November 2024

UN Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor calls for a strengthening of the CORE to provide redress for human rights defenders

Photo: PBI-Canada meets with Mary Lawlor and Michael Phoenix, her Head of Research and Campaigns, in Ottawa, June 26, 2024. On February 5, The Globe and Mail reported: “Starting this year, over a six-month period, the government said it will assess the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise’s ‘effectiveness and progress Read more

By Brent Patterson, ago

Protest draws attention to Canadian company producing vital component for F-35 warplanes implicated in violations of human rights in Gaza

On November 16 a protest took place outside the Gastops head office on  Polytek Street in Ottawa. The protest was part of an Arms Embargo Now day of action against F-35s “currently being used by the Israeli Air Force to bomb Gaza and Lebanon.” Breach Media has previously reported: “Gastops Read more

By Brent Patterson, ago

As the “usual suspects” dominate COP29, is there hope COP30 can help protect environmental defenders?

Photo from Governo do Pará, Brasil. More than 65,000 people are now attending the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP) 29 Climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan that began last Monday November 11 and that is scheduled to conclude this coming Friday November 22. Will COP29 serve to enhance the protection Read more

By Brent Patterson, ago

As COP29 approaches in Baku, at least 1,500 land and environmental defenders have been killed since COP21

Photo from The Guardian by Sergei Grits/AP. On September 10, 2024, Global Witness highlighted: “At least 1,500 defenders have been killed since the adoption of the Paris Agreement on 12 December 2015” at the conclusion of the COP21 climate conference. In October 2019, just prior to the COP25 conference in Read more

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Mexico accompanies Indigenous water defender Alejandro Torres Chocolatl during Embassy of Finland visit to Puebla

PBI-Mexico has posted: “This week we accompanied Alejandro Torres from the Peoples’ Front in Defence of Land and Water-Morelos, Puebla, Tlaxcala with the Embassy of Finland in Mexico in the State of Puebla as part of the accompaniment provided by the #Protect Their Voices Initiative. We thank and acknowledge the Read more

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Honduras visits Garifuna community of Nueva Armenia following police violence after recovery project

PBI-Honduras has posted: “Together with Peace Brigades International-Canada we visited the Garifuna community of Nueva Armenia (Atlántida). Members of OFRANEH-Garifuna/Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras shared with us about the overcrowding within the community and the attacks and threats they have received after carrying out a land recovery project on the Read more

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Human Rights Law Firm at hearing related to the ongoing CREOMPAZ/Military Zone 21 case

PBI-Guatemala has posted: “On Monday [October 28], #PBI accompanies the Human Rights Law Firm at the Public Hearing requested by the lawyer Moisés Galindo, who defends Officer Carlos Augusto Garavito Morán, accused of crimes of forced disappearance and duties of humanity in the #CREOMPAZ case. It should be noted that Read more

By Brent Patterson, ago

Did the COP16 Biodiversity conference in Colombia make progress on the protection of environmental defenders?

Photo: Lina Robles- Publimetro COP16: “their spirits are still alive”, activists protested the murder of environmental leaders in the Blue Zone. The United Nations COP16 Biodiversity conference in Cali, Colombia that began on October 21 concluded on the morning of November 2. The Guardian explains: “A global summit on halting Read more

By Brent Patterson, ago

Photo-journal of PBI-Canada visit with PBI-Honduras accompanied organizations, defenders and communities

Photo: PBI-Honduras and PBI-Canada stand beside the Guapinol River threatened by the Los Pinares megaproject, October 30. SUNDAY OCTOBER 27 PBI-Canada coordinator Brent Patterson arrives at Palmerola International Airport in Comayagua, a city located approximately 86 kilometres from Tegucigalpa. Photo: Palmerola airport. Contra Corriente has reported: “This concession was awarded Read more

By Brent Patterson, ago