
The lack of measures to guarantee the functioning of the High-Level Intersectoral Commission for Compliance with International Judgments exposed the communities of Triunfo de la Cruz, Punta Piedra, and San Juan to violence, threats, and/or the continuous dispossession of their lands, because the presence of third parties and private actors creates pressure on the territory and the communities.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reports that in 2025 it documented that an agribusiness company registered a property title and recorded donations to third parties on the ancestral title previously recognized for the Garifuna community of Nueva Armenia.
This situation has had a negative impact on the effective enjoyment of their human rights, as well as their territory and natural resources. The community also faced harassment from private security companies. The Garifuna ancestral territory of La Rosita, Cayo Venado, and Nueva Go in Esparta (Atlántida) continues to be affected by the presence of third parties who generate harassment and threats, limiting the effective enjoyment of the ancestral territory. In 2002, the communities submitted requests for recognition of their territory to the National Agrarian Institute. Despite the considerable time elapsed, they have not yet obtained a resolution. This lack of timely response from the State places the communities in a situation of vulnerability due to persistent legal uncertainty.
Miskito, Tawahka, Pech, and Garifuna Peoples in La Moskitia
According to data collected by the National Institute of Statistics in 2023, in the department of Gracias a Dios, where the Miskito, Tawahka, Pech, and Garifuna peoples live, 78.1% of households are in poverty and 62% in extreme poverty.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights states that the existing challenges for the enjoyment of human rights by the peoples located in La Moskitia are, in part, the result of a deeply unequal and exclusionary structure, marked by the historical marginalization of the Indigenous and Afro-Honduran Peoples inhabiting the region. The persistence of these conditions perpetuates cycles of poverty, violence, and human rights violations.
Poverty in La Moskitia is related to a combination of structural, geographic, social, and economic factors that create a scenario of multidimensional poverty, as people face multiple simultaneous deprivations affecting their well-being and quality of life.
Serious deficiencies in housing conditions in rural areas of La Moskitia were documented, due to the lack of basic services such as potable water, electricity, sanitation, and waste management. The Office also observed precarious health conditions, due to the lack of accessible health centers and trained medical personnel, which limits effective access to adequate medical care.
Likewise, obstacles to accessing nutritious and sufficient food were identified, related to the scarcity of agricultural inputs, the impact of extreme climate phenomena, geographic isolation, and the absence of state support for cultural agricultural practices. According to World Bank data, 43% of the population of La Moskitia faces food insecurity.
In the ancestral territories of La Moskitia, the presence of individuals linked mainly to extensive livestock farming, deforestation for pasture planting, illegal timber extraction, and drug trafficking was documented.
Allegations were also received regarding violence related to the purchase and usurpation of lands, including threats, harassment, and aggression against Indigenous individuals, as well as the lack of a timely response from competent authorities.
The lack of state action to guarantee the effective protection of the territory and carry out sanitation processes to ensure its effective possession and use affects the right of these communities to their ancestral territory.
Deforestation caused by forest fires and illegal exploitation of forest and mining resources is reported, in core zones of the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve and in rivers such as the Patuca, Sigre, Coco or Segovia, Warunta, Rus Rus, and Mocorón. These illicit activities seriously affect biodiversity, the environment, and the livelihoods of Indigenous and Afro-Honduran communities.
Lenca People
In 2025, the titling of 14 manzanas was carried out in favor of the Lenca Indigenous Council El Cacao by the National Agrarian Institute.
However, it is concerning that the Indigenous Councils of Potrerillos, Gracias a Dios, Río Bonito, Nueva Esperanza, and El Achiotal, in the department of Comayagua, continue to face serious difficulties in accessing land and territory and exercising their rights over them.
Despite the requests submitted to the National Agrarian Institute, these Councils have not obtained an effective response regarding the delimitation, titling, and sanitation of their territories.
This omission has contributed to the persistence of situations of harassment and threats, including criminal proceedings and complaints, as well as recurring detentions by authorities, even when arrest warrants had already been executed, and threats of forced evictions by private actors and local authorities.
Recommendations
The High Commissioner reiterates the recommendations contained in his previous reports and urges the authorities to implement them, including:
- Adopt and implement the pending reforms to the environmental regulatory and institutional framework, including the General Environment Law and the regulations of the National Environmental Impact Assessment System and the National Registry of Environmental Service Providers, on prior, free, and informed consultation of Indigenous Peoples, and the effective control and supervision of environmental licenses and mining concessions to prevent environmental, social, and cultural impacts;
- Unify the cadastral registry of the Property Institute and the National Agrarian Institute;
- Repeal Executive Decree No. 93-2021 on preventive evictions, or make the necessary modifications to ensure its compatibility with international human rights law;
- Allocate sufficient resources to the National Agrarian Institute for the delimitation, demarcation, titling, and effective sanitation of the territories of Indigenous and Afro-Honduran Peoples with their full participation and consultation;
- Duly consider and implement the recommendations and reparations agreed upon by United Nations human rights mechanisms and by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, including those related to the rights of Indigenous and Afro-Honduran Peoples.