On April 29, CREDHOS tweeted:
“We continue on the tour with the community of the corregimiento el Guayabo, municipality of Puerto Wilches, carrying out the verification and registration of the environmental effects on the wetlands that are presented in it.
#CredhosIsTerritory #CredhosIsPeace #CredhosIsDignity”
The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has accompanied the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) since 1994.
PBI-Colombia accompanied organizations – including the Association for Research and Social Action (Nomadesc), Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP) and the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR) – in collaboration with Amnesty International continue to call for police for on the second anniversary of the start of the National Strike.
Their joint statement says:
“Legitimate social expression was met with police violence and multiple human rights violations, such as the criminalization of peaceful protest and racial profiling. In figures reported by organizations such as the Campaign to Defend Freedom Subject of All, 89 homicides were documented, 1,929 people injured, 116 eye injuries, 343 attacks on human rights defenders and 106 complaints of gender-based violence.”
“The high number of victims is compounded by the high level of impunity. According to data from the Attorney General’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office, of the complaints received for abuses of authority, only 1.34% are under investigation, 4.2% in trial, 0.54% in execution of sentence, 0.02% in early termination and only 0.7% of cases have been issued rulings.”
“In the last year, the Police and the Ministry of Defense have promoted a process of transformation of the ESMAD towards the consolidation of the UNDMO (National Unit for Dialogue and Maintenance of Order), once again, without counting on civil society and victims of police violence to establish dialogues and generate proposals in a joint and binding manner. This has led the new Unit to retain structural problems.”
“We call on the National Government to publicly recognize the acts committed during the National Strike by the Public Force, and likewise to be responsible for establishing routes of attention and accompaniment for the victims of police violence throughout the country, to advance actions for their reparation and for the non-repetition of events that may put at risk the life and integrity of the Colombian population, especially those that deserve special constitutional protection.”
The call for police reform
Amnesty International highlights:
“This cannot be allowed to happen again. That’s why Colombian civil society organizations, survivors of the violence, and Amnesty International joined together to urgently call for far-reaching changes! Our reform proposal would demilitarize the police, change their functions, strengthen citizen control, and put human rights guarantees at the core of policing.”
By clicking here, you can send this message to the Colombian government:
Dear President Petro and Minister Velásquez,
“We urge your office to initiate structural reform of the police with the participation of Colombian civil society.
The Police Reform Roundtable, a group made up of Colombian civil society organizations, has worked in coordination with victims and regional allies to develop a proposal for police reform that must be central to the creation of a police force that respects the human rights of all. The participation of this coalition in the reform process must be ensured.”
The full statement from Colombian organizations can be read at A dos años del estallido social de 2021 ¡Exigimos una reforma policial ya!
#Today Two years after #NationalStrike2021 Colombian organizations and platforms continue to demand #truth and #justice about the violations of #humanrights that occurred against the protesters in addition to #PoliceReform that provides guarantees for peaceful social protest
On April 28, PBI-Colombia tweeted:
“We accompany @Justiciaypazcol [Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace] in the Alto Guayabal humanitarian reserve for an exercise to strengthen Embera-Eyabida women’s organizations in the framework of JEP [Special Jurisdiction for Peace] order 175, which decrees precautionary measures in favor of the indigenous communities of the area.”
PBI-Colombia has accompanied Justice and Peace since 1994.
On April 28, PBI-Colombia tweeted:
“We accompany @Credhos_Paz in the El Guayabo community, in the process of organizational strengthening in the face of various problems that they present and in the identification of environmental and sociopolitical affectations in the area, derived from omissions of the institutions.”
This follows the CREDHOS tweet that stated:
“#Credhos in the corregimiento El Guayabo, of Puerto Wilches, an agenda is being developed with legal and psychosocial support for these communities in the face of various problems that they present and sociopolitical affectations to which they are exposed. #CredhosIsPeace”
PBI-Colombia has accompanied CREDHOS since 1994.
Photo: Wilps Gwininitxw member Ankhla Jennifer Zyp, a spokesperson for her mother, Simogyet Gwininitxw (in photo above), says: “We’re worried, for sure, that we’re going to be met with the same violence [as the Wet’suwet’en].”
Canada’s First Nations Radio CFNR reports: “RCMP leadership continue to review the Gitxsan Huwilp Government’s proposed Military Armistice Agreement. Originally presented on April 25, the proposal sees a request to limit the RCMP’s controversial Community Industry Response Group’s activity on their territory.”
The article adds: “That draft agreement limits the number of RCMP officers allowed on Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en territory to 9 officers. While no agreement has been made, [the Gitxsan Huwilp Government] says the RCMP is continuing to review the proposal.”
Pipelines coming to Gitxsan territory
Amanda Follett Hosgood of The Tyee has reported that three pipelines – the TC Energy Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline and the Enbridge Pacific Trail and Westcoast Connector pipelines – have their environmental assessment certificates, “a blanket authorization allowing the pipelines to move forward”.
The article further highlights: “Among the territories that the three pipelines would cross are Wet’suwet’en yintah and Gitxsan laxyip. …The Gwininitxw Indigenous Protected Area, 170,000 hectares encompassing pristine wilderness that includes important wildlife habitat, unique wild salmon populations and Indigenous cultural heritage, [is] just upstream from the proposed route of two pipelines…”
The Globe and Mail has also previously reported: “Wilps Gwininitxw said in a statement that the protected territories are upstream from two proposed gas pipelines that would affect salmon-bearing rivers and streams: the [TC Energy] Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Project and the [Enbridge] Westcoast Connector Gas Transmission Project.”
RCMP rejects ban on C-IRG on Gitxsan territory
On March 9, the Terrace Standard reported: “Gitxsan hereditary chiefs issued a notice this week prohibiting the RCMP’s ‘militarized squadron’ called the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) from Gitxsan lands centered on the Hazelton area.”
Their notice reads: “While we embrace safety measures for our community, the militarized squadron of the RCMP [the C-IRG] funded to the tune of $50M, have been sent to terrorize our people at the barrel of a gun during peaceful protests and blockades.”
Gitxsan Hereditary Chief Brian Williams says: “We don’t want the C-IRG army back on our territory again.”
By March 16, the CBC reported: “The RCMP says it will not commit to respecting a Gitxsan hereditary chiefs’ decision banning the Mounties’ Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) from unceded lands in northwest B.C.”
$36 million to the C-IRG
On March 29, MLA Adam Olsen raised concerns in the Legislature about news reports that the C-IRG will be receiving $36 million in provincial government funding.
In response to Olsen’s question, Solicitor General and Minister of Public Safety Mike Farnworth replied: “That $36 million is over three years. It is based on an average that we have spent in this province over the last number of years in terms of dealing with the enforcement of court ordered injunctions. …So as part of the budget process, we have to ensure that there is money in place to do just that. We put in place an average of what has been spent over the last number of years, and that is a three-year sum that the member is talking about. It works out to about — I think last year, it was around $11 million.”
This suggests the provincial government is budgeting in anticipation of further C-IRG actions against land defenders as have been seen on Wet’suwe’ten territory (where the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline is being built), Pacheedaht and Dididaht territories (logging by Teal Jones), Sinixt territory (logging by Cooper Creek Cedar) and Secwepemc territory (where the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline is being built).
Abolish the C-IRG
In this letter released by the Abolish C-IRG coalition, Secwepemc, Sinixt, Wet’suwet’en, Gidimt’en and Unist’ot’en communities have called for the abolition of the C-IRG.
We continue to follow this.
Photo: The Abolish C-IRG letter delivered to the Prime Minister’s Office, April 19.
On April 26, PBI-Mexico tweeted:
“Today #PBI accompanies the defender and indigenous communicator Miguel López Vega, in the new imputation hearing.
We call on the national and international community in light of the prosecution actions against them, which hinder their legitimate work in defense of #human rights.”
They also posted on Facebook:
“Today we accompany the new hearing of imputation against the indigenous defender and communicator Miguel Lopez Vega. After more than three years of being acquitted for lack of evidence, its process has been reactivated and contrasted with the zero advances the research has on the wastewater drainage project of the Textile City Industrial Park, with which the river is polluting What a surprise.
From PBI we express concern and call on the national and international community to the trial of Miguel Lopez, member of the Front of Peoples in Defense of Land and Water Morelos-Puebla-Tlaxcala (FPDTA-MPT). These actions hinder their legitimate work of defense and contribute to their stigmatization and criminalization. We call on the Mexican authorities to recognize and protect the important work of the people defending the territory in Mexico.”
Front Line Defenders has explained:
“Miguel López Vega is a Community Representative of the Nahua community of Santa María Zacatepec, a community broadcaster of Radio Zacatepec, councillor of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and member of the People’s Front in Defence of Land and Water of Puebla, Morelos and Tlaxcala (FPDTA-PMT).
FPDTA-PMT works together with Nahua communities in the states of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala to protect the rights of the 22 communities affected by several mega-development projects in the area.
As a community representative of the town of Santa María Zacatepec, he has worked to protect the Metlapanapa River which is at risk of being contaminated by discharge of wastewater from the Huejotzingo Textile City industrial park. He also advocates for the right of indigenous communities to self-determination.”
April 26 court hearing
Most recently El Sol de Puebla reported:
“In his case, [López Vega] said that in the past, the State Water and Sanitation Commission of Puebla (CEAS) granted him forgiveness for the alleged crimes that accused him in January of [2020], when he participated in a movement that prevented companies from Ciudad Textil, located in Huejotzingo, from discharging their waste into the Metlapanapa River.
That led him to jail for a few days and from that time to date, he faces his process on conditional release. However, in the last hearing CEAS granted the pardon and it was assumed that the alleged crimes of obstruction of work and attack on means of transport would be null and void.”
After his hearing on April 26, Info Quorum reported:
“Miguel López Vega triumphed over the state government of Puebla that for three years criminalized him for his defense of water and territory in the region of Juan C. Bonilla, where the environmentalist and community broadcaster is from.
In a strenuous hearing that lasted more than six hours … at the House of Justice of Cholula, Miriam Huerta Lechuga, judge of Criminal Orality and Execution Judicial Region Center-West determined that there was no evidence or the crimes of obstruction of work, damage to communication routes and damage to a vehicle with a Molotov bomb, of which the State Water and Sanitation Commission of Puebla (CEASPUE) accused him since 2020.”
Frente de Pueblos video still.
PBI-Mexico began accompanying the Peoples’ Front in Defence of Land and Water (@fpdtampt) in early 2020.
On April 25, CREDHOS posted:
“CREDHOS accompanied the day of mobilization for the rejection of the murder of the minor Juan Sebastian, in the Corregimiento de Puente Sogamoso, municipality of Puerto Wilches.
Faced with this action that took the life of a minor, innocent of these dynamics of the armed conflict, the communities were organized symbolically and expressed their demand for safe and peaceful territories for the population in general.
Credhos is in solidarity with the community and joins this demand, expressing the need for a ceasefire and hostilities in the territory.”
Caracol Radio has also reported:
“An 11-year-old child [was shot] in the middle of a confrontation between criminal gangs in the municipality of Puerto Wilches, Santander.
The minor who was hit by a stray bullet, died while being transferred to a health center in Barrancabermeja.
The boy who was identified as Juan Sebastian Cossio was outside his home when he was hit by the stray bullet.”
PBI-Colombia has accompanied the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) since 1994.
On April 26, PBI-Honduras posted:
“Last week we accompanied the CNTC [National Union of Rural Workers] Regional Progreso, to visit some peasant bases in the Guanchías sector. The bases, Nuevo Esfuerzo and Agua Blanca are in the process of recovering national lands with active procedures at the National Agrarian Institute.
Nuevo Esfuerzo is in great vulnerability and can only harvest in dry weather, as it is located in flooded lands of the Ulúa River and in the rainy months remains submerged in water, this makes them lose crops year after year and live in constant uncertainty of when the next full year will come.
The Agua Blanca Base is located on land that another peasant base ceded to them because it was idle land on which they already had title, but a company claims it as theirs. The base has had repeated security incidents in recent months.
We support the efforts of the CNTC Regional Progreso in continuing to form companies and peasant bases for the good use and distribution of land, with the ultimate goal of providing them with the food and livelihood necessary to have a dignified life.”
The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has accompanied the National Union of Rural Workers (CNTC) since May 2018.
The CNTC is affiliated with the Unified Confederation of Honduran Workers (CUTH) which in turn is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), along with 150+ labour organizations including the Canadian Labour Congress.
Photo: MaxDefense Philippines.
The Lockheed Martin annual meeting takes place this Thursday April 27.
A resolution has been put forward by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, the School Sisters of Notre Dame Cooperative Investment Fund, and the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica.
Their resolution requests: “Lockheed Martin publish a report, at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary information, with the results of Human Rights Impact Assessments examining the actual and potential human rights impacts associated with high-risk products and services, including those in conflict-affected areas and/or or violating international law.”
It highlights: “Lockheed Martin is the world’s largest defense contractor and is exposed to significant actual and potential adverse human rights impacts resulting from the use of its weapons and defense technologies.”
And it notes: “A company’s human rights responsibility is independent of the state’s export licensing determinations, as reiterated in a recent United Nations note.”
F-16s sold to the Philippines
One of the human rights concerns it specifies is: “In 2021, Lockheed sold nearly $2.43 billion of F-16s to the Philippines, despite congressional opposition related to widespread human rights violations carried out by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.”
Black Hawk helicopters sold to the Philippines
In February 2022, Lockheed Martin also announced: “PZL Mielec, a Lockheed Martin company has signed a contract award with the Philippine Department of National Defense (DND) to manufacture 32 additional S-70i Black Hawk utility helicopters for the Philippine Air Force.”
Lockheed Martin rejects proposal for human rights impact assessments
The Board of Directors of Lockheed Martin has responded to the resolution by stating: “The Proposal is Impractical, Disruptive and Harmful to Shareholder Value.”
Philippines at CANSEC
About 50 international delegations will participate at CANSEC this year.
While CANSEC does not make the list of participating countries public, we do know that Philippines has previously participated at CANSEC.
On June 1, 2017, the Philippine Embassy in Canada posted on Facebook: “Defense Assistant Secretary for Plans and Programs Teodoro Cirilo Torralba III leads the Philippine delegation attending CANSEC held in Ottawa from 31 May to 1 June 2017.”
That post adds: “The Canadian Commercial Corporation, a Canadian government corporation, invited and hosted the Philippine Delegation.”
The Canada Commercial Corporation and CANSEC
In May 2018, the National Post reported: “The Crown corporation [CCC] that helped broker the controversial sales of Canadian military equipment to Saudi Arabia and to the ‘Madman of the Philippines’ gets a cut of the proceeds, prompting critics to warn it has little incentive to scale back its involvement in lucrative arms deals despite a government order to do so.”
That article adds: “The Ottawa-based CCC, which helps Canadian exporters get contracts with foreign governments, came under fire in February after the media learned the corporation had brokered a $234-million deal to sell 16 Bell 412 helicopters to the military of the Philippines.”
It also noted: “’When the Canadian Commercial Corporation is involved in arms deals there often seems to be a lack of rigour when it comes to human rights concerns,’ Alex Neve, secretary general for Amnesty International Canada, has said. For instance, the CCC raised no red flags about the Philippine helicopter deal, though Duterte once boasted he had thrown a man to his death from a helicopter and warned he would do the same to corrupt government workers.”
Protest CANSEC, May 31
Lockheed Martin (Booth 1311), the Government of Canada/Canada Commercial Corporation (Booth 225) and Bell Textron (Booth 113) will be at CANSEC this year.
It’s possible another delegation from Philippines will be there too.
To learn more about the protest against CANSEC, click here.
#ShutDownCANSEC
Photo: Mayor Mark Sutcliffe.
Despite concerns about transnational corporations profiting from war, human rights violations and environmental harm, Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is welcoming the CANSEC weapons show to Ottawa this coming May 31-June 1.
Sutcliffe writes: “On behalf of Members of Ottawa City Council, it is my distinct pleasure to extend a warm welcome to all those participating in CANSEC, presented by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI).”
He adds: “CANSEC provides a valuable forum for federal defence, military, business and international stakeholders, in addition to first responders, border and security agencies to convene, network, and learn more about the latest cutting-edge technologies, products and services designed for land-based, naval, aerospace, and joint forces military units.”
Sutcliffe concludes: “Allow me to offer my best wishes to everyone in attendance for a productive and rewarding gathering, as well as a most enjoyable stay in Ottawa.”
THE COMPANIES MAYOR SUTCLIFFE IS WELCOMING
Among the 280+ exhibitors that will be at CANSEC:
Elbit Systems Ltd. (implicated in manufacturing the bullet that killed Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh),
Raytheon Technologies (that builds the missiles that will arm Canada’s new Lockheed Martin F-35 warplanes),
BAE Systems (that builds the Typhoon fighter jets Saudi Arabia uses to bomb Yemen),
L3Harris Technologies (whose drone technology is used for border surveillance and targeting laser guided missiles),
Bell Textron (that sold helicopters to the Philippines in 2018 even though its president once boasted he had thrown a man to his death from a helicopter and warned he would do the same to corrupt government workers),
Colt Canada (that sells C8 carbine rifles to the RCMP, including the rifles used by the controversial C-IRG unit against Wet’suwet’en land defenders),
Lockheed Martin (that has annual contracts worth $1.9 billion in nuclear weapons contracts,10 which are now illegal under international law).
OTTAWA AND ARMX/CANSEC
The precursor to CANSEC was ARMX.
In the 1980s that arms show was held at Lansdowne Park.
In April 1989, Ottawa City Council voted to stop the ARMX arms show taking place at Lansdowne Park and other City owned properties.
By 2009, Councillors Eli El-Chantiry and Rick Chiarelli led a successful effort to overturn that prohibition.
At that time, Councillor Clive Doucet said that it was “a blight on our history” to allow weapons fairs in our cities.
And Councillor Alex Cullen stated that he wanted the City to maintain its ban on arms shows to “promote peace and respect for human rights, and seek to avoid associating with activities that promote and profit from the business of war.”
#SHUTDOWNCANSEC
For more on the upcoming mobilization against CANSEC on May 31, please see this World Beyond War webpage.
Peace Brigades International – Canada supports human-rights defenders by providing protective accompaniment and amplifying their voices internationally.
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