Human rights defenders continue to be at risk as G7 Summit meets in Canada, June 15-17
Photo: The G7 Summit will take place at the Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge.
The G7 Summit will happen this coming June 15-17 in Kananaskis, Alberta.
It is expected to bring together the leaders of France (Emmanuel Macron), the United Kingdom (Keir Starmer), Italy (Giorgi Meloni), Germany (Olaf Scholz), Japan (Shigeru Ishiba), the United States (Donald Trump) and Canada (Mark Carney).
The 27 member-countries of the European Union will also be represented at the summit by the President of the European Commission (Ursula von der Leyen) and the President of the European Council (António Costa).
The G7 Summit will take place at the Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge on “the traditional territory of the Treaty 7 Nations of The Tsuut’ina Nation, the Stoney Nakoda Nation, comprised of the Chiniki, Bearspaw, Goodstoney and Wesley First Nations, and the Blackfoot Confederacy, including the Kainai-Blood Tribe, Siksika, Peigan-Piikani and Aamskapi Pikun [and] the Treaty 3 region of the Mètis Nation of Alberta.”
The G7 and human rights defenders
The 2021 Open Societies Statement that accompanied the final communique from the G7 Summit in Cornwall, UK affirmed: “The importance of civic space and partnership with diverse, independent and pluralistic civil societies, including human rights defenders, in promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
Most recently, the 36-page Apulia G7 Leaders’ Communiqué from last year’s G7 Summit in Italy did not mention human rights defenders.
On May 6, Front Line Defenders will be releasing its report on attacks against human rights defenders in 2024/25.
Their previous report found that: “At least 300 human rights defenders from 28 countries were killed in 2023 in an attempt to silence them and stop their work.”
In countries where Peace Brigades International accompanies human rights defenders, 142 defenders were killed in Colombia, 30 in Mexico, 19 in Honduras, 9 in Nicaragua, 6 in Guatemala and 1 in Indonesia in 2023.
Significantly, that report noted: “Indigenous peoples’ rights defenders were the most targeted group in 2023, with a total of 92 killings registered in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and the Philippines. A total of 64 people who defended environmental and land rights were killed in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Mexico, Peru and the Philippines.”
Furthermore, Global Witness, an organization that publishes an annual report on attacks specifically against land and environmental defenders, has recommended: “Governments and states should create a safe environment for land and environmental defenders; systematically identify, document, and analyse attacks against land and environmental defenders; and facilitate access to justice.”
They highlight: “Defenders should be able to freely exercise their roles without fearing for their lives. Existing laws and mechanisms that protect and recognise defenders – while tackling the causes of attacks against them – need to be prioritised and enforced. …New laws should include safeguards to prevent their misuse as tools to criminalise defenders. Existing laws that specifically target or criminalise defenders or protestors should be revoked.”
State obligations to human rights defenders
At the recent intersessional consultations for the legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and human rights that took place on April 15-16 in Geneva, the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) called on States “to center defender protections in the treaty, urging strong safeguards against reprisals and recognition of the right to defend rights.”
The ISHR further “stressed the obligation of States to ensure a safe environment for defenders, including environmental human rights defenders” and “alerted to the risk of weakening language on human rights defenders, including the removal of references to the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in the preamble.”
“Shrinking space”
Instead of the meeting the obligations highlighted by the ISHR, or establishing new safeguards recommended by Global Witness to prevent the criminalization of human rights defenders, a pattern of criminalization appears to be emerging in both the Global South and the Global North.
The Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute has critically explained: “The term ‘shrinking space’ can be understood as a concept or framework that captures the dynamic relationship between repressive methods and political struggle, including the ways in which political struggle responds to these methods to reclaim space, and the impact this response has upon how political struggles relate to one another.”
Almost two years ago, in October 2023, The Guardian’s environment correspondents Matthew Taylor and Damien Gayle along with senior reporter Nina Lakhani wrote: “The Guardian has found striking similarities in the way governments from Canada and the US to Guatemala and Chile, from India and Tanzania to the UK, Europe and Australia, are cracking down on activists trying to protect the planet.”
That article in The Guardian quoted Mary Lawlor, the Dublin, Ireland-based United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, who said: “[Criminalization is] about maintaining the power structures in place. This is true regardless of whether it’s a dictatorship, democracy or a corrupt narco-state, and regardless of the state’s professed commitment to human rights, protecting the environment and combating climate change. What’s clear is that states learn from each other.”
RCMP plans “demonstration zone”
CTV now reports: “Officials with the Town of Banff are speaking out about against a plan to set up a demonstration zone for this spring’s G7 in the mountain town.”
The “demonstration zone” in Banff is about 80 kilometres away from the Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge where the G7 Summit will take place.
The article explains: “Because the public won’t be allowed near the site of the summit itself, demonstration zones need to be set up for protestors. One of those sites appears to be in Banff Central Park’s west parking lot on June 16 and 17.”
It then notes: “While [Town Manager Kelly] Gibson said the town appreciates the efforts to facilitate freedom of speech and the right to peaceful protest, the concern is there are more appropriate places where the demonstration zone could be located, specifically where G7 leaders would be able to ‘see and hear’ their messages.”
The RCMP Integrated Safety and Security Group (ISSG) says: “Although we cannot restrict the movement of protesters, we will be installing a fence around the parking lot to clearly indicate the demonstration zone.”
The RCMP C-IRG
It is not clear if the Critical Response Unit, formerly the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG), is connected to or liaising with the RCMP Integrated Safety and Security Group (ISSG) on G7 Summit security.
The Tyee has reported that RCMP Staff Sgt. Clark says the C-IRG’s approach to public disorder has been adopted as a “national best practice”.
The RCMP has explained: “Now named CRU-BC, its members will continue to assist in civil and public order events for natural or human caused disasters, conduct proactive engagement and, if required, enforcement duties specific to the critical incident. This assistance and support are independent of local detachment/unit operations, and operates in conjunction with other RCMP specialized units and police agencies to ensure intelligence-led and impartial policing of disputes.”
The RCMP C-IRG is currently under a “systemic investigation” by the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) receiving nearly 500 formal complaints about the unit in relation to land defence struggles including on Wet’suwet’en territory against the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline.
ILPS protest planned in Calgary
At this time, Rocky Mountain Outlook reports: “[Apart from Banff] no other additional designated demonstration zones are planned for the Bow Valley area at this time. Calgary Police Service have yet to publicly confirm their designated demonstration zones.”
The International League of Peoples’ Struggles (ILPS) in Canada is organizing both a counter-summit and a rally in Calgary to challenge the G7.
Civil liberties concerns re: “protest zones”
On June 25-26, 2010, a G8 summit was held in Muskoka, Ontario, followed by a G20 summit on June 26-27, 2010, in Toronto.
In total, 1,118 people were arrested during the G20 Summit in Toronto that year, 39 of who reported being injured during their arrest. Following this, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) called for: “The implementation of better guidelines for the establishment of security perimeters.”
In May 2012, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director issued a 313-page report titled Policing the Right to Protest.
At that time, CityNews in Toronto reported: “Police violated civil rights, detained people illegally and used excessive force during the G20 summit two years ago, a new report concludes. …The report takes aim at police tactics at the provincial legislature, which had been set up in advance as a protest zone. It says the force used for crowd control and in making arrests was ‘in some cases excessive’.”
By August 2020, Toronto Police had also agreed to reform their methods in policing future mass protests and paid $16.5 million as part of a settlement reached in a class action suit that followed the G20 summit.
We continue to follow this.
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