July 2024

PBI-Colombia accompanies the CSPP at Roundtable meeting visibilizing the criminalization of social leaders who opposed Frontera Energy

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project accompanied the Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP) at the recent meeting of the Roundtable for Human Rights in the face of corporate power (la Mesa por los DDHH frente al poder empresarial) and the United Nations Business and Human Rights Working Group. Agencia Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

EDC loans up to $200 million to Coastal GasLink after hearing Wet’suwet’en speak about RCMP C-IRG violence

Photo: Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’moks and land defender Eve Saint meet with EDC in Ottawa, October 16, 2023. The National Observer reports: “Canada provided up to $200 million to pipeline company Coastal Gaslink, recently updated financial data reveals — an apparent violation of a commitment to phase out fossil fuel Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa in court, hearing postponed to February 2025

Photo by Prensa Comunitaria. On July 18, PBI-Guatemala posted: “Today members of the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa face a hearing in a process of criminalizing their right to defend their territory Ch’orti’.” That evening, the Consejo Indígena Maya Ch’orti’ de Olopa Chiquimula posted on their Facebook page an Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Honduras accompanies COPINH at protest, 12 Lenca communities win titles for ancestral territories

On July 17, PBI-Honduras posted: “Yesterday and today, we accompanied Copinh Honduras [the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras] at a demonstration inside the facilities of the National Agrarian Institute (INA). COPINH demands advancement for the community title processes of several indigenous territories, specifically in the communities of Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Colombia accompanies Peace Community on the 24th anniversary of July 8 massacre as paramilitary threats against community continue

PBI-Colombia has posted: “We accompany the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, @sanjoapartadó in the commemoration of the massacre of July 8, 2000, in which 6 of its members were murdered in the village of La Unión by paramilitaries in collusion with the security forces. To remember is an Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Kenya says peaceful protesters exercising their rights as police hurl teargas at them on Mombasa Road in Nairobi

PBI-Kenya has posted: “The peaceful protesters in Nairobi CBD [Central Business District], Mombasa road and all across the country are simply exercising their rights.” With the headline “Tear gas as police battle protesters heading to Mombasa Road”, the Kenya Star reports: “Police on Tuesday [July 23] engaged protesters in running Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Convictions of Just Stop Oil activists and Wet’suwet’en land defenders suggest “an international pattern to criminalize”

The BBC reports: “Five [Just Stop Oil] environmental activists who organized protests that brought part of the M25 [motorway] to a standstill over four days [in November 2022] have been jailed. …[Roger] Hallam was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment while the other defendants each received four-year jail terms.” Michel Forst, Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Mexico accompanies reconnaissance activities in Oaxaca in the continuing search for EPR members Edmundo Reyes Amaya and Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez

Photo by Noticias Oaxaca NVI. This media release highlights: “The Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared Until They Are Found, together with their legal representation and the accompaniment of the Cerezo Mexico Committee and Peace Brigades International, carried out this week reconnaissance activities in different spaces of the Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Rita, a film based on the Hogar Seguro fire, to premiere at Montreal film festival, July 25

The film “Rita” will be shown at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal on July 25 starting at 6:50 pm (18:50). The screening will be hosted by Jayro Bustamante, a Guatemalan film director and screenwriter. On the film festival website, Kat Ellinger writes: “[The] story [is] based on a Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Peace Brigades International shares Annual Review 2023

Photo: Our just-released Annual Review opens with a quote from Indigenous Maya Poqomchi’ rights defender Sandra Calel (on the left) of the PBI-Guatemala accompanied Verapaz Union of Campesina Organizations (UVOC). Peace Brigades International has released its Annual Review 2023. It notes: “Peace Brigades International (PBI) protects and empowers human rights Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago