News Updates

Gitanyow sustainability director Tara Marsden warns Blackstone-backed PRGT pipeline would accelerate climate change

Photo: Tara Marsden, sustainability director for the Gitanyow hereditary chiefs. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC). The CBC reports: “Tara Marsden, sustainability director for the Gitanyow hereditary chiefs, worries the current push to approve new projects [framed as breaking “Canada’s dependence on the U.S. energy economy”] will sideline environmental concerns.” The article adds: “Marsden Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

UN Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor: “Canadian extractive mining companies are putting defenders at risk all over the world”

On April 11, Mary Lawlor, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, posted on social media: “At #HRC58 [the 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council] I welcomed #Canada’s support for human rights defenders abroad. But I had to say it: Canadian extractive mining companies are putting Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Honduras accompanied Indigenous COPINH water protectors demand justice for the Palestinian people

The PBI-Honduras accompanied Civic Council of Grassroots and Indigenous Organisations in Honduras (COPINH) has posted on social media: “On World Earth Day, we cannot ignore the cry of a land that bleeds: Palestine. This is not a war, this is genocide! Palestine suffers, resists, cries, screams, endures, fights… lives! Because Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Colombia tells DW that Colombia is unsafe for rights defenders as European Commission lists Colombia as a “safe country”

Photo: The western face of the European Parliament towards the Place du Luxembourg in Brussels, Belgium. The Bonn, Germany-based news agency Deutsche Welle (DW) reports on Colombian human rights defender Claudia Álvarez who has been waiting for 30 months for asylum in Spain. Álvarez says: “I cannot return to Colombia; Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Indigenous Ch’orti’ communities as they defend water and territory from mining, coffee production

On April 24, PBI-Guatemala posted: “For #WaterDay yesterday PBI accompanies the Indigenous Community of San Francisco Quezaltepeque and the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa in their night walk. Among other things, the communities thanked Mother Earth for the water. In addition, they declared the area of the source of Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Guatemala shares statement from Indigenous ancestral authorities on the arrest of K’iche’ leader Luis Pacheco

Photo of Luis Pacheco by Emmanuel Andrés/Prensa Comunitaria. PBI-Guatemala has shared a statement/official communication from Indigenous and ancestral authorities of the original peoples of Guatemala that is a “condemnation and rejection of the criminalization, arrest of authorities and leaders who defended democracy.” The Associated Press reports: “Guatemalan authorities on Wednesday Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Honduras accompanies National Union of Rural Workers (CNTC) as it requests file awarding land to the October 18 campesina organization

PBI-Honduras has posted on social media: “We accompany the CNTC [National Union of Rural Workers] Tegucigalpa to the National Agrarian Institute with the aim of requesting the file that accredits the awarding of land in the case of the peasant organization October 18 (Suyatal Cedro, Francisco Morazán). From PBI, we Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Mexico calls for an end to the criminalization of 24 Indigenous land defenders opposed to Tehuantepec megaproject

Photo: The press conference in front of the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Photo by La Marea. La Jornada reports: “In the context of World Mother Earth Day, more than 20 Indigenous, environmental and human rights organizations demanded this Tuesday [April 22] in a statement an end to Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa as it files complaint against coffee company

On April 21, PBI-Guatemala posted: “Today PBI accompanied the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa Chiquimula who filed a complaint for water pollution and forest damage against Ovidio Cardona, owner of a coffee company whose waste would affect several communities in the area, including sources of drinking water. In today’s Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Honduras accompanies ARCAH in El Merendón as it rejects the privatization of drinking water services

PBI-Honduras has posted: “Today, on International Earth Day, we celebrate the important advocacy work ARCAH does to protect water. Recently, we accompanied members of ARCAH in an activity in El Merendón (Choloma, Cortes), in which concern was expressed about the privatization of water in Honduras. From PBI, we remind you Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago