Home Blog Page 245

PBI-Honduras observes World Water Day demonstration in front of the National Congress building in Tegucigalpa

By
Brent Patterson
-

On March 23, PBI-Honduras posted on Facebook:

““The only thing you can’t produce is water” “Commoners have to be on the lands, not in jails” [These are] quotes heard yesterday, World Water Day, in a demonstration in front of the National Congress of Honduras.

PBI observed the call of 4 communities, Indigenous Lenca community lands of the father, the Laboriosos Indians of Suyapa, the communards of Támara and San Matías, demanding the recognition of their ancestral rights over the land and the repeal of the “drinking water and sanitation sector framework” law.

We remember that access to water is a fundamental right, it is indispensable for a worthy life and for the fulfillment of other rights such as the right to life.“

Timeline of water legislation

The World Bank has noted: “In 2003, Honduras passed the Drinking Water and Sanitation Sector Framework Law mandating  decentralization of SANAA [National Autonomous Water and Sewerage Service] and transfer of its assets to the municipalities by October 2008. This law, referred to as the Ley Marco [or Framework Law], required municipalities to set up autonomous service providers.”

PBI-Honduras has previously explained: “In the midst of the post-coup political crisis [around 2009], the Honduran National Congress approved the General Water Law, which opened the possibility of ceding the country’s water resources to third parties.”

On July 28, 2010, Honduras voted at the United Nations General Assembly in favour of the recognition of the human right to water and sanitation.

Both ENDS has commented: “In 2013, Honduras incorporated the right to water in the national constitution. This is a promising step on paper, yet its implementation and enforcement in practice is weak.”

GFA Consulting adds: “In March 2020, the General Directorate of Water Resources of the Ministry of the Environment in Honduras thanked the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) for its contribution to the consolidation of the legal and regulatory framework regarding the institutionalization of the country’s General Water Law.”

And as noted above, in March 2022, PBI-Honduras observed communities outside the National Congress calling for “the repeal of the drinking water and sanitation sector framework law (“la derogación de la ley marco del sector agua potable y saneamiento”).

We will continue to follow this and develop a stronger understanding of the water governance issues in Honduras.

PBI-Colombia accompanies the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó on its 25th anniversary

By
Brent Patterson
-

On March 23, the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó tweeted: “#25añosdeCDP [25 years of the community of peace] On this anniversary we walk for life and the right to territory. We walk accompanied by Embassies and communities from other regions of the country and the world.”

PBI-Colombia has also tweeted: “Today #23M we commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. The @cdpsanjose built their life project resisting the armed conflict for 25 years #Colombia. In the midst of impunity and lack of protection, they are an example of dignity, memory and resistance.”

The Peace Community is located more than 700 kilometres northwest of Bogota in the mountainous northern region in the department of Antioquia.

Yes! Magazine has reported: “On March 23, 1997, Brígida Gonzáles, 69, along with the others who decided to stay, founded the Comunidad de Paz de San José de Apartadó. This ‘Peace Community’ declared itself neutral in the conflict, pledging not to get involved in any way—from acting as informants to cultivating illicit crops—and asked to be left in peace.”

PBI-Colombia began accompanying the Peace Community in 1999.

PBI-Colombia says: “PBI will stand by the Community in this dignified struggle until they have security guarantees and the life they long for and deserve.”

PBI highlights concerns about the collapse of the justice system in Guatemala at UN Human Rights Council

By
Brent Patterson
-

On March 22, Peace Brigades International made an oral intervention at the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The intervention by Kim-Mai Vu noted:

“In Guatemala, we are alarmed by the loss of all progress in the fight against corruption and impunity achieved in the last 25 years.

It’s practically the rule of law has been dismantled and all the entities guarantors of rights. The work of anti-corruption judges and prosecutors is systematically obstructed and professional and ethical justice operators harassed, forced into exile or wrongly imprisoned.

The selection process for the new Attorney General is currently taking place.

We call on this Council to demand that the President of Guatemala prevent his re-election of the current Attorney General and demand that the person selected be a person independent of political power and that promotes equal justice for all.

The collapse of the justice system translates directly into threats and risks for defenders. In 2021, more than 1,000 attacks against defenders, largely against those who defend the land, territory and environment.

The case of the Solway company is one of the many examples where human rights defenders confront the improper use of the penal system by private actors to silence social protest.

We call on this Council to monitor the human rights situation in Guatemala and demand that its government develop a Public Policy for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, and not using the NGO Law, which has just entered into force, as an instrument of persecution of the defense of rights.”

The video of this presentation can be seen here (at the 1:31:45 mark).

PBI-Colombia accompanies CCAJAR lawyers’ collective at humanitarian caravan forum in Arauca

By
Brent Patterson
-

On March 22, PBI-Colombia tweeted: “PBI accompanies CCAJAR [the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective] at the #caravanahumanitaria [humanitarian caravan] for life, peace and permanence in the territory in #Arauca, where organizations defending #DDHH [human rights] and victims meet to propose measures and guarantees in the face of armed conflict. Urgent #AcuerdosHumanitarios [humanitarian accords].”

PBI-Colombia has also tweeted: “#SOSArauca 36 international civil society organizations support #CaravanaHumanitaria and #ForoDDHH [human rights forum] for life, peace and permanence in the territory #Arauca between March 21 and 25. #garantías [guarantees] and #AcuerdosHumanitarios are required to end a humanitarian crisis.”

DiPaz has also explained: “The caravan route begins on Monday, March 21 to reach Yopal (Casanare), continues to Tame, Saravena, Fortul, Arauquita and will reach Arauca (Capital) on March 23 at 5 pm.”

Arauca is the capital of the department of Arauca which is located in eastern Colombia on the border with Venezuela.

Telesur further reports: “The caravan, which departed from Bogota on Monday afternoon, is comprised of the Colombia-Europe-United States Coordination, which brings together more than 200 human rights and social organizations.”

That article adds: “In a recent interview, Camilo González, director of the Institute for Peace and Development Studies (INDEPAZ), told Prensa Latina that what is happening in Arauca is a dispute over the territory that seems to be, as a first resort, a confrontation between groups of the National Liberation Army (ELN) with residual dissidents from the peace process.”

“[Gonzalez adds] the reality is that there is a border problem there, because it is a strip of land where there are not only armed groups, but also it is an area where there are many interests in the trafficking of products, oil and diverse wealth.”

Prensa Latina also reports: “In view of the serious situation in Arauca and the border with Venezuela, the communities and several organizations in northeastern Colombia are calling for the cessation of hostilities between the armed forces and have also formulated proposals for the transformation of the conflict in the area.”

PBI-Colombia has accompanied CCAJAR lawyers since 1995.

PBI-Colombia accompanies Movement of Victims of State Crime (MOVICE) as DNA samples collected in search for the disappeared

By
Brent Patterson
-

On March 22, PBI-Colombia tweeted: “Today we accompanied @Movicecol Valle de Cauca and the women of #Buenaventura during the collection of DNA samples as part of the search for their loved ones. We accompany with the hope that serious crimes #DesapariciónForzada [forced disappearances] will be clarified so that they are not repeated.”

The Movement of Victims of State Crime (MOVICE) pursues strategies for truth, historical memory, reparations and non-repetition.

As noted on their website: “MOVICE is a movement in which organized groups of victims of State crime converge. From our experience we consider that state crimes are mainly those perpetrated by State agents, or by non-State agents (such as paramilitary groups) acting in complicity with, or whose crimes are tolerated by, the State.”

“We consider that the majority of the crimes against social and popular movements in Colombia are the result of political and economic interests. In this context, this sociopolitical and State violence was not born as a result of the internal armed conflict but is rather a root cause of the conflict.”

And it notes: “MOVICE has adopted a clear political posture that emerged from the crimes committed against the popular and social movement in Colombia, crimes that are the result of a social, political, financial and ideological intention promoted or allowed by the Colombian State and its agents and implemented by paramilitaries groups in favor of the interests of the dominant classes and transnational companies.”

The Attorney General’s Office in Colombia has stated that there were 84,330 victims who were still disappeared, 10,499 of whom were children.

It also told the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances in April 2021 that the remains of 7,732 individuals had been returned to the families of the victims.

It has also been reported of the 80,472 people forcibly disappeared between 1958 and 2018 (the approximate period of the armed conflict) of which 79,245 were reportedly civilians and only 1,221 were combatants.

A report produced by the National Centre of Historical Memory found that 220,000 Colombians had been killed in the war between 1958 and 2013.

More than 177,300 people, or 80 per cent of those killed, were civilians.

By 2018, the National Centre of Historical Memory stated that more than 260,000 people had died over the 50 years of armed conflict.

For more on PBI-Colombia’s accompaniment process of the MOVICE-Valle del Cauca chapter that began in 2017, please see Self-care as a political project.

Parliamentary consensus in Canada sets stage for billions more in military spending

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: Canadian air force ground crew arms a CF-18 fighter jet while deployed in Iraq.

“The dominant security discourse associated with the militarization of societies is a setback.” – Peace Brigades International

Canada could see a massive spike in military spending when the federal budget is tabled in the House of Commons, likely in the first week of April.

Last week, Defence Minister Anita Anand said: “I personally am bringing forward aggressive options which would see [Canada], potentially, exceeding the two per cent level, hitting the two per cent level, and below the two per cent level.”

Two per cent is the threshold in military spending first set at the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in 2014.

In 2017, the Liberal government promised to increase spending by 70 per cent over a 10 year period. That would mean spending increases from $18.9 billion in 2016/17 to $32.7 billion by 2026/27. In 2020-21, Canada spent about $23.3 billion.

Based on Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020, two per cent of GDP would bring that budget to about $41.6 billion a year.

That could mean a budget increase of about $18.3 billion.

This morning, The Globe and Mail reported: “The New Democrats say they won’t stand in the way of higher military spending to confront the Russian threat as long as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approves billions of dollars in new social programs as part of a deal to prop up the minority Liberal government until June, 2025.”

That article adds: “[NDP leader Jagmeet] Singh said his party would not block purchases of new equipment for the Canadian Armed Forces in the upcoming federal budget, provided it does not come at the expense of the billions in new social spending in areas such as health and dental care that are promised in Tuesday’s deal.”

While the deal agreed to by the Liberal Party and NDP on Tuesday March 22 does not specify numbers, it has been previously estimated that a fully-implemented pharmacare and dental care program could cost about $16.5 billion.

The Globe and Mail article further notes: “The Bloc Québécois has said it won’t oppose defence spending, and the Conservatives are on record favouring a military buildup in the face of Russia’s actions in Ukraine.”

While we have not heard much from the Bloc on the issue of military spending, the party has previously supported the purchase of F-35 fighter jets and in 2010 voted with the Conservatives against a Liberal motion calling for the cancellation of the purchase.

As such, there appears to be a parliamentary consensus that does not challenge militarism despite the nearly $2 trillion a year spent on militaries, disastrous wars or the soaring profits being made by transnational weapons manufacturers.

There is also little parliamentary opposition to Canada spending $76.8 billion on new warplanes and $5 billion on armed drones.

Notably, Canada has spent average of $1.9 billion a year (from 2013-18) on the militarization of its borders while spending $149 million a year over the same period on climate financing to mitigate the impacts of climate change that drive forced migration.

The Breach recently reported that there are hundreds of arms lobbyists in Ottawa and commented: “Lobbyists don’t stop at lobbying for military contracts; rather, they seek to shape the policy priorities to fit the wildly expensive equipment they are hawking.”

In this recent statement, Peace Brigades International has cautioned: “The dominant security discourse associated with the militarization of societies is a setback. Billions more spent on weapons will not make the world safer.”

Stay tuned for more information on an upcoming PBI-Canada webinar on the eve of the CANSEC arms fair in Ottawa that will discuss Canadian arms exports to Colombia and Mexico and the militarization of Dene territory in northern Alberta.

Photo: Canada exported 40 of these military helicopters to Colombia between 1998 and 2000.

PBI-Canada organizes webinar to support PBI-Mexico call-out for new field volunteers

By
Brent Patterson
-

This past Sunday March 20, PBI-Canada and PBI-USA in conjunction with PBI-Mexico organized a webinar to support the call-out for new field volunteers.

You can watch that 1-hour webinar here.

It features Manuel Jabonero with PBI-Mexico interviewed by Ailish Morgan-Welden of the PBI-Canada Board of Directors.

The deadline to apply to be a field volunteer with PBI-Mexico is March 31. That is followed by a training week in June and placements in the field beginning in July-August.

To apply, complete the request form together with three references forms and send to formacion@pbi-mexico.org before March 31.

PBI volunteers commit to a minimum of a year in Mexico in one of the two different working field teams: Chihuahua City, which serves the north of Mexico, and Mexico City, which serves the centre and south of the country.

PBI volunteers live and work together in an office-house, they participate in all PBI work activities (physical accompaniment, advocacy, communications, security and protection training), administrative tasks and internal communications.

C1/C2 level or equivalent of fluency in Spanish is a requirement.

PBI will cover the following expenses: round trip from your country of residence, all work and stay travel expenses (accommodation, meals, medical insurance), monthly financial support of 250 euros per month for personal expenses and a repatriation of 45.00 euros per month worked once your field placement has been completed.

More details can be found at Become a Field Volunteer.

PBI accompanied human rights defenders post World Water Day messages on social media

By
Brent Patterson
-

Today, March 22, is World Water Day.

We present below a compilation of just a few of the World Water Day messages posted to social media by struggles accompanied by Peace Brigades International.

Guapinol River defenders in Honduras

Guapinol Resiste tweeted: “For standing up to protect the water, 8 defenders were illegally detained for 914 days. We recognize your sacrifice and that of your families & community. We promise to continue fighting for a Tocoa without mining because #AguaEsVida [water is life]. #GuapinolResiste #DiaMundialdelAgua2022 [World Water Day 2022].”

CREDHOS in Colombia

CREDHOS tweeted: “#35AñosDefendiendoLaVida [35 years of defending life] Today we continue to defend life and water as our most important wealth, in it lies the sustenance of peasants, fishermen and the inhabitants of Magdalena Medio. #RíoMagdalenaVíctimaDeLaGuerra [Magdalena River victim of the war] #RíoMagdalenaSujetoDeDerechos [Magdalena River has rights].”

Bernardo Caal in Guatemala

“Do not divert and do not pollute the rivers, they give us life.” – Bernardo Caal Xol

Peoples Front in Mexico

The Peoples Front in Defence of Land and Water tweeted: “The #CaravanaPorElAguayLaVida [caravan for water and life] kicks off with a carnival in front of #Altepelmecalli Juan C Bonilla. #NuestraLuchaEsPorLaVida [our struggle is for life]”

COPINH in Honduras

COPINH tweeted: “#DiaMundialDelAgua [World Water Day] ‘Water is life’ and it is the blood that flows in our mother Earth. On this World Water Day, we demand the cancellation of the environmental license and the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project on the Gualcarque River. Free waters, free peoples! #PorLasAguas [for the water] #PorLaVida [for life].”

PBI-Canada participates in World Beyond War virtual screening of ‘Berta didn’t die, she multiplied!’ on March 22

By
Brent Patterson
-

For more on the film screening, click here.

Peace Brigades International-Canada was pleased to participate in the World Beyond War organized screening of ‘Berta didn’t die, she multiplied!’.

The trailer for the film can be seen here.

The field team with the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project began to accompany the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) in May 2016, just a few months after Berta was murdered on March 3 of that year.

PBI generally accompanies six other organizations in Honduras. That includes two other groups that promote the defence of territory and oppose extractive projects (ASODEBICOQ and CEHPRODEC), a group that promotes campesino rights and food sovereignty (CNTC), two LGBTQI+ organizations (ARCOÍRIS and SOMOS CDC), and a group that supports journalists and the right to freedom of expression (ASOPODEHU).

PBI-Honduras has also accompanied OFRANEH at key moments Including the court hearing of Garifuna land defender Leonard Brown earlier this year.

The situation for land defenders

The film cites the Global Witness statistic that 124 land and environmental defenders were killed in Honduras between 2010 and 2017.

The overall safety and security situation for land defenders and water protectors in Honduras continues to be very dangerous.

In 2016, the year Berta was killed, there were 13 other land and environmental defenders killed. In the intervening years – 2017 (5), 2018 (4), 2019 (14), 2020 (17) and 2021 (estimated at 11) – more than 50 land and environmental defenders have been killed.

Seeking justice in the courts

With respect to seeking justice for Berta, our field volunteers have accompanied/been present at the various hearings.

On November 30, 2018, a Honduran court convicted seven men of her murder. More than a year later, on December 3, 2019, those men were sentenced.

In March 2018, David Castillo was charged as an intellectual author of the murder. That trial didn’t begin until April 6, 2021. He was found guilty on July 5, 2021, but has still not been sentenced. Last month, the sentencing for Castillo was scheduled to take place on April 4 (now moved to April 6).

Fraud on the Gualcarque hearings

In August 2021, COPINH was also recognized as a victim in the ‘Fraud on the Gualcarque’ judicial process.

The process is looking at the irregularities in the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project, including acts of corruption in which permits and licences were authorized as well as violations of the Indigenous right to free, prior and informed consent.

On December 9, 2021, the appeal presented by Castillo in the Fraud on the Gualcarque case was denied.

Now, Castillo is seeking amnesty – through a recently passed Amnesty Decree – to be exempted from this corruption hearing. A hearing on that was to take place on March 18, but has been postponed.

Next steps in seeking justice

Last month, Berta’s daughter Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres, now the general coordinator of COPINH, also tweeted: “We will continue to demand the investigation and conviction of the intellectual authors.”

Cáceres family lawyer Víctor Fernández has stated Berta’s family faces “a power structure, the economic structure that murdered Berta Cáceres, who is not only David Castillo, but the company DESA, the national and international financial system that financed and even continues to benefit the entrepreneurs” who benefited from the concession of the hydroelectric dam” on the Gualcarque River sacred to the Lenca people.

The Agua Zarca dam

COPINH continues to seek the revocation of permission for the Agua Zarca dam.

Berta’s daughter Bertha has stated that DESA owns the concession for 50 years meaning it has the right on this until 2059.

She has also highlighted: “They have not given up and apparently have no intention of abandoning the project altogether.”

Canadian foreign policy

On July 30, 2009, about a month after the coup, The Globe and Mail reported: “Canada is still providing training to members of the Honduran army.”

In 2009, Canada provided $16.4 million in official assistance to Honduras. After the coup, that aid has increased to an average of $29 million per year between 2010 to 2016.

By October 2010, Canada and Honduras agreed to launch talks toward a free trade agreement (that then entered into force in October 2014).

Canada (through the Canadian Embassy in Honduras, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade/Global Affairs and the Canadian International Development Agency)  also backed the mining law that was ratified in January 2013.

According to Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Mining Assets (CMAs) in Honduras amounted to $78 million in 2019.

We haven’t seen yet the Canadian government response to the pledge from the new Honduran government under President Xiomara Castro to cancel “the approval of extractive exploitation permits” and to “review, suspension and cancelation” of environmental licenses, permits and concessions that are already in existence.

We have also not seen Canada back the U.S. Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act (or a Canadian version of that legislation) that would suspend funding for police and military forces until the Honduran government investigates and prosecutes human rights violations committed by those security forces.

Support

PBI has a team of field volunteers in Honduras who accompany COPINH and other land, environmental and human rights defenders. One way to support the struggle of COPINH is to consider volunteering to be a volunteer with the PBI project in Honduras.

PBI-Mexico is currently seeking volunteers to accompany human rights defenders, including the Peoples Front in Defence of Land and Water. More on that here.

You can also follow us on Twitter and help to amplify the COPINH struggle and awareness about their security situation.

Secwepemc land defenders struggle against $21.4 billion Trans Mountain pipeline on their territory

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: Screenshot from 13-minute AJ+ video.

There are many costs associated with the Government of Canada-owned Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline being built on unceded Secwepemc territory.

There is the cost of violating the Secwepemc right to free, prior and informed consent. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has called on Canada to halt this project until that consent is secured.

There is the cost of building an 890,000 barrel per day pipeline when the global temperature increase is now at 1.1 degrees Celsius and the UN warns limiting that to 1.5 or even 2 degrees Celsius “will be beyond reach” without immediate action.

There is the cost of the risk to the more than 1,300 rivers (including the Fraser River), streams and other bodies of water the pipeline crosses.

And there is the cost of the harmful impacts once the oil is put on ships for export on the Southern resident killer whales that Trans Mountain says “are justified” because of the pipeline’s “important benefits to Canada.”

There are also financial costs.

The CBC reports that the price tag to build the pipeline has increased from $7.4 billion – when the Trudeau government purchased the project in May 2018 – to $21.4 billion. This price tag was first reported by the Canadian Press on February 20.

Notably, Trans Mountain says that only 20-25 per cent of TMX’s total cost increased would be passed on to oil companies booking space on the pipeline.

Robyn Allan, an independent economist, has stated: “The Trans Mountain expansion is not commercially viable. It is not going to return to Canadians as if it was a sound investment. This is a huge taxpayer burden that we’re facing.”

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has told reporters that the government has engaged BMO Capital Markets and TD Securities for financial advice on the project and have been assured the project remains commercially viable.

Oil companies continue to back the project.

Suncor Energy Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Little says: “We remain fully supportive of this world-class infrastructure project which is vital to Canada’s long-term economic success and energy security.”

Cenovus Energy Inc. CEO Alex Pourbaix also comments: “While no one wants to see cost increases, they are often a fact of life with projects of this size and in this case were largely beyond Trans Mountain’s control.”

As of February 2020, the expansion was close to 50 per cent complete. According to TMX, the pipeline will be completed by June 30, 2023.

Last week, Secwepemc land defender Kanahus Manuel stated: “We’ll continue to fight tooth and nail by any means necessary to stop it.”

She has also commented: “I really like what Amnesty International and some of those international organizations do by providing security for Native land defenders in South America. They don’t have that here, but we need to be able to provide it for our own land defenders to be able to have security.”

Manuel further notes: “[We need this] because violence comes to us. We’re not asking for it, but it’s coming from the police, it’s coming from the Crown, it’s coming from the corporation, their workers, it’s also coming from just regular civilians that are just white supremacists who want to come with their hate.”

This video can also be watched with Spanish subtitles. (Click on the CC icon at the bottom, then the Settings icon and use the auto-translate option.)

1...244245246...476Page 245 of 476