UN Experts To Visit Honduras Next Week For Corporate Human Rights Assessments - OHCHR

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th August, 2019) The United Nations Working Group of experts will visit Honduras next week to examine the state of corporate respect for human rights, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a press release.

"The United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights will undertake its first official country visit to Honduras from 19 to 28 August to assess efforts to identify, prevent and address adverse human rights impacts of business activities," the release said Thursday.

The OHCHR said that the experts would travel to the capital city of Tegucigalpa, San Pedro, Colon and other locations to explore the compliance of the Honduran authorities and businesses with their human rights obligations under the UN guidelines.

During the visit, particular attention would be paid to indigenous people and human rights defenders due to the higher risk they face of being abused by corporations, especially, in such sectors as natural resources extraction and energy, the UN experts said in the release.

Violence in Honduras and neighboring Central American nations is cited as a key reason for a surge of migrants seeking political asylum in the United States, with officials estimating more than 1 million residents of Central American countries illegally will cross the US-Mexican border in 2019.