Obama: stand up for women's rights in Honduras (CSM)

It would signal to the rest of Latin America that the U.S. is serious about democracy.
By Jody Williams and Lisa VeneKlasen / December 14, 2009
Fredericksburg, Va.; and Washington

... Democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya was abducted from his home in June by military officers and escorted to Costa Rica. Riots ensued, but Honduran citizens then mobilized in an unprecedented peaceful pro-democracy movement to protest the coup and demand a return to constitutional order ...

Women make up the majority of the vast resistance movement in Honduras, playing a critical leadership role in civil disobedience and citizen protection.

For their tireless and courageous support of democracy, they have received death threats and been attacked with nail-studded police batons, tear gas, and bullets. Detained by police or military for hours and even days without charges or access to legal counsel, women have been deprived of medicine, food, and water. At least two cases have resulted in death.

Lawless violence against women has pervaded Honduras since the coup. As of August, women’s groups in Honduras have documented 249 cases of violations of women’s human rights, including 23 cases of beatings and sexual assault and seven gang rapes by police explicitly trying to “punish” women for their involvement in demonstrations. The number of femicides – the violent murder of women because they are women – has tripled since the coup, with 51 cases reported during the month of July alone ...

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2009/1214/Obama-stand-up-for-women-s-rights-in-Honduras/%28page%29/2

Nobel laureate. Maybe you should read before you post