Thank you, Chair. 

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. 

1. The EU and its Member States are committed to the respect, protection, and fulfilment of human rights, including labour rights. We promote universal ratification and effective implementation of fundamental ILO Conventions and support the ILO in developing and promoting international labour standards and supervising their application. 

2. The EU and Honduras have established a close relationship, based on the Association Agreement between the EU and Central America which includes three main pillars: political dialogue, cooperation and trade. Through this agreement, the EU and Honduras have also committed to effectively implement the fundamental ILO Conventions. 

3. We remain deeply concerned about the numerous murders of trade unionists. We note the information provided by the Government regarding the status of the investigations and prosecutions for several of those murders. However, several of the investigations and prosecutions are still pending for murders that occurred more than a decade ago. We echo the call of the Committee of experts that "justice delayed is justice denied" and request prompt action to ensure proper investigations and prosecutions for these serious crimes. We urge the Government and all competent authorities to ensure an adequate and prompt protection for atrisk union members and to ensure that criminal courts prioritise anti-union violence cases. We also call on the Government to continue to report on the progress made in relation to the investigations and prosecutions for all cases of murdered trade-unionists. 

4. We welcome the actions taken to date to give effect to the tripartite agreement signed in 2019 after the direct contacts mission, including the recent measures taken for the revival of the Committee against Union Violence. We acknowledge two important milestones : the approval of the anti-union violence regulations and the signing of the inter-institutional agreement between the Public Prosecutor Office and the Ministry of Labour to accelerate the investigation and resolution of anti-union violence cases. We expect the Government to further strengthen this Committee in order to continue the work of consolidating and reviewing cases of anti-union violence. We also note the Government’s indication that it has signed a collaboration agreement with the three trade union confederations to enhance their technical and operational capacity. We encourage the Government to continue to support trade unions and raise awareness of the right to freedom of association in the country. 

5. To effectively combat anti-union violence in the country, we urge the government to fully implement the 2019 tripartite agreement, to institutionalise and make effective the participation of the representative trade unions in the National Council for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and to implement a special investigation protocol for addressing anti-union motives in acts of violence. We also call on the Government to continue to report on all measures taken on these aspects. 

6. On legislative matters, we regret that the Government still has not amended several provisions of the Labour Code to comply with its obligations under C87, despite long-standing requests from the Committee of experts. We strongly encourage the Government and all parties concerned to seek the technical assistance of the Office in order to swiftly resume the activities of the Committee for the Handling of Disputes referred to the ILO and to enable progress in the implementation of the requested legislative reforms. We emphasise the essential role played by this Committee in the resolution of labour disputes and call for tripartite dialogue to resolve labour issues. 

7. The reform of the Labour Code should also take into account the concerns raised in the application of C98 related to the adequate protection against acts of anti-union discrimination and interference, the right of collective bargaining of public servants not engaged in the administration of the State, and the restrictions for collective bargaining on trade union leave. We also recall that legal provisions prohibiting acts of anti-union discrimination and interference must be accompanied by effective and rapid procedures to ensure their application in practice, including dissuasive sanctions and effective remedial measures. 

8. Finally, we echo the call of the Committee to the Government to provide information on the impact of certain provisions of the 2020 Penal Code on the exercise of trade union activities and on the consultation process initiated in this respect. 

9. We hope to shortly see significant progress in the resolution of the serious violations observed for several years and we encourage the Government to further engage with the ILO to fulfil its obligations under C87. 

10. We will continue to closely monitor the situation in Honduras and to support the Government in its efforts to comply with ILO Conventions. 

Thank you Chair.