A/HRC/43/3/Add.2 investigations and described the conduct of the armed forces as obstructive. They indicated that investigators sent to brigades and battalions to retrieve potential evidence were left waiting for hours before receiving or being able to review evidence, or were denied access on the grounds that they had not followed the appropriate procedure, or that the officials responsible were not available. 48. In April, the Office of the Attorney General communicated through social media that the hierarchy of the Public Order Military Police was obstructing the work of its prosecutors, reminded all State officials that they had a duty to cooperate with it and that failure to do so could result in criminal charges.35 In April, a judge in Tegucigalpa denied a motion by the Office of the Attorney General challenging the refusal of the armed forces to release information on an operation conducted in January 2018 to evict a picket mounted against a dam project in Reitoca, in which three members of the indigenous Lenca community were shot and injured. The armed forces invoked national security, refusing to disclose information to the investigators and quoting the law on the classification of public information on security and defence issues. 36 In September, civil society organizations presented an injunction before the Supreme Court challenging the refusal of the armed forces to release information and the decision of the judge. 49. The current pattern continues the historic accountability gap for human rights violations, which occurred in the 1980s and 1990s, including the disappearance of 184 individuals.37 In August, the trial of two civilians for the death of Juan Humberto Sánchez in 1983 closed with their acquittal. In 2003, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights established the responsibility of the State of Honduras for his extrajudicial execution by military agents, as well as the lack of investigation and sanction of the culprits.38 Regarding past human rights violations, impunity is pervasive, as shown by the insignificant progress made in the prosecution and trial of members of the security forces for the human rights violations committed after the coup d’état in 2009. VI. Democratic space A. Social dialogue 50. In 2019, multiple protests took place across the country, with peaks in the departments of Francisco Morazán, Cortés, Choluteca, Atlántida and Colón. Between 1 January and 30 September, the police recorded 1,825 protests, including roadblocks, occupations of installations, pickets, marches and assemblies. That represents an increase of 47 per cent over the 1,236 protests registered in 2018.39 Among other motives, inequalities in the guarantee of rights, a perception of institutional incapacity, a lack of democratic representation and corruption prompted protests. Between May and July, opposition to the Government-led reforms of health and education took centre stage. Claims initially focused on a demand to repeal Decrees No. 026/2018 and No. 027/2018, considered by those groups as a means of privatizing the two sectors. While the Government withdrew the decrees and called for a dialogue, protests continued, and other sectors joined in. OHCHR intervened in several protests to diminish tensions. 51. OHCHR continued to document violations attributed to the Public Order Military Police and the army in the context of the policing of protests. To date, a soldier has faced trial for the killing of a child aged 17 who was shot with a service weapon on 20 June in Yarumela, department of La Paz, as he was fleeing after the disbandment of a roadblock. 35 36 37 38 39 10 See www.elheraldo.hn/pais/1278211-466/ministerio-p%C3%BAblico-denunciaobstaculizaci%C3%B3n-en-investigaci%C3%B3n-sobre-muertes-post-electorales (in Spanish). Decree No. 418/2014. National Commission on Human Rights, “The Facts Speak for Themselves: Preliminary Report about Disappeared Persons in Honduras, 1980–1993”, Guaymuras Editorial (2002). See Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Juan Humberto Sánchez v. Honduras, judgment of 7 June 2003. Data from the Directorate-General of the National Police.