Lawyers at Risk

PBI-Canada remembers Digna Ochoa, the human rights lawyer murdered 23 years ago in Mexico

In its 2001 annual review, Peace Brigades International noted: “The situation of human rights defenders [in Mexico] worsened significantly after the 19 October assassination of internationally known human rights defender Digna Ochoa and death threats against other human rights defenders.” That PBI report further noted: “One of the cases that Digna Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Mexico accompanied María Eugenia Gabriel Ruiz meets with UN Special Rapporteur on the right to water

This morning, PBI-Mexico posted: “Yesterday, Mª Eugenia de la @redsolidariaDH was able to speak with the Special Rapporteur Pedro Arrojo @SRWatSan about the challenges and impacts faced by the communities of Michoacán regarding access to water due to its indiscriminate use in monocultures and mining activities.” María Eugenia Gabriel Ruiz, Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Canada participates in the VIII International Caravana of Jurists to Colombia

Photo by Justicia y Dignidad. PBI-Canada Board member Heather Neun participated in the VIII International Caravana of Jurists to Colombia from August 19 to 28. Neun was also there representing Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (LRWC). You can find her article about this delegation on their website here. The Colombian Caravana-UK Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Rita, a film based on the Hogar Seguro fire, to premiere at Montreal film festival, July 25

The film “Rita” will be shown at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal on July 25 starting at 6:50 pm (18:50). The screening will be hosted by Jayro Bustamante, a Guatemalan film director and screenwriter. On the film festival website, Kat Ellinger writes: “[The] story [is] based on a Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Guatemala accompanies BDH lawyer as Maya Q’eqchi’ resist appropriation of ancestral territory for tourist site

PBI-Guatemala has posted: “Today #PBI accompanies the Human Rights Law Firm (BDH) in Cobán, for a delivery of memorials to the Sixth Room of the Court of Appeals. They are presented on behalf of the seven criminalized people, for their peaceful resistance against the appropriation of their lands in Semuc Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Guatemalan anti-corruption prosecutor Virginia Laparra sentenced to five years in prison

LaHora now reports: “The former head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI) in Quetzaltenango, Virginia Laparra, was convicted of the crime of disclosure of confidential or reserved information to a sentence of 5 years in prison commutable at the rate of Q5 per day and a fine of Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Guatemala demands justice for Virginia Laparra who could be sentenced to 6 years in prison on July 8

“The case is a revenge to guarantee impunity” PBI-Guatemala has posted: #VirginiaLaparra’s fight for a fairer Guatemala is a light in the midst of darkness and corruption. We demand #JusticeForVirginia #NoMoreCrime Prensa Libre reports: “Next Monday, July 8, Judge Moisés de León will issue the resolution against the former head Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Guatemala accompanies media conference denouncing attacks and evictions of Maya Q’eqchi’ communities

On June 11, PBI-Guatemala posted: “PBI accompanies UVOC and the Campesino/Peasant Council, formed by CCDA, CUC, New Day and UVOC, at their press conference in which they denounced the complicity of the authorities of Alta Verapaz with the farmers to evict Indigenous and peasant communities.” Factor 4 further explains: “The Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

CAJAR lawyer Reinaldo Villalba: “We salute those who have accompanied us in this dream of a better world”

Photo: PBI-Colombia with Reinaldo Villalba, February 2024. The International Observatory for Lawyers at Risk (OIAD) recently interviewed Reinaldo Villalba Vargas of the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CAJAR). Are human rights lawyers still at risk in Colombia today? RVV: “Yes, defending human rights involves enormous risks for the integrity and Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

More than 800 human rights defenders killed in Palestine over the past six months

Photo: Nour Naser Abu al-Nour of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights was killed by an Israeli airstrike on her family home in Rafah on February 20. The airstrike also killed seven members of her family including her two-year-old daughter Kenzi Jumaa. The recently-released Amnesty International report The State of Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago