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Excerpts from ‘Knocking on a Locked Door: Assessing Canada’s Response to Attacks Against Human Rights Defenders’

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Lisa Rankin and Kirsten Francescone.

As Peace Brigades International-Canada works to strengthen its holistic protective accompaniment with credible and effective advocacy strategies, we are reviewing academic research on this subject.

In this article we look at Knocking on a Locked Door: Assessing Canada’s Response to Attacks Against Human Rights Defenders by Kirsten Francescone and Lisa Rankin published in the Journal of Human Rights Practice.

Francescone is an Assistant Professor in Human Rights and Global Development at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. Rankin recently completed her studies at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and is currently a lawyer at Nova Scotia Legal Aid. Both have worked extensively in Latin America.

The abstract for their article highlights: “We assess the usefulness of advocacy at the level of embassies as a way of protecting defenders and demonstrate that, in our experience, calls for support to defenders were ignored.” Their “practioner points” further notes: “Human rights advocates and allies should reconsider embassies as useful spaces for engagement on behalf of defenders.”

Francescone and Rankin write in the body of the article: “Given the rampant abuses being committed by Canadian corporations abroad, several significant studies have mapped out the key ways in which the Canadian diplomatic service has acted at the behest of Canadian mining companies to promote their economic interests (for example Coumans 2019; MiningWatch Canada 2013). What has yet to be explored in the same kind of detail, however, is how that active ‘client engagement’ primarily through Global Affairs Canada’s Trade Commission Services (TCS) and embassy officials, simultaneously has meant repeated inaction or avoidance to fulfil their basic duties enshrined in international human rights law with respect to protecting Human Rights defenders.”

They further note: “As is common knowledge within the literature on Guatemala regarding the ongoing state of human rights in the country, Indigenous, human rights and land defenders are under a constant state of threat and face repeated violence (Amnesty International 2019; Cultural Survival 2022).”

“In our opinion, Canadian embassy officials in Guatemala are undeniably aware of the precarious situation within which Canadian companies are investing in the country, and were repeatedly reminded of the concrete and shocking events happening on the ground, often at the time they were unfolding.”

They then highlight: “In nearly 70 per cent of the cases that we were able to document regarding communications with the embassy, our communications were completely ignored by embassy officials. …When we did receive responses, they were vague, with the embassy citing its commitment to ensuring Canadian companies act according to the voluntary frameworks set up to prevent human rights violations. …In only another 15 per cent of the cases analysed did the embassy purport to do anything at all, which was to inform us of their intention to meet with a Guatemalan CSO [but] we were never provided any follow-up information which would corroborate this. Finally, in the most basic and yet most concrete demonstration of action, the embassy retweeted or sent out a Tweet on X7 (only 7 per cent of the instances).”

Francescone and Rankin conclude: “Our years of advocacy within the Canadian embassy in Guatemala did not appear to make any meaningful difference for human rights defenders facing direct threats from Canadian-headquartered companies operating abroad.”

The full article can be read at Knocking on a Locked Door: Assessing Canada’s Response to Attacks Against Human Rights Defenders (Kirsten Francescone, Lisa Rankin; Journal of Human Rights Practice; February 2025).

Additional reading

–We open a call for consultancy to investigate the current and future challenges of protection through international accompaniment (Peace Brigades International-Spanish State, September 21, 2026)

–Call for Consultancy – Building Protection through International Solidarity: Facilitating a participatory process of research, reflection, and collective construction aimed at designing a Strategic Roadmap to strengthen Decolonial International Protection (Peace Brigades International-Colombia, July 2026)

–Supporters of slain Mexican mining activist take case against Canada to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CBC News, June 2023).

The work continues one year after PBI-Mexico and Espacio OSC visited Ottawa to strengthen the Protection Mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists

By
Brent Patterson
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One year ago today, a PBI accompanied advocacy delegation from Mexico arrived in Ottawa with a clear focus and commitment.

Starting on September 20, 2025, Manuel Jabonero Prieto, the advocacy coordinator for the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project, accompanied Héctor Hugo Arreola Galván and Elizabeth Guadalupe Mosqueda Rivera from the Civil Society Space of Organizations (Espacio OSC) in Ottawa to present proposals to strengthen the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.

We met with Members of Parliament including Judy Sgro and Yasir Naqvi (Liberal), Pierre-Simon Savard-Tremblay (Bloc Quebecois), Leah Gazan (NDP), Elizabeth May (Green) and Olivier Tremblay-Venneri in Michael Chong’s office (Conservative).

What have we seen happen since then?

1-On February 26, 2026, the Embassy of Canada in Mexico announced that it was co-creating “a feminist model of psycho-emotional support to protect” displaced women journalists through the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives that gives grants that average about CAD $45,000 (and up to CAD $100,000).

2- On May 20, 2026, the Proteger La Dignidad recommendations developed by the Espacio OSC coalition to strengthen the Protection Mechanism were shared by Global Affairs Canada officials with Mexican officials at the Mexico-Canada Dialogue on Human Rights and Multilateral Issues that took place in Ottawa.

César Villanueva Esquivel, the Director General for Human Rights and Democracy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, participated in this Dialogue.

3- There was a 30-40 minute “substantive discussion” at the Dialogue on freedom of expression and the protection of human rights defenders that acknowledged the growing threat to human rights defenders and journalists and that asked Mexican officials their understanding of how the Mechanism is working.

4- We learned that the preferred method for Global Affairs Canada to financially support the Protection Mechanism would be through a United Nations agency. During the advocacy tour we highlighted Canada’s $9.9 million funding to Mexico saying an equivalent amount should be given to the Protection Mechanism.

5- On July 17, 2026, Canada announced another $12.1 million in funding for projects in Mexico when Roberto Velasco, Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, visited Ottawa. This suggests there is continued funding available that could be directed to support the strengthening of the Protection Mechanism.

We have also seen significant support from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) who the Espacio OSC delegation met with in Ottawa.

On October 9, 2025, CCPA senior researcher Stuart Trew told the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade (CIIT): “In light of the new Canada-Mexico Action Plan, I think it would be beneficial to strengthen cooperation with Mexico in areas like human rights as well by supporting the Protection Mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists.”

And on September 16, 2026, the CCPA published the Alternative Federal Budget (AFB) that proposed $100 million in annual funding for a Civil Peace Service (CPS) and “to strengthen the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists in Mexico to address the threats they face from military and security forces.”

This is modest progress towards strengthening the Protection Mechanism and much work remains to be done.

This past June, Front Line Defenders documented in their report Global Analysis 2025/26 that at least 43 human rights defenders were killed in Mexico in 2025 in “an attempt to silence them and put an end to their work”.

And last week Global Witness documented in their report Collective power: The struggle for protection for land and environmental defenders that ten land and environmental defenders were killed in Mexico in 2025.

It is in their memory we continue our work in Canada alongside PBI-Mexico and Espacio OSC to strengthen the Protection Mechanism.

We continue to look for upcoming moments to highlight the need for Canada to financially and technically support the Protection Mechanism. This could include the next Mexico-Canada Dialogue on Human Rights and Multilateral Issues in May 2027; the next high-level meeting between Canadian and Mexican officials; with a longer-term view to the next Universal Periodic Review of Mexico in 2029.

Colombian human rights defender Yuli Andrea Velásquez warns of imminent eviction of rural communities in Las Galias for solar farm

By
Brent Patterson
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Yuli Andrea Velásquez has posted on social media: “We will continue to demand that the solar farm project be presented to the rural communities in the Las Galias sector—as formally requested in the petition filed two months ago.”

Velasquez shares via social media a video report from El PortAvoz Press that warns: “Imminent eviction from the property known as Las Galias. The current occupants have held possession since 1983. Beyond cultivating the land and restoring its environment, they have taken in dozens of abandoned animals that would have nowhere to go if the local government evicts them.”

In that El PortAvoz Press video clip, lot holder Hernan Barrera says:

“Supposedly, I did some environmental damage and I made a land movement and I supposedly disturbed a property that belongs to the mayor’s office, but this property has been there since 1983. I bought this position from a man who at the time, in 2012, they recognized the position to the man when the road passed through this property and he simply sold me the right to the possession. Here, fruit trees have been planted close to about 40,000 limonzungria trees, we have planted bamboo, we have planted avocado, mango, among fruit trees there are about 4,000 trees.”

Yuli Andrea Velásquez is an environmental engineer and president of the Federation of Environmental and Tourism Artisanal Fishermen of the Department of Santander (Fedepesan). The Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (Credhos) accompanies Velásquez and Fedepesan.

Peace Brigades International has accompanied Credhos since 1994.

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Canada says #HandsOffDaniloRamos as the Filipino human rights defender travels to Toronto for the Kapit Bisig conference

By
Brent Patterson
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Peace Brigades International-Canada coordinator Brent Patterson will be meeting with Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) National Chairperson Danilo Ramos at the upcoming Kapit Bisig conference in Toronto.

The Peasant Movement of the Philippines (KMP) is “the democratic mass organization of Filipino peasants primarily struggling for genuine land reform, social justice, and genuine social change. It is composed of landless peasants, farmworkers, peasant women, youth, and millions of rural poor in the countryside.”

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) is organizing the Kapit Bisig: Linking Arms Across the World Against the US War of Suppression on the Filipino People conference this September 25-26.

The conference will feature guest speakers and workshops on the struggle for human rights in the Philippines.

Yesterday, September 18, the Kapit Bisig conference posted on social media: “Urgent Alert: Hands off Danilo Ramos! Philippine military harass peasant leader and Kapit Bisig speaker Danilo ‘Ka Daning’ Ramos.”

Their post adds: “Ramos is set to speak at the Kapit Bisig conference next week. This most recent harassment of Ramos follows a long line of fascist harassment by the Philippine military of peasant organizations and communities for standing for their rights to land, food, and livelihood.”

They further note: “The organizers of the Kapit Bisig conference condemn the surveillance and harassment of Ramos and his relatives, and call on the international community to join the calls for #HandsOffDaniloRamos!”

We continue to follow this.

Photo: Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos (KMP), Brent Patterson (Peace Brigades International-Canada), Rosie Lucente (Ottawa Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines/OCHRP), meeting in Ottawa, April 2026.

PBI-Canada monitors the situation on Cayos Cochinos as Garifuna leader Mabel Robledo denounces TV show on ancestral territory

By
Brent Patterson
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Video still from Prensa Comunitaria.

Peace Brigades International-Canada coordinator Brent Patterson met Garifuna leader Mabel Robledo in October 2024 during a visit to Honduras.

It was during that visit to that Robledo first told us about the situation on Cayos Conchos, an archipelago of islands northeast of La Ceiba on the northern shores of Honduras where a Spanish TV reality show is filmed.

From Ottawa, PBI-Canada is following the situation on Cayos Conchos through updates from the PBI-Honduras team, social media and media reports. We express concern that the Honduran Black Fraternal Organization (OFRANEH) says “a military-type action” is possible against the people who maintain the protest in at beach camp there.

On September 18 at 7:33 pm ET, Prensa Comunitaria posted on social media: “The #GarifunaResistance has mobilized to Cayos Cochinos to protect the environment and prevent eviction. This morning, Honduran armed forces were deployed to clear the territory and allow the filming of a television show.”

This morning, September 19, El Salto reports: “The communities of Cayos Cochinos, in protest against the presence of the production of the Spanish reality show, resisted throughout the day September 17 against a contingent of more than 200 riot police officers of the Honduran police who arrived in boats to the beach where the gala of the program was to be recorded, which changed location at the last minute.”

That article quotes Mabel Robledo, “a Garifuna leader originally from this paradisiacal territory, from the beach of Cayos Cochinos.”

Robledo says: “We are in a sit-in against the recording of the reality show Survivors, which was going to take place despite the fact that the state of Honduras was sentenced for violating the right to prior consultation that we have over our territory.”

Yesterday, Friday September 18, Reportar Sin Miedo reported: “In the early hours of today, agents of the National Police showed up in Cayos Cochinos with a court order to evict some 40 Garifuna people who maintain a peaceful camp in the area. The objective of the protest is to defend ancestral territories and reject the filming of the reality show Survivors during the sea turtle nesting season.”

That article continues: “Garifuna leader Mabel Ávila Robledo denounced that Judge Warner arrived at Playa Agua, in Cayos Cochinos, with an eviction order that declares Cayo Menor as the property of Sociedad Ecológica S.A.”

“She recalled that this company never presented documents to the Inter-American Court that would prove ownership of the island.”

“In addition, she cited Article 617 of the Civil Code: beaches are public, inalienable and imprescriptible, and no one can claim ownership of them. The Court has already recognized the right of the Garifuna people to their community territory and the habitat they have historically used to survive.”

“Robledo pointed out that the presence of the National Police, the Prosecutor’s Office and the executing judge confirms what they have been denouncing: they have been expelled and forbidden to be in the archipelago during the filming of reality shows.”

“She clarified that they do not plan to stay and that they will withdraw if the recordings are stopped: ‘Only if the reality shows leave, we leave.’ Finally, she denounced reality shows because they promote the rape, harassment and criminalization of defenders of land, life and the environment.”

We continue to follow this.

Additional reading: PBI-Honduras issues ALERT warning of the imminent eviction of the Garifuna communities of Cayos Cochinos (PBI-Canada, September 17, 2026).

PBI-Canada concerned by the surveillance and harassment of Filipino human rights defender Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos (KMP), Brent Patterson (Peace Brigades International-Canada), Rosie Lucente (Ottawa Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines/OCHRP), in Ottawa, April 2026.

The Peasant Movement of the Philippines (Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas – KMP) has posted on social media their condemnation of “the continuing surveillance and harassment” of KMP National Chairperson, Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos.

KMP describes several incidents of concern:

– “On September 12, six men in civilian clothes went to [the city of] Malolos and sought out Ramos. They initially introduced themselves as farmers who wanted to speak with him. However, they later told a local government official that they were members of the military from the ‘General Headquarters.’”

– “On the same day, several other suspicious individuals were observed monitoring or loitering around the residences of Ramos’s relatives.”

– “On September 14, three of the six men returned and spoke with another group of local officials, again asking about farmer organizations in the area.”

The KMP also notes: “Ramos has faced similar incidents of surveillance and harassment, including more recently in August 2023 and January 2024.”

These incidents took place after a massive anti-corruption protest in Malolos on August 31 where Ramos was among the leading figures.

The KMP states: “Agrarian concerns and the exercise of democratic rights are not matters for military surveillance or intervention. Farmers have the constitutional right to organize and protest against decades-long injustice and landlessness.”

The full social media post can be read here.

Earlier this year, Peace Brigades International (PBI) launched a Southeast Asia Project to accompany human rights defenders in the Philippines, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand. This project is focused on the acute exposure to extractive industries, land conflicts, and climate-related violence defenders face.

Additional reading

–PBI-Canada meets with Filipino human rights defender Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos in Ottawa (PBI-Canada, April 29, 2026)

–PBI-Canada observes vígil for the Toboso 19 outside the Embassy of the Philippines, May Day call to shut down CANSEC in Ottawa (PBI-Canada, May 2, 2026).

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Luz Leticia family as former BROE commander sentenced to 50 years in prison for enforced disappearances

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has posted on social media:

“’This guilty verdict represents progress because—yes, absolutely—this individual decided my sister’s fate and chose to take her away from our family. However, the impact on our family needs to be fully weighed, and the sentence imposed is minimal considering that impact.’

After 44 years of seeking justice for the 1982 enforced disappearance of student Luz Leticia Hernandez Agustín, and following four and a half months of trial proceedings, the Eighth Tribunal handed down its verdict today. The court established the criminal liability of the accused, Juan Francisco Cifuentes Cano, for the crimes committed against Luz Leticia and Ana María López Rodríguez, imposing a non-commutable 25-year prison sentence for the two victims. It did not find sufficient evidence to convict on charges of crimes against humanity.

#PBI stands with Luz Leticia’s sisters, who expressed their satisfaction: ‘Justice has finally been served for our sister; this also holds significance for the 45,000 people who went missing during the war in Guatemala.’”

Prensa Comunitaria has also reported: “The Eighth Criminal Court sentenced Juan Francisco Cifuentes Cano, former head of the Reaction and Special Operations Brigade (BROE), also known as the Fifth Corps of the extinct National Police, to 50 years in prison for the forced disappearance of Luz Leticia Hernández Agustín and Ana María López Rodríguez.”

PBI-Canada watched the court proceedings today via live-stream and provided context and almost hourly updates at: PBI-Canada watches the live-feed of the Criminal Sentencing Court verdict in the forcible disappearance of Luz Leticia in Guatemala (PBI-Canada, September 17, 2026).

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has been accompanying the family of Luz Leticia for over 10 years.

PBI speaks at the UN in Geneva about the need to implement the law on women searchers in Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
-

On September 15, 2026, Peace Brigades International presented at the “Interactive dialogue with the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances” during the 12th meeting of the 63rd session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

The PBI presentation (starting here at 1:04:36) noted concerns about situations in Colombia, Mexico, and Kenya.

PBI representative Claire Moretto stated: “Colombia’s persistence of disappearances shows that guarantees of protection and non-repetition still do not reach the territories. Between January and July 2026, the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] documented 99 disappearances linked to the conflict. The murder of two emblematic searchers demonstrates the risks faced by those who search. The law on women searchers and its implementing degree must be fully complied with.”

Claribel Moreno Castillo was murdered on May 13, 2026, after spending four years searching for her daughter. On June 8, 2026, Cleiner Almanza, who has searched for her older brother for years, was attacked.

On June 18, 2024, Law 2364 of 2024, the Comprehensive Law for the Protection of the Rights of Women Searchers, championed by the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation, was ratified by then-Colombian President Gustavo Petro. On January 29, 2026, Petro signed the Decree authorizing the Women Searchers Act.

Interviewed by El Salto in Spain just prior to the recent presidential election, Andrea Torres Bautista from the Foundation expressed concern about the implementation of the law if the extreme right were to take power.

Peace Brigades International has been accompanying the “Nydia Erika Bautista” Foundation (FNEB) occasionally since 2007 and in full since 2016.

We continue to follow this.

 

The full presentation to the United Nations

Thank you, Vice President.

Colombia‘s persistence of disappearances shows that guarantees of protection and non-repetition still do not reach the territories. Between January and July 2026, the ICRC documented 99 disappearances linked to the conflict. The murder of two emblematic searchers demonstrate the risks faced by those who search. The law on women searchers and its implementing degree must be fully complied with.

Mexico is suffering a disappearance crisis with more than 130,000 disappeared persons. In 2022, a special search commission was created by judicial mandate for the enforced disappearance of Edmundo Reyes and Gabriel Cruz without any progress to date. We call on the Mexican state to investigate and detain those responsible for this human rights violation and on the working group to attend the meetings of the special commission.

We also raise concerns that Kenya has not yet ratified the international convention for the protection of all persons from enforced disappearance nor enacted specific domestic legislation to criminalise enforced disappearances. According to the Missing Voices Coalition, 196 people have been forcibly disappeared in Kenya between 2019 to date. There are signs that enforced disappearances could continue and have the effect of silencing dissidents and citizens.

Thank you.

PBI speaks at the UN in Geneva about the forcible disappearance of Edmundo Reyes and Gabriel Cruz in Mexico

By
Brent Patterson
-

On September 16, 2026, Peace Brigades International presented at the “Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence” during the 13th meeting of the 63rd session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva.

The PBI presentation (starting here at 1:34:20) noted concerns about Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

PBI representative Claire Moretto stated: “In Mexico, the families of persons disappeared faces victimizing process in the quest for justice. That’s the case of the family of Edmundo Reyes and Gabriel Cruz, who disappeared at the hands of the state in 2007.”

The day before, September 15, Moretto also spoke during the “Interactive dialogue with the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances”.

There Moretto highlighted again: “Mexico is suffering a disappearance crisis with more than 130,000 disappeared persons. In 2022, a special search commission was created by judicial mandate for the enforced disappearance of Edmundo Reyes and Gabriel Cruz without any progress to date. We call on the Mexican state to investigate and detain those responsible for this human rights violation and on the working group to attend the meetings of the special commission.”

That presentation can be heard here starting at 1:04:36.

That same day, September 15, PBI-Mexico accompanied Nadi Reyes Maldonado, the daughter of Edmundo Reyes Amaya, at the 27th meeting of the Special Search Commission (CEB) in their case in Mexico City.

You can read more about this at: PBI-Mexico accompanies the Cerezo Committee at the 27th meeting of the Special Search Commission for Edmundo Reyes and Gabriel Cruz (PBI-Canada, September 16, 2026).

The next meeting of the Special Search Commission will be on October 22.

We continue to follow this.

 

The full presentation to the United Nations

Thank you, Vice President.

In Colombia, ten years after the peace agreement, violence persists or has intensified in territories such as Putumayo. Middle Magdalena and Lower Atrato, where ethnic and peasant communities continue to face land dispossession and are controlled by armed groups, a state presence is required that guarantees protection and genuine conditions for territorial peace.

In Mexico, the families of persons disappeared faces victimising process in the quest for justice. That’s the case of the family of Edmundo Reyes and Gabriel Cruz, who disappeared at the hands of the state in 2007.

We stress the importance of effective investigations in Guatemala. Despite historic advances in transitional justice, the co-opting of the judicial system has led to major setbacks. We urge the rapporteur and states to provide technical and political support to reinstate a proper justice system, guarantee security and prioritize implementation of the reparations plan and policy of protection of human rights defenders.

In Nicaragua impunity persists with regard to violations documented since 2018. Despite the repression, Nicaraguan organisations continue to document those violations and call on the international community to continue to support processes of memory, truth and justice.

Thank you very much.

PBI-Honduras issues ALERT warning of the imminent eviction of the Garifuna communities of Cayos Cochinos

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: Miriam Miranda: “This is how the police are arriving at this moment to repress and evict the Garifuna people in the Cayos Cochinos.”

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has posted an ALERT on social media warning of the “#ImminentEviction of the #Garifuna communities of Cayos Cochinos.”

Earlier today, Criterio.hn reported: “After the start of a new season of filming of the Spanish reality show Survivors during the spawning period of hawksbill turtles in Cayos Cochinos, the Garifuna people began a sit-in this week in Cayo Menor, amid repression and police and military intimidation.”

That article continues: “On September 14, the Garifuna people took up a position on a beach in Cayo Menor… The territorial defense action was responded to with the arrival of anti-riot agents from the National Police and military personnel from the Navy… Lawyer Caleb Navarro told Criterio.hn that the Garifuna leaders were evicted on the night of Monday, September 14, after being surrounded by riot police, who formed a perimeter to push them back into the sea.”

It then notes: “They had to move to another key to sleep and resupply. Currently, the protest is maintained permanently, mobilizing between keys.”

Ten minutes ago, Reportar Sin Miedo reported: “In the early hours of Thursday, September 17, agents of the National Police showed up in Cayos Cochinos with a court order to evict the approximately 40 Garifuna people who maintain a peaceful camp in the area, in defense of their ancestral territories and in rejection of the filming of the reality show “Survivors” during the sea turtle nesting season.”

La Vanguardia is also reporting: “Part of the Garifuna community, especially linked to Nueva Armenia, has long questioned the management of the Cayos Cochinos and called for greater participation in decisions affecting the territory. The issue has taken on a new dimension after the Inter-American Court of Human Rights declared the State of Honduras responsible in March 2026 for violating the rights of the Garifuna Community of Cayos Cochinos. The ruling focused, among other issues, on the lack of prior, free and informed consultation on certain actions that affect the community.”

We continue to follow this.

Photo: On October 31, 2024, PBI-Honduras and PBI-Canada visited with Mabel Robledo in Nueva Armenia on Garifuna territory in Honduras. Mabel looked out toward Cayos Cochinos and told us about the situation there.

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