Yomara, 30, had to escape her native Honduras after she was attacked and harassed by people in her neighbourhood in Tegucigalpa after she testified against two men accused of beating a young boy to death.
The same week as two men were charged and arrested for the crime, in an unrelated case her sixteen-year-old brother was abducted while he was working collecting fares on the buses in May 2014. He was later found dead.
When the investigation into his death did not advance, Yomara decided she would look into the murder herself.
Yomara did not file a police report for any of these incidents and sought help from a local non-governmental organization that assists state prosecutors with criminal investigations and that had organized her participation as a witness. But no one was able to guarantee her safety.
She is now in Mexico where she has started asylum proceedings and is awaiting an answer.
Even if the journey is very dangerous, it’s the same thing, because in Honduras, I am not safe
Yomara
‘Yomara’: “If I stay, they will kill me”
Protect Central American refugees from brutal violence
El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala must ensure that deportees are protected from danger when they return to their home countries.
To the governments of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador
We are calling you to:
- Protect your people from violence.
- Assume central responsibility for the protection of deportees using the resources required given the demand caused by the increase in numbers of deportees.
- Identify deportees-at-risk to provide them with specific protection given their particular needs
- Ensure protection programmes for deported migrants take into consideration the rights and specific protection issues relating to groups such as women, indigenous people, LGBTI people and unaccompanied children.
- Assess individual cases for re-admission asylum procedures.