Land Rights Committees Partner For Change In First Joint Training

October 28, 2015

It was the first time that the ASJ (formerly known as AJS)-supported Land Rights Committees, groups of volunteers that have committed to helping neighbors with land rights issues, from Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula had met one another, but their interactions made it seem as though they had been friends for years.

Perhaps the reason for these fast friendships is that the committee members have all suffered from the same problem: No evidence of legal ownership of their land. Without a property title, the document that proves ownership, the inhabitants of hundreds of neighborhoods around Honduras have no way to request loans and improve their homes. Instead, they live in fear of eviction by supposed landowners.

The ASJ-supported Land Rights team has been empowering poor urban residents to obtain their land titles for the last 6 years through trainings and legal help, and the team has contributed to the hand-over of 60,000 titles. Now the project has moved to a new level; with the support and training of the Land Rights Team neighborhood residents who have already received their land titles have formed Land Rights Committees in order to accompany other neighborhoods in obtaining land titles through trainings and advocacy activities.

On the third and fourth of September, all the Land Committees met in a workshop held by the Land Rights team. A central goal of this workshop was to measure the comprehension of the land titling process of the Land Rights Committees. The Land Rights team had given the eight committees four class sessions previously, each about a specific step in the titling process, so the members were ready for the exams.

“We want the committees to be self-sustainable,” said Gilda Espinal, Lawyer and Coordinator of the Land Project. “In order to be self-sustainable, we need to find out what areas we especially need to teach the committee members more about.”

During the break between exams, the attendees presented short plays about the application and the abuse of the Property Law. Each was followed by comments by the other participants. One play described a property dispute that was not resolved by the correct proceedings, but through bribes that were given to several corrupt officials. It appeared that the participants were all too familiar hearing this type of plot.

Kevin, a member of a Land Committee near San Pedro Sula, stated that he has already learned a lot from the workshops provided by the Land Project. “A year ago, when I began as president of the neighborhood council, I didn’t know anything. Not one part of the Property Law. I didn’t know what I was doing,” Kevin spoke, shaking his head. “Look at me now! I have learned a ton, and I am participating in a Land Committee!”

When the time to say goodbye arrived, the attendees felt encouraged, speaking with the firmness that comes from shared experience. “This was not a business meeting,” said one attendee to the group. “This was a meeting of brothers and sisters that want to improve their communities. It is good to work with each other.”

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ASJ-US and ASJ-Canada Joint Statement on Honduran Elections

December 2, 2025

ASJ-Canada and ASJ-US Congratulate the Honduran People, Call for Full and Transparent Results As sister organizations committed to justice, peace and hope in Honduras, ASJ-Canada and ASJ-US extend our deepest congratulations to the people of Honduras on the peaceful conduct of their national elections on November 30, 2025. With the initial tally showing an extraordinarily close vote, we call on election authorities to do what is necessary to ensure a transparent count of the remaining ballots in order to guarantee public trust in the final outcome. We commend the Honduran voters for their dedication to democratic participation and their commitment to shaping the future of their country through civic engagement. We also recognize the efforts of electoral authorities, civil society organizations, the international community and the thousands of volunteer observers who worked to ensure a transparent, orderly, and secure process. We are especially proud of our sister organization, ASJ-Honduras, for their unwavering commitment to democracy demonstrated through their electoral observation efforts, their analysis activities, and their consistent call for a fair and orderly process. Now that such a process has been achieved, the work turns to counting the votes with accuracy and transparency. The results remain close, increasing the possibility of a contested result. We support the work of the election officials at the National Electoral Council to give Hondurans confidence in the final results by conducting their count with rigor and transparency. We remain hopeful that the spirit of peaceful participation in the democratic process embraced by the electorate will carry forward into the post-election period to come. We look forward to continued collaboration with ASJ-Honduras as we all work together toward a just and hopeful future for all Hondurans. Matthew Van Geest President, Board of Directors ASJ-Canada Russ Jacobs President, Board of Directors ASJ-US

Artisans of Fraternity, Guardians of Hope

November 28, 2025

A call to action for Honduras

November 2025 ASJ-US Statement about Honduran Elections

By Elizabeth Hickel • November 25, 2025

The Association for a More Justice Society-US Supports the Network to Defend Democracy; Calls for Free and Fair Elections in Honduras November 25, 2025

Context Updates on the 2025 Elections in Honduras

November 13, 2025

Honduras’s Institutional Crisis Deepens Ahead of the 2025 Elections

HOPE

By Elizabeth Hickel • November 12, 2025

Dear friend, I couldn’t stop looking at the picture. Of course, there had been plenty of inspiring photos from this summer’s Prayer Walk for Peace and Democracy. The sea of blue and white rising and falling as hundreds of thousands walked the Honduran hills through Tegucigalpa, flowing like a never-ending stream. Catholic nuns praying their rosaries alongside Pentecostals dancing in the streets. But the picture that still knocks me flat is the closeup. The one of the two men standing side by side (picture enclosed). They are exhausted, and the shorter collapses into the taller. The tears mostly hold joy and relief, but they are mingled with something darker. After all, there had been threats—promises of harm done to themselves and their loved ones if they led their followers through the streets of Honduras in prayer. Despite the fear and intimidation, Pastor Gerardo Irías and Monsignor José Vicente Nácher forged ahead. They knew Honduras needed unity and, above all, prayer before the looming November 2025 presidential elections. As an ASJ supporter, you know that these kinds of threats aren’t out of the ordinary, and your support has helped slow and reverse violence in Honduras. Today, I am writing to share a way you can continue standing with brave Hondurans like Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José in hope. The Evangelical pastor and the Catholic archbishop put the word out as widely as they could to their churches, hoping to mobilize 20,000 to walk and pray. Instead, an estimated 230,000 walked in the capital of Tegucigalpa alone. It was a historic moment. And without your past support for ASJ, it may have never happened. After all, two years prior, Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José didn’t even know each other’s names. They first met in 2023 at ASJ’s offices. They were two of many civil society leaders convened by ASJ to discuss safeguarding democracy– especially before the election in 2025. It was at that meeting that they shook each other’s hand and learned each other’s name. It was at that meeting–and many subsequent meetings–where old religious prejudices began to be replaced by trust and mutual affection. So, when the moment came this summer to act, Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José knew what they had to do. And they knew that they had to do it together.