Tegucigalpa, November 11 (teleSUR-RHC)-- A system of impunity is robbing Indigenous peoples in Honduras of their lands in the name of development while subjecting them to systematic human rights abuses if they dare resist, a United Nations official said on Tuesday.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples, warned that Honduras’ Indigenous population is in a “critical situation,” faced with illegal land thefts and the murder of 44 Indigenous rights activists since 2010.

“I have heard of disconcerting allegations of local authorities and other accomplices in the illegal sale of lands and other violations of Indigenous peoples’ rights,” Tauli-Corpuz said in a press conference, held at the end of her nine-day visit to the country.

One of the main threats, she said, comes from development projects, so-called “model cities,” the expansion of the tourism industry and the expansion of protected areas that encroach onto Indigenous peoples’ lands.

“The creation of protected areas imposed on Indigenous territories has restricted the access and control of Indigenous peoples over their lands and natural resources,” Tauli-Corpus said, while at the same time “not impeding the presence of external interests related to logging or illegal activities on Indigenous lands.” 

More alarming is that those Indigenous groups that resist these projects, as the Lenca and Tolupan peoples, are subjected to grave human rights abuses, including threat, intimidation and murder.