Photo: A Palestinian woman protests against the complicity of weapons companies in the genocide in Palestine at the CANSEC arms show, May 2025.
Over the next five months, PBI-Canada will be researching and posting information about the export of military goods/strategic goods and technology and their impacts on the safety and security of human rights defenders in five countries.
Front Line Defenders has documented that the deadliest countries for human rights defenders in 2024 are Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Palestine, Brazil, Peru, Pakistan, Somalia, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Philippines.
Global Witness has further documented that the most dangerous countries for land and environmental defenders between 2012 and 2024 are Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Brazil, the Philippines, Honduras, Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nicaragua and Peru.
From these countries, PBI-Canada will be focusing on three countries this coming year: Mexico, the Philippines and Indonesia.
And given Palestine is noted by Front Line Defenders as among the deadliest countries for human rights defenders, we will also be looking at military exports to Israel and the means by which Palestinian human rights defenders are killed.
Finally, we will be studying the export of “military goods” to the United States. This is in part because at an estimated $1 billion a year the U.S. is one of the top export destinations for Canadian-produced military goods/strategic goods and technology. Those “goods” can also then be re-exported as completed weapons to countries implicated in human rights violations and the killing of human rights defenders.
We have also chosen the United States because of increasing concerns about state violence against human rights defenders within its own borders.
Beginning in 1990, the Government of Canada has produced an annual report on “Exports of military goods and technology”. In 2024, this report is now produced as an “Annual Report on Strategic Goods and Technologies Pursuant to Section 27 of the Export and Import Permits Act”.
An initial survey of the last five years (2020 to 2024) of these reports shows that Canada has exported more than $100 million in goods and technology to Israel, about $20 million to both Mexico and Indonesia, and about $10 million to the Philippines. It could also be estimated that Canada exported about $5 billion in goods and technology to the United States during this five year period.
A focal point for this documentation of the relationship between the production of military goods and violence against human rights defenders will be the annual CANSEC arms show in Ottawa. CANSEC, billed as “Canada’s leading defence, security & emerging technology event” will take place May 27-28 this year.
The Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), the organizing body for CANSEC, has highlighted that “60+ international delegations” attend CANSEC. While CADSI does not publish a list of the countries attending CANSEC, various published sources suggest that Israel, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, and high-level representatives of the United States are present.
Watch for our research, articles, webinars, community organizing updates and more over the coming months.
