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Peace Brigades International shares Annual Review 2023

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Our just-released Annual Review opens with a quote from Indigenous Maya Poqomchi’ rights defender Sandra Calel (on the left) of the PBI-Guatemala accompanied Verapaz Union of Campesina Organizations (UVOC).

Peace Brigades International has released its Annual Review 2023.

It notes: “Peace Brigades International (PBI) protects and empowers human rights and environmental defenders so that they can make changes in their communities and for our planet. We contribute to a robust civil society by building and sharing the tools, tactics, and networks necessary to prevent threats, reduce risk, and influence decision-makers.”

PBI is present in Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Kenya, Indonesia, Nepal and Nicaragua (Costa Rica), as well as Canada, Spain and Catalunya, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Ireland, Norway and Switzerland.

Our staff and volunteers come from many more countries.

Among those PBI supports are land, environmental, and Indigenous rights defenders. The Annual Review highlights: “Land, environmental, and Indigenous defenders fight to defend their territories from activities such as mining, deforestation, industrial agriculture, and other forms of exploitation that threaten their livelihoods, cultures, and environments.”

One of the key forms of our work is physical accompaniment. The Annual Review explains: “A strategy pioneered by PBI. Our front-line teams embody the international human rights cause. They are physically present, accompany defenders in high[1]risk situations and deter potential perpetrators of violence.”

PBI also helped to raise awareness.

With respect to numbers: “In 2023 we supported 3,493 human rights defenders, 68 organizations, and 950 communities globally.”

Within that, we accompanied 1,327 land, environmental, and Indigenous defenders.” The Annual Review further highlights that: “Land, Indigenous and environmental defenders play an important role in providing a future where the rights of the earth are protected. Their courageous work has been met with high levels of violence. Approximately 30% of all attacks on defenders are linked to extractive industries.”

Profiling the advocacy tour with Mariana Azucena Villarreal Fría of the Network in Defence of Indigenous Territory in the Sierra Tarahumara (REDETI) organized by PBI-Mexico, PBI-USA and PBI-Canada, the Annual Review notes: “PBI in Canada also accompanied Mariana to meet with the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE), the federal government minister of Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, and officials from Global Affairs Canada (GAC).”

Manuel Jabonero Prieto (PBI-Mexico) and Mariana (REDETI) also joined PBI-Canada Board members Ed Bianchi and Meera Karunananthan along with coordinator Brent Patterson for dinner when they were in Ottawa.

To read Annual Review 2023, click here.

Read the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project Annual Report 2023

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has just released its Annual Report 2023. You can read that in English here.

Their annual report highlights: “Our mission is to protect action spaces for human rights defenders who are targeted by violent acts because of their work in defending and promoting human rights and social justice.”

It further notes: “Even though violence and human rights violations decreased slightly in 2023, there were still 188 murders of human rights leaders and defenders, 94 massacres with 303 victims and 167,540 victims of forced displacement. …Of particular concern is the situation faced by women defenders. There was a 35.2% increase in the number of murders of women social leaders in 2023 compared to the previous year.”

To help address this situation, PBI-Colombia provided 224 accompaniments in 2023. Notably, 28.6 per cent of those accompaniments were with women defenders, while 44.6 per cent included women and men defenders.

In 2023, PBI-Canada worked with our colleagues at PBI-Colombia by helping to amplify key accompaniments and issues, including:

– PBI-Colombia accompanies Nomadesc, Justice and Peace at meetings in Buenaventura with Canadian Embassy (January 31, 2023)

– PBI-Colombia accompanies CREDHOS and FEDEPESAN on verification visit to the caño San Silvestre (March 10, 2023)

– PBI-Colombia accompanied CSPP and social leaders raise concerns about Frontera Energy with shareholders (July 20, 2023)

– PBI-Colombia accompanies CREDHOS and FEDEPESAN at meetings with Canadian Embassy in Barrancabermeja (August 17, 2023)

– PBI-Colombia accompanied defender Berenice Celeita visits Ottawa (November 28, 2023)

– PBI-Colombia accompanies return of Indigenous Wounaan community to their territory after their displacement by the armed conflict (December 21, 2023)

Already in 2024, along with amplifying many more accompaniments:

– PBI-Canada co-organizes webinar encouraging applications to be a PBI-Colombia field volunteer (February 27, 2024)

And this fall, we will highlight an issue of concern raised by many Canadian unions in relation to the National Strike of April-May 2021 through a virtual screening of a film already seen by PBI-Colombia:

– PBI-Colombia joins MOCAO for a screening of the documentary ‘The Eyes That Are Reborn’ about police violence (June 19, 2024)

We also plan to bring Oscar Ramirez to Canada this November to highlight the impacts of the Canadian oil company Frontera Energy on social leaders in the community of San Luis de Palenque (a tour delayed by the rejection of visas):

– PBI-Canada organizing to bring criminalized Colombian social leaders to Toronto and Ottawa in February 2024 (December 8, 2023)

For more on our collaborations with PBI-Colombia, please also see:

– Photo-journal of 10-day PBI-Canada visit to frontline communities in Colombia (July 8, 2022)

We join with our colleagues at PBI-Colombia in expressing our appreciation to Unifor for their support of this work.

Photo: Unifor Social Justice Fund Director Navjeet Sidhu visits PBI-Colombia staff and frontline volunteers in Bogota, May 2023.

PBI-Mexico accompanied Espacio OSC highlights Canada’s recommendation on the protection of journalists and human rights defenders

By
Brent Patterson
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The Civil Society Organization (OSC) Space (Espacio) for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists has highlighted Canada’s recommendation to Mexico on the protection of human rights defenders and journalists during the Universal Periodic Review (examen periódico universal) at the United Nations earlier this year.

They have tweeted: “In the recent #UPR2024,#México accepted the recommendation of #Canada regarding the need to strengthen the intersectional and gender perspective in the protection provided by @Mecanismo_MX [Protection Mechanism] to defenders of #humanrights and #journalists in risk.”

The image at the top says: “Recommendations to Mexico regarding human rights defenders and journalists. Strengthen from an intersectional and gender perspective, the federal mechanism for the protection of human rights defenders and journalists, specifically in the areas of prevention, protection, investigation and reparation.”

At the UN UPR session held on January 24 this year, Canada recommended: “29.32 Strengthen, from an intersectional and gender perspective, the federal Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, specifically in the areas of prevention, protection, investigation, and reparation (Canada).”

Prior to this session, Canada had asked Mexico: “How will the new General law to respect, protect, guarantee, and promote the rights of human rights defenders and journalists address key challenges under the current mechanism, including in achieving results, improving federal-state-municipal cooperation, and promoting prevention of violence against human rights defenders and journalists?”

Notably, the response from Mexico included:

  1. As of July 2023, a total of 2,130 persons were benefiting from the services of National Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, 157 and 26 federative entities had at least one law or set of specialized regulations providing for their protection.
  2. In the period 2018-2023, the Mechanism’s budget increased by 138 per cent and, at the end of 2022, its staff had increased by 70 per cent.

The Mechanism

The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has noted that a Protection Mechanism was created for journalists in Autumn 2010. Later, the Law for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists was signed into law in June 2012.

That law obliges both federal and state authorities to protect the rights of journalists and human rights defenders.

PBI-Mexico has commented that “the Mechanism continues to demonstrate notable deficiencies and concerning failures.”

The situation in Mexico

In March 2024, Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) produced the report ‘No one guarantees my safety’ and highlighted that “eight journalists have been killed while enrolled in Mexico’s Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists in the last seven years, a figure that highlights the urgent need to strengthen and reform the institution…”

They further noted: “Since [the year 2000], at least 141 journalists and other media workers have been killed, according to CPJ research; at least 61 of those killings were found to be directly related to their work.”

As to why so many journalists have been killed, they responded: “Most threats and attacks are linked to the country’s ongoing struggle with violent criminal groups, the militarization of the so-called ‘war on drugs’ and the failure of law enforcement agencies to keep journalists and the public safe amid alleged corruption.”

The situation in Canada

A survey of journalists and media workers in Canada conducted by the polling firm Ipsos between September 27 and October 13, 2021, found that “72% experienced some form of harassment in the past year” and “just over one in ten of those who have experienced online harassment have received a death threat in the course of their work; nearly as many received threats against their family, were threatened with blackmail, or were threatened with rape or sexual assault.”

In August 2022, CTV reporter Judy Trinh reported: “[The Canadian Association of Journalists/CAJ] says there was an increase in online abuse and hate directed at reporters during the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa [that took place from January 22 to February 23, 2022]. Now that the protests have fizzled, the CAJ says the attacks have morphed into what appears to be a coordinated online campaign directed at women journalists, especially those who are persons of colour.”

In December 2023, Unifor, a union that represents more than 10,000 media workers in Canada, noted: “Unifor conducted a survey in late 2021 to early 2022 to document experiences of harassment journalists faced. Women, journalists of colour and 2SLGBTQIA+ people were disproportionately targeted for harassment.”

The situation for environmental journalists in both countries

On May 2, 2024, the day prior to World Press Freedom Day, The Guardian reported: “At least 749 environmental journalists have faced violence and intimidation in the last 15 years, [the United Nations body UNESCO found]. It said that 44 reporters were murdered between 2009 and 2023 but that resulted in just five convictions.”

In Canada, journalist Brandi Morin was grabbed and threatened with arrest by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) C-IRG officer Jason Charney on August 15, 2023, while Morin was reporting on an Indigenous-led blockade against the logging of old growth forest at Fairy Creek on Pacheedaht territory in British Columbia.

The online news outlet The Narwhal and photojournalist Amber Bracken have also filed a lawsuit against the RCMP for the violation of their Charter rights when Bracken was arrested and detained while covering the enforcement of an injunction on Wet’suwet’en territory in November 2021. That civil lawsuit against the RCMP is expected to start later this year on October 15 in Vancouver.

And in Mexico, this would include Indigenous Náhuatl environmental activist Samir Flores Soberanes, founder of Community Radio Amiltzinko 100.7 FM and a member of the PBI-Mexico accompanied Peoples’ Front in Defence of Land and Water (FPDTA), who was murdered on February 21, 2019, for his opposition to the PIM megaproject.

PBI-Canada will continue to work with PBI-Mexico and Espacio OSC to highlight the need to protect frontline human rights defenders and journalists who face threats, harassment and being killed due to their work.

Further reading: Turning the Tide on Impunity: Protection and Access to Justice for Journalists and Human Rights Defenders in Mexico (March 2019).

PBI-Kenya supports call for police accountability following the deaths of more than 40 people at recent protests

By
Brent Patterson
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Video still: Reuters news report, July 16, 2024.

The BBC reports: “Kenya’s police chief [Inspector General] Japhet Koome has resigned [on Friday July 12], following weeks of violent protests against proposed tax hikes in which more than 40 people died. Human rights groups have accused police of shooting dozens of protestors, some of them fatally, and abducting or arbitrarily arresting hundreds more. …Mr Koome’s resignation has been welcomed by Kenyans, yet police officers who caught on film firing at protesters remain at large.”

Reuters adds: “[Some activists] have also accused police of using excessive force and abducting dozens of people as they tried to stop the protests. …The body of Denzel Omondi, a protester who disappeared during the demonstrations, was discovered last week in a quarry outside the capital Nairobi, Amnesty International said. It called for an independent investigation into his death.”

On July 16, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) said that at least 50 people had been killed in the protests over the past four weeks, that 413 people have been injured, 682 have been arbitrarily detained and 59 have been abducted or are missing in connection with the protests.

Now a statement signed by the Civic Freedoms Forum and the Police Reforms Working Group-Kenya (whose members include Amnesty International Kenya, Peace Brigades International Kenya and others) have criticized the 2014 Security Laws Amendment Act that gives the President sole authority to nominate the [Inspector General/police chief] for parliamentary vetting, bypassing the National Police Service Commission.

The groups highlight: “This change continues to undermine police independence, accountability and the spirit of the constitution. It has fueled widespread and systemic police corruption, extortion, criminality, widespread human rights violations and lack of public accountability.”

They call for the competitive recruitment of the next Inspector General.

The statement further notes: “The lack of accountability and the belief that their superiors will protect them emboldens police officers to use unlawful force against protesters and members of the public. To break this cycle, superiors must be held criminally liable in line with the principle of command responsibility… It remains a matter of public concern that no single officer, as yet, has been arrested for the arbitrary arrests, abductions or unlawful killing of Kenyans in recent weeks.”

The full statement can be read at Call For Competitive Recruitment Of The Next Inspector General Of Police (July 17, 2024).

Further reading: PBI-Kenya calls for the release of activists arbitrarily detained before protest against vote on finance bill (June 25, 2024).

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Jennifer Harbury and FAMDEGUA at hearing in the case of Efrain Everardo Bámaca

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Guatemala has posted:

“Today #PBI accompanies Jennifer Harbury and [the Association of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared of Guatemala – FAMDEGUA] to a deposition hearing in Jennifer’s #BámacaCase. Jennifer initiated a search for the whereabouts of her husband, guerrilla leader Efrain Everardo Bámaca, beginning with his disappearance alive in 1992.

At today’s hearing she was to give her anticipated testimony about her search and the results of her investigations to contribute to the legal process against the military who disappeared, tortured and ultimately murdered her husband.

High Risk Court Judge Claudette Dominguez suspended the hearing due to an injunction notified at the beginning of the hearing by the Public Prosecutor, about which no other party to the proceedings has been previously informed.”

Diario de Centro América reports:

“Claudette Domínguez, judge of Mayor Riego “A” has suspended the evidentiary hearing for the disappearance of guerrilla commander Efraín Bámaca Velásquez.

The American citizen and wife of Bámaca Velásquez, later 32 years old, was to testify today in said court, but an injunction filed by Salvador Eduardo Rubio Parra forced the judge to suspend the hearing.

The injunction states that it annuls the actions of the Human Rights Prosecutor of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) in the Bámaca Velásquez case, and prevents further investigations.

Alejandro Axpuac, plaintiff attorney stated, “the injunction is fraudulent and illegal, it goes against the sentence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR)”.

The judge, without prior knowledge of the amparo, denied Axpuac’s request and granted five days to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for a detailed report on the amparo.”

The Guatemalan newspaper Republica further specifies: “As a result of this amparo, the Public Ministry (MP) has a period of 5 days from July 16 to inform the court of the status of the investigation of the Bámaca case.”

Beyond this, Impunity Watch comments: “It is unacceptable that the State of #Guatemala continues to deny #Justice to Jennifer Harbury for the forced disappearance of her husband Efraín Bámaca in 1992. Today Jennifer’s statement was suspended due to a malicious injunction seeking to obstruct the investigation.”

And the Washington, DC and Guatemala-based non-profit organization Guatemala Human Rights Commission (GHRC-USA) posted:

To watch the hearing, go to the Verdad y Justicia en Guatemala Facebook page here.

For more, please see: PBI-Guatemala accompanies FAMDEGUA and Jennifer Harbury at hearing on death of Efrain Bamaca Velasquez (July 16, 2024).

Famdegua repost.

The photo above was taken not long after the disappearance of Bamaca on March 12, 1992; the photo below from today, July 16, 2024.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies FAMDEGUA and Jennifer Harbury at hearing on death of Efrain Bamaca Velasquez

By
Brent Patterson
-

On July 15, PBI-Guatemala posted: “Tomorrow #PBIaccompanies Jennifer Harbury and [the Association of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared of Guatemala] FAMDEGUA Guatemala in the #Bámaca case.”

The Bámaca case refers to Efrain Bamaca Velasquez, an Indigenous Maya-Mam man. In 1990, Bámaca had risen to the rank of commander of the “Luis Ixmata” front of the Revolutionary Organization of People in Arms (ORPA).

He was known as Commandante Everardo.

ORPA along with the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP), the Rebel Armed Forces (FAR), and the National Directing Nucleus of PGT (PGT-NDN) formed the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) during the armed conflict in Guatemala.

Jennifer Harbury refers to the U.S. lawyer who Bamaca met in Guatemala in 1990. They married in September 1991.

On March 12, 1992, Bamaca disappeared after an armed encounter between the ORPA and the Guatemalan military. He was 35-years-old at the time.

Bamaca was tortured for more than a year before he was murdered in September 1993.

Although the U.S. State Department claimed it had no knowledge of Bamaca’s disappearance, documents released in 1995 showed the U.S. government knew he had been taken alive by the Guatemalan army.

In December 2000, after Harbury had launched a case with them, the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) found the Guatemalan military guilty of the disappearance, torture, and execution of Bamaca.

In October 2006, the government of Guatemala apologized for the murder of Bamaca but took no further action.

Harbury has been seeking justice for past 32 years.

On Tuesday July 16 at 8:30 am (Guatemala time) she will testify before a Guatemalan court in what is known now as the Bamaca case.

PBI-Guatemala accompanied FAMDEGUA from 1992 to 1999 and renewed that accompaniment in April 2024.

For more, watch the video Dirty Secrets: Jennifer, Everardo & the CIA in Guatemala. You can also read Bamaca Velásquez v. Guatemala: An Expansion of the Inter-American System’s Jurisprudence on Reparations, History of Guatemala (Impunity Watch) and Everado Bamaca Case (Guatemalan Human Rights Commission).

You may also be interested in this book.

PBI-Honduras accompanies CEHPRODEC on a visit to communities in the municipality of San Esteban in Olancho

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 12, PBI-Honduras posted: “In recent days, we accompanied @Cehprodechn on a visit to communities in the municipality of San Esteban (Olancho). We highlight the tireless work of CEHPRODEC to promote food sovereignty and #agroecology in the communities of the department of #Olancho.”

In October 2019, Defensores en linea reported: “The department of Olancho is formed by 23 municipalities and in most of them concessions for exploration and exploitation have been granted, according to the report ‘The State of Mining in the Department of Olancho’, carried out by the Honduran Center for Development Promotion Community (CEHPRODEC).”

In that article, Carlos Padilla of CEHPRODEC explained: “Mining generates social conflicts, division of the Honduran family and communities, because since they arrive they start talking to them with promises of development and great benefits, but nobody really sees them.”

In September 2022, PBI-Honduras accompanied CEHPRODEC carrying out a census in the municipalities of Gualaco and San Esteban in Olancho. PBI-Honduras commented at that time: “We were able to observe how some communities, their waters, lands and agricultural production are affected by hydroelectric projects.”

In the 9-year period of 2014 to 2022 inclusive, 96 land and environmental defenders were killed in Honduras, according to Global Witness reports.

CEHPRODEC on Canada in Honduras

In September 2022, Donald Hernández, the executive director of CEHPRODEC, participated in a public forum in Kingston, Ontario, Canada co-hosted by Development and Peace animator Kiegan Irish.

Irish writes: “Asked by an audience member what Hondurans thought of Canada, Hernández replied, ‘For those whose lands are stolen and poisoned by mining companies, Canada is synonymous with mining!’”

Between 1998 and 2005, Canada emerged as the leading investor in mining in Honduras. Of the 154 energy and mining concessions granted before a moratorium on new mining concessions in 2006, nearly 100 had been owned by Canadian corporations at one point.

CEHPRODEC mobilized against the General Mining Law that was passed by the Honduran Congress on January 23, 2013.

MiningWatch Canada has explained: “The General Mining Law was developed with technical assistance paid for with Canadian overseas development aid. Its passage in 2013 lifted a seven-year moratorium on any new mining projects.”

It also noted: “This law was developed and passed with strong diplomatic support from the Canadian embassy, and with contributions from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the former Canadian International Development Agency.”

In May 2014, CEHPRODEC contributed to the report titled The Impact of Canadian Mining in Latin America and Canada’s Responsibility that was submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

That report noted:

-“The political and economic support Canada gives Canadian companies (through mechanisms such as Export Development Canada (EDC), the Investment Board of the Canadian Pension Plan, and the Canadian International Development Agency) is provided without adequate controls to prevent the violation of human rights in the countries where the companies that receive these benefits operate.”

-“Trade agreements usually contain clauses on human rights and environmental protection. However, they lack the legal bases to force the parties — and, fundamentally, Canada — to comply with the obligation to respect and guarantee the human rights that are violated in the host countries by the actions of Canadian mining companies.”

The Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement and parallel agreements on labour and environmental cooperation entered into force on October 1, 2014.

PBI-Honduras has accompanied the Honduran Center for the Promotion of Community Development (CEHPRODEC) since May 2014.

Further reading: PBI-Honduras accompanies CEHPRODEC in carrying out census in communities impacted by hydroelectric projects (September 6, 2022), PBI-Honduras accompanies CEHPRODEC as it works to defend the Talgua River and the Sierra de Agalta from logging (May 27, 2022), and PBI-Honduras accompanies CEHPRODEC at meeting with Tolupan peoples protecting ancestral lands from mining (July 13, 2021).

RCMP C-IRG violence not reported in Canada’s voluntary national review on the SDGs to the United Nations

By
Brent Patterson
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Dramatic Video Shows Militarized Canadian Police Raid Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders & Journalists (Democracy Now!, November 24, 2021).

United Nations member states, including Canada, adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 with the target of accomplishing them by 2030.

Sustainable Development Goal 16 promises to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”

Under SDG 16, the International Land Coalition says: “Countries are expected to report on the number of verified cases of killing, kidnapping, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture of human rights defenders (HRD).”

However, they highlight as a crucial concern, in the Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) of 162 countries, only 3 countries reported that at least one HRD had been killed or attacked, 7 countries reported zero cases, and 152 countries did not report at all.

Canada’s VNRs

The Government of Canada has noted: “On July 19, 2023, Canada presented its second Voluntary National Review at the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. The review highlights Canada’s progress, lessons learned and challenges in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at home and abroad since Canada’s first Voluntary National Review in 2018.”

Pages 84 to 86 of the second VNR, covering the period of 2018 to 2023, addresses Sustainable Development Goal 16.

It highlights: “A primary focus of Canada’s efforts in achieving SDG 16 is to advance reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and build a more inclusive society free from racism and discrimination.”

Arbitrary detention of Wet’suwet’en land defenders

While the International Land Coalition says countries are expected to report on the arbitrary detention of human rights defenders, there is no reference in Canada’s voluntary national review to RCMP Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) raids and the arbitrary detention of Wet’suwet’en land defenders.

YintahAccess.com has noted: “In three large-scale police actions in January 2019, February 2020, and November 2021, a total of 74 people have been arrested and detained, including legal observers and members of the media.”

The omission is also notable because Canada has received three letters from the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressing concern about these RCMP C-IRG raids.

The third letter – dated April 29, 2022 – called on Canada to: “Prevent and duly investigate the allegations of surveillance measures, practices of arbitrary detention, instances of excessive use of force against protesters, in particular those belonging to the Secwepemc and Wet’suwet’en peoples, by the RCMP, CIRG, and private security firms.”

Significantly, a report on the RCMP C-IRG raids released by Amnesty International Canada in December 2023 found that: “Wet’suwet’en land defenders and their supporters were arbitrarily arrested for defending their land and exercising their Indigenous rights and their right to freedom of peaceful assembly.”

Next steps

The report A Crucial Gap 2023 published by the Alliance for Land, Indigenous and Environmental Defenders makes seven recommendations including: “Reporting agencies and bodies must make the work of … land, environmental and indigenous human rights defenders, more visible, highlighting the issues and challenges involved in this work and evaluating how existing supports to these groups can be improved.”

It appears in its most recent Voluntary National Review, the Government of Canada has not yet done this.

The current United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development will conclude this Wednesday July 17.

The abuse of process hearing on allegations of RCMP C-IRG violence and the arbitrary detention of land defenders at the time of the November 2021 raid on Wet’suwet’en territory is expected to resume on September 3 to 11 in Smithers, British Columbia.

A systemic investigation of the RCMP C-IRG by the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) launched on March 9, 2023 is ongoing with no completion date in sight. The most recent investigation update from the independent federal agency was posted in November 2023, almost eight months ago.

#HLPF2024 #SDG16

PBI-Kenya accompanied Kayole Community Justice Centre calls for ratification of International Convention on enforced disappearances

By
Brent Patterson
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In its most recent e-newsletter, PBI-Kenya notes:

“Perpetua Kariuki, human rights defender from Kayole Community Justice Centre, and Bernard Gachie of PBI Kenya embarked on an advocacy tour across Europe to highlight the state of human rights in Kenya. Their journey took them through Switzerland, The Netherlands and Germany, where they engaged in crucial discussions on enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions.

A central objective of their tour was to advocate for the ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. This treaty is crucial as it provides a framework to prevent enforced disappearances, ensure accountability for perpetrators, and provide justice and reparations for victims. Kenya signed the treaty in 2007 but has yet to ratify it.”

The full text of the Treaty can be read here.

Among the countries that have ratified the Convention are Germany and Spain (September 2009), the Netherlands (March 2011) and Switzerland (December 2016).

Canada urged to ratify the Convention

Canada has neither signed nor ratified this International Convention that came into effect almost 14 years ago on December 23, 2010.

In March of this year, the Canadian Press reported that an interim report from the International Commission on Missing Persons, based in The Hague, recommends the Canada ratify the United Nations International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED).

In March 2023, Catherine Morris and Rebekah Smith commented: “Since 2017, Canada has been urged to become a State Party to the ICPPED.”

They add: “That year, Canadian federal, provincial, and territorial ministers ‘agreed to pursue discussions on the possibility of Canada becoming a party’ to the ICPPED. In 2018, Canada reaffirmed this intention during its third Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the UN Human Rights Council. So far there is no timeline for completion of necessary consultations among federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal officials.”

One of the reasons Canada has not signed the Convention could be due to the high number of forcibly disappeared Indigenous peoples in this country.

In Canada, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their parents and sent to at least 139 state-funded “residential schools” operated by churches starting in 1883 as part of a genocidal campaign of forced assimilation.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are implicated in the forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families. Painting by Kent Monkman.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada documented the deaths of 3,201 children at these residential schools, but its chair Justice Murray Sinclair has stated that 6,000 children may have died in them, while Cindy Blackstock and Pam Palmater have estimated that more than 12,000 children died in them.

Morris and Smith state: “Canada’s pattern of failure to ensure effective and timely remedies for disappearances of Indigenous persons may amount to acquiescence in international crimes of enforced disappearance. Canada’s international law obligations require urgent steps to end official inaction and complicity.”

We also note that while Colombia (July 2012), Honduras (April 2008) and Mexico (March 2008) have ratified the Convention, Guatemala (February 2007) and Indonesia (September 2010) have only signed it. Nicaragua and Nepal have neither signed nor ratified the Convention.

We continue to follow this in all countries where PBI has a presence.

States not reporting on attacks against human rights defenders undermines Sustainable Development Goal 16

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: SDG Goal 16 is to be reviewed at the 2024 SDG High Level Political Forum taking place from July 8-17 at the UN in New York City.

United Nations member states adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 with the target of accomplishing them by 2030.

Sustainable Development Goal 16 promises to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”

Indicator 16.10.1 measures: “Number of verified cases of killing, kidnapping, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture of journalists, associated media personnel, trade unionists and human rights advocates in the previous 12 months.”

The International Land Coalition says: “Countries are expected to report on the number of verified cases of killing, kidnapping, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture of human rights defenders (HRD).”

Their statement continues: “The official SDG Indicator data base reports 2,653 killings of HRD since 2015 and another 133 enforced disappearances.”

However, they highlight, in the Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) of 162 countries, only 3 countries reported that at least one HRD had been killed or attacked, 7 countries reported zero cases, and 152 countries did not report at all.

The 22-page report A Crucial Gap 2023 discusses “the limits to official data on attacks against defenders and why it’s concerning.”

That report makes seven recommendations including: 1) States must develop and sustain mechanisms that collect and report data on attacks against HRDs, using this information to inform more effective policies and protection mechanisms to reduce attacks on these defenders, and 2) Reporting agencies and bodies must make the work of particularly vulnerable groups, including land, environmental and indigenous human rights defenders, more visible, highlighting the issues and challenges involved in this work and evaluating how existing supports to these groups can be improved.

The report also recommends: “Globally, it is essential to develop a database in line with 16.10.1 that captures – in a safe, participatory and inclusive way – the verified cases of killings, threats against and attacks on HRDs, especially defenders of land, environmental and indigenous peoples’ rights, with data generated by diverse actors at many levels.”

International processes and the protection of HRDs

PBI-Canada is following several international processes in relation to their commitments to HRDs including the Binding Treaty on business and human rights negotiations (October 21-25), the COP16 biodiversity conference (October 26-November 1) and the COP29 climate conference (November 11-24).

All these processes prompt concern.

While the Binding Treaty text may be the most inclusive, it is also being opposed by states including Canada, HRDs were only briefly mentioned in the COP15 biodiversity text, and there was no mention in the COP28 climate text.

While Indicator 16.10.1 of the SDGs specifies “human rights advocates”, we see the undermining of this measure when states fail to report on this through their Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs).

We continue to follow this.

Further reading: Will COP16 in Colombia strengthen Target 22 and spark text at COP30 in Brazil to protect environmental defenders? (PBI-Canada, May 22, 2024).

#HLPF2024 #SDG16

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