October 2024

Report says threat of free trade agreement lawsuits may have impeded action against Los Pinares and Aura Minerals mines in Honduras

On October 3, a 136-page report was released titled The Corporate Assault on Honduras: How mafia-style investments undermine the Honduran people’s struggle for democracy and dignity (available in Spanish here). The report authored by Luciana Ghiotto, Jen Moore, Aldo Orellana López, Karen Spring and Manuel Pérez-Rocha was published by the Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Indigenous land defenders from Ecuador face the risk of reprisal after speaking against Canadian mining companies

Photo: Ivonne Ramos, Hortencia Zhagüi, Rachel Lim (Amnesty International), Louise Casselman (Public Service Alliance of Canada/PSAC), Zenaida Yasacama and Fanny Kaekat at public forum in Ottawa, October 3, 2024. Photo by Laura Avalos (PSAC). CBC News reports: “Indigenous women from Ecuador are in Ottawa this week raising concerns a proposed Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

100+ organizations call for rigorous investigation into the masterminds behind the murder of Juan López

Photo of Juan Lopez from Criterio.hn. Criterio.hn now reports: “More than 100 civil society organizations have raised their voices in an urgent appeal to the President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, following the murder of environmental defender Juan López on September 14 in Tocoa.” That letter (dated September 27 and posted Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

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

Photo: Yannick Wild, Berenice Celeita, Javier Garate. 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. Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Canada extends 30th anniversary greetings to PBI-Colombia with appreciation for all their work

Photo: PBI-Colombia with Carlos Morales of the Humanitarian Action Corporation for Coexistence and Peace in Northeast Antioquia (CAHUCOPANA). Luis Enrique Eguren, a founding member of the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project, has written that several PBI members conducted an exploratory mission in May-June 1993 to evaluate if PBI’s experience in Guatemala, Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Indigenous authorities at meeting with Governor on the Trifinio plan that lacks consent

PBI-Guatemala has posted: “On Monday [September 30] #PBIaccompanied the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa Chiquimula and the Indigenous Community of San Francisco Quezaltepeque to a meeting in the governor’s office of Chiquimula in relation to the Trifinio plan. The meeting was also attended by community members from the municipalities Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Colombia accompanied CAJAR notes trial of ESMAD violence against Leidy Cadena will be heard by ordinary criminal justice system

The PBI-Colombia accompanied José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CAJAR) has tweeted: “#TheLatest @CConstitutional [Constitutional Court] determines that the case of eye injuries caused by ESMAD [Mobile Anti-Riot Squadron] agents to young Leidy Cadena will be taken up by the ordinary criminal justice system and not by the military, as the Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Where do the provincial parties in British Columbia stand on disbanding the RCMP C-IRG?

Photo: B.C. NDP Leader David Eby, B.C. Conservative Party Leader John Rustad, B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau. (Ben Nelms/CBC) The provincial election in British Columbia will take place on October 19, 2024. CBC News has just posted an article How do British Columbia’s three main parties compare on these Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Mexico accompanies the 10th anniversary march in Mexico City seeking truth and justice for the Ayotzinapa 43

PBI-Mexico has posted: “#Ayotzinapa10 years September 26th marked 10 years since the disappearance of the 43 students from #Ayotzinapa. PBI accompanies the march for truth, justice, and an end to widespread impunity in cases of enforced disappearance in Mexico #JusticeForThe43.” Thousands marched The Associated Press also explains: “Families of the Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago