Canada’s COP16 plan fails to ensure the full protection of environmental human rights defenders

Published by Brent Patterson on October 15, 2024October 15, 2024

Video by Michael Toledano of RCMP C-IRG arresting environmental human rights defenders, November 2021.

The Guardian now reports: “More than 80% of countries have failed to submit plans to meet a UN agreement to halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems, new analysis has found. …Countries committed to submit their plans for meeting the agreement before the biodiversity Cop16 in Cali, Colombia, which begins this month [October 21 to November 1] – but only 25 countries have done so.”

Germany and the United Kingdom did not submit plans, while the United States is not a signatory to the Convention. Greenpeace España has noted: “The Government of Spain is one of the first countries to present its National Action Plan on Biodiversity.”

The article highlights that Canada is one of the few countries to submit a plan to achieve the goals and targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. However, the text of Canada’s plan raises concerns.

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework includes Target 22 (that promises to “ensure the full protection of environmental human rights defenders”) and the Target 3 pledge (the “30 by 30” goal).

Target 22

Ahead of COP16, the Washington, DC-based organization Global Witness has highlighted: “Target 22 aims to ensure the full protection of environmental human rights defenders while guaranteeing access to justice and information. The Colombian Government has a historic opportunity to make CBD [Convention on Biological Diversity] COP16 a turning point for both biodiversity and those who protect it – and to live up to its promises to place defenders’ voices at the centre of the agenda. On top of this, CBD COP16 could provide defenders with recourse to justice through heightened recognition, security, legislative protection and corporate accountability for the industries behind reprisals.”

Target 3

And Mongabay has reported: “Although the [Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity] framework calls on states to recognize and respect Indigenous rights and territories, experts and advocacy groups such as Minority Rights Group (MRG), Survival International and Amnesty International say the lack of clarity on the logistics of the 30 by 30 goal [reflected in Target 3] makes it prone to conflict. And if implemented poorly, it could result in millions of people being evicted from their ancestral territories.”

Many organizations – including ProDESC Mexico, CONDEG Guatemala, CENSAT Agua Viva Colombia and the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net) – have also highlighted: “Protected areas have led to displacement and eviction of Indigenous Peoples and other land-dependent communities and brought serious human rights abuses by conservation organizations and enforcement agencies.”

Canada’s plan

In the document Canada’s 2030 Nature Strategy: Halting and Reversing Biodiversity Loss in Canada, the Government of Canada notes its support for Target 3 (the 30 by 30 goal), but only sparsely notes EHRDs in Target 22:

“In Canada, many EHRDs [environmental human rights defenders] are Indigenous Peoples and advocate for everyone’s right to a safe, healthy, and sustainable environment. Although GAC [Global Affairs Canada] has released best practices in their report, Voices at Risk, to aid discussions with EHRDs, governments, communities, and businesses, understanding their firsthand experiences to inform biodiversity decisions is important.”

EHRDs and Voices at Risk

This past July, The Globe and Mail reported: “[Mary Lawlor, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders] singled out Canadian embassies, saying many have failed to respond adequately to those who raise serious concerns about the impacts of mining and oil activities abroad. Canada introduced ‘Voices at Risk’ guidelines in 2019, aimed at supporting human-rights defenders and giving advice to Canadian diplomats working overseas, but she says it hasn’t been properly implemented.”

Photo: UN Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor in Toronto.

EHRDs at risk on Indigenous territories in Canada

On two occasions (September 28, 2022 and September 28, 2023), PBI-Switzerland has highlighted at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, the ongoing criminalization of Wet’suwet’en land defenders and water protectors, notably by the RCMP Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG).

Photo: PBI-Switzerland’s Yannick Wild at the UN, September 2023.

Last month, following his spring-time visit to Wet’suwet’en territory in northern British Columbia, Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to water and sanitation, addressed the Human Rights Council and called on Canada to “stop criminalization of those who oppose large-scale industries in their territories.”

Photo: Pedro Arrojo-Agudo at the UN in Geneva, September 2024.

At the conclusion of his visit to Canada in April 2024, Arrojo-Agudo also expressed “grave concern about the criminalization, repression and persecution faced by Indigenous Peoples opposing large infrastructure projects.”

C-IRG criminalization of EHRDs

Noting the Wet’suwet’en struggle to protect Wedzin Kwa (Morice River) from the Coastal GasLink (CGL) fracked gas pipeline, Amnesty International has highlighted: “In three large-scale police raids (January 2019, February 2020 and November 2021), a total of 74 people were arrested and detained, including among others, legal observers and members of the media. These raids were highly militarized with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) using helicopters, dog units and assault weapons not to mention involvement by CGL’s private security company.”

Those militarized raids were conducted by the RCMP’s Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) now under systemic investigation by the federal Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC).

Three water defenders — Sleydo’ Molly Wickham (Wet’suwet’en Cas Yikh house), Shaylynn Sampson (Gitxsan), and Corey Jocko (Kanien’kehá:ka Mohawk) — arrested in that November 2021 RCMP raid were found guilty in January 2024 of criminal contempt of court for violating a court injunction by attempting to impede construction of the pipeline.

Their sentencing has been deferred pending the outcome of an abuse of process application in which the three water defenders allege the RCMP used excessive force while making the arrests and that the group was treated unfairly while in custody.

Two rounds of hearings have already taken place, with two more rounds — November 4-8 and December 9-13 — not long after the discussions on Targets 3 and 22 at COP16 (October 21 to November 1) in Colombia.

Webinar, October 24

Join us on Thursday October 24 at 12 pm (Colombia) / 1 pm (Ottawa) / 7 pm (Geneva) for a webinar that will link the protection needs of environmental defenders and the upcoming United Nations COP16 Biodiversity, COP29 Climate and Binding Treaty talks.

This one-hour webinar with simultaneous translation will feature Cali, Colombia-based Berenice Celeita of the Association for Social Research and Action (Nomadesc), Washington, DC-based Javier Garate of Global Witness, and Geneva-based Yannick Wild of Peace Brigades International-Switzerland.

To register, please click here.

Further reading: PBI-Canada to host webinar on COP16, COP29, the Binding Treaty and the language needed to protect environmental defenders.