Canadian Capital

PBI-Honduras observes COFADEH press conference following the arrest of former General Romeo Vásquez Velásquez

On January 7, PBI-Honduras posted on X: “Yesterday we observed the press conference convened by @defencofadeh [the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras -COFADEH] following the arrest of the former head of the Armed Forces, Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, and two other high-ranking military officers accused of Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Canada continues to monitor the situation of eight community members criminalized for their opposition to Frontera Energy

Video still: A military helicopter takes Ferney Salcedo, Yulivel Leal and four other social leaders from the villages of Venturosa and Platanales following their arrest on November 27, 2018. Video by Prensa Libre Casanare. Today is the 6th anniversary of the arrest of eight community members who were protesting the Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-United Kingdom report: “human rights defenders need a UK law on mandatory due diligence”

Our colleagues at Peace Brigades International-United Kingdom have produced a 40-page investigative report titled: The Case For Change: Why human rights defenders need a UK law on mandatory due diligence. The six examples in the report (the Cerrejón coal mine and Amerisur oilfields in Colombia, the Eólica del Sur wind Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Mexico accompanied lawyer María Eugenia Gabriel Ruiz interviewed by El Pais, speaks about avocados and mining

Photo: “María Eugenia Gabriel Ruiz, indigenous Purépecha activist from Michoacán, in Madrid Río on 26 September.” Photo by Mario Bermudo. María Eugenia Gabriel Ruiz is an Indigenous Purhépecha lawyer and member of the Human Rights Solidarity Network (Red Solidaria DH), an organization accompanied by the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project. El Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Canada calls on Minister Ng to support environmental defenders criminalized for protesting Canadian mining company

Photo from November 2023 by EFE from Observatory of Mining Conflicts in Latin America (OCMAL) website. Peace Brigades International-Canada is one of 122 organizations to have signed a letter to Mary Ng, the Canadian Minister of International Commerce and Economic Development, to withdraw her support for First Quantum Minerals. Photo: Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Mountain Valley Pipeline, financed by Canadian banks and co-owned by a Canadian company, sues water protectors

Photo: Ojibwe water protector Tara Houska, locked to machinery at a Mountain Valley Pipeline worksite, October 16, 2023. In response to a tweet that says: “For Indigenous People’s Day [a holiday in the United States observed this year on October 14] how about we drop all charges on Indigenous Land Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

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

PBI-Mexico accompanied Peoples’ Front endorses Continental Meeting to build resistance to gas pipelines, October 10-12

Photo: PBI-Mexico accompanied the National Meeting of Struggles against Gas Pipelines and Death Projects, January 2022. As noted in this statement signed by multiple organizations, the People’s Front in Defence of Land and Water of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala (FPDTA-PMT) has endorsed the call for a Continental Meeting building an Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Colombia meets with UN Working Group that raises concerns about the exploitation of natural resources, corporate transparency

Photo by Indepaz. The Bogota-based Center for the Study of Law, Justice and Society (Dejusticia) highlights in this feature article in El Espectador the recent visit to Colombia of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights. The visit was led by UN Working Group Chairperson Fernanda Hopenhaym Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago