Peace Brigades International accompanied Daniel Prado Albarracín when he was a lawyer with the Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace (CIJP), a Colombian non-governmental organization.
This was especially significant when he represented the victims in the emblematic case of “Los Doce Apóstoles” (12 Apostles).
Threats against Prado
An arrest warrant was issued against Santiago Uribe Vélez, the primary suspect in “the 12 Apostles” case, on February 19, 2016.
The threats and harassment against Prado intensified at that time.
For example, PBI-Colombia has noted: “At the end of 2017, Prado received several threats and someone loosened all four tyres from his car.”
In August 2018, Prado told Nathalie Bienfait at PBI-Colombia: “These are tense times; you can feel the fear and the pressure.”
In May 2020, a PBI-Colombia Action Alert also noted: “Prado reported the presence of a high-power drone which fell into the patio of his residence; in addition to facing a threats and intimidation campaign as the victims’ council in the criminal case against the paramilitary group known as Los 12 Apóstoles.”
Commenting on PBI accompaniment, Prado stated: “It generates personal, psychological and physical security… if you go alone your attitude is different that if you feel the support of an international organization that is with you.”
The conviction of Uribe
In November 2024, the Superior Court of Antioquia found Uribe responsible for integrating and supporting the illegal structure.
On November 26, 2025, El Pais reported that Uribe received a 28-year prison sentence for aggravated homicide and conspiracy to commit a crime while leading a paramilitary group called the 12 Apostles.
Now, on June 4, 2026, El Espectador reports: “The Criminal Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice confirmed the sentence of 28 years and three months in prison against Santiago Uribe Vélez. The decision comes after the Superior Court of Antioquia determined that the brother of former President Álvaro Uribe committed the crimes of aggravated homicide and conspiracy to commit a crime.”
Prado reacts
Today Prado is Colombia’s ambassador to Belgium.
Caracol reports that Prado has welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision with “great satisfaction”.
Infobase adds: “The official inquiry [into the 12 Apostles] began in December 1995 and for most of these 31 years the lawyer Daniel Ernesto Prado Albarracín exercised the legal representation of the victims. …After learning of the decision, journalist Daniel Coronell revealed on his radio program 6 AM W that Prado declared: ‘It was a work that has been developed for many years and I am convinced of the responsibility that Santiago Uribe Vélez has in these events.’”
The continuing case
On June 5, 2026, Caracol Radio also reported: “After 31 years, the case is not over. A specialized court in Antioquia continues the trial against three men: alias ‘Pemberty’, alias ‘the dwarf’ and alias ‘the watchmaker’. They are accused of the massacre in the village of Chorrillos and the murder of Hernán Darío Zapata Correa. This week closing arguments were presented and only the sentence remains.”
Photo: Roberto Samcam was a former Sandinista rebel commander who became a high-level military officer then critic of the Ortega regime before being assassinated in Costa Rica on June 19, 2025.
The book “Exile under fire, crimes of the Nicaraguan dictatorship” by writer and journalist Arquímedes González documents the cases of ten Nicaraguans murdered in Honduras and Costa Rica between 2019 and 2025.
Infobae reports: “[González argues] the repression of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo did not end inside Nicaragua in 2018, but spread outside the country through espionage, harassment, threats and attacks against exiled opponents.”
The article further notes: “The author compiled 24 stories of opponents and critics who since 2018 denounced surveillance, harassment and photographic surveillance. …The work records the murder of five opposition peasants in Honduras and five other dissidents in Costa Rica, according to EFE.”
Infobae adds: “[The research by González] concludes that the main targets are stateless and exiled journalists, human rights defenders, civil society leaders, and people who express themselves publicly in the media and social networks.”
González will present his book in Costa Rica on June 12 along with Claudia Vargas, the widow of Ortega critic Roberto Samcam and lawyer Salvador Marenco of the Nicaragua Nunca Más Human Rights Collective. ‘Exilio bajo fuego, crímenes de la dictadura de Nicaragua’ can be found here.
At the time Samcan was killed, the Peace Brigades International-Nicaragua Project commented: “From PBI, we express our solidarity with Roberto Samcam’s family and to the close organizations and people who are mourning and condemning this criminal attack. At the same time, we echo the United Nations statement by expressing our concern for the consequences this criminal fact has for exiled defense persons in Costa Rica. We support the request expressed by the family, organizations and defenders towards the Costa Rican State to guarantee protection for all people who have been forced to exile and apply for asylum in Costa Rica, especially for human rights defenders, so that they can continue to carry out their labour.”
PBI-Nicaragua currently accompanies four organizations: the Pinoleras Women’s Network, Las Malcriadas (The Spoiled Ones), the University Coordinating Committee for Democracy and Justice (CUDJ), and The Reflection Group of Former Political Prisoners (GREX).
The report indicates: “For the 2025 calendar year, the value of Canadian exports of controlled military goods and technology to non-U.S. destinations amounted to approximately $2.045 billion, compared to a value of $2.504 billion in 2024 and $2.143 billion in 2023.”
The United States
While the report does not specify the amount exported to the United States, the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI) has stated: “Canadian defence exports to the U.S. account for 32% of all annual sales within our industry, valued at over $4.5 billion.” That could be interpreted as $1.44 billion of exports to the U.S., a figure in line with previous estimates by Project Ploughshares.
In March 2026, Project Ploughshares reported that the value of contracts concluded between the Canadian Commercial Corporation and the U.S. Depart of War in fiscal year 2025 totalled $2.07 billion.
As such, an approximate calculation the value of Canadian military exports to both US and non-US destinations could total closer to $4 billion a year.
Stated commitment to human rights
This year’s report asserts: “A key priority of Canada’s foreign policy is the maintenance of international peace and security. To this end, Global Affairs Canada strives to ensure that, among other policy goals, such as supporting Canadian foreign and defence policies and legitimate trade, Canadian goods and technology are not used in a manner that is prejudicial to human rights, peace, security or stability.”
An independent evaluation of that claim and more specifically what it means is an important measure in upholding human rights.
Saudi Arabia
For instance, the report notes: “Saudi Arabia was the largest non-U.S. export destination by value, receiving approximately $404 million in Canadian military exports (accounting for approximately 19.8% of the total value of non-U.S. military exports)…”
In 2014, the Government of Canada signed a $14.8 billion deal with the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia (KSA) to deliver over 14 years an undisclosed number of light-armoured vehicles (LAVs) to be manufactured by General Dynamics Mission Systems Canada, based in London, Ontario. The deal was arranged by the Ottawa-based Canadian Commercial Corporation, a Crown corporation that brokers contracts between Canadian suppliers and foreign governments.
Following a public outcry, Global Affairs Canada conducted a risk assessment that in September 2019 concluded: “Officials found no credible evidence linking Canadian exports of military equipment or other controlled items to any human rights or humanitarian law violations committed by the Saudi government.”
This year’s report on “Strategic Goods and Technologies” states: “Since January 8, 2024, the Government of Canada has not approved any new arms export permits to Israel that could be used in the conflict in Gaza, and this remains the approach. At the same time, the government also suspended export permits for parts destined for Israel that could be incorporated into items used in Gaza. All of the permits suspended in 2024 have expired and cannot be used to export to Israel.”
But the report also notes that the “value of military exports” to Israel in 2025 amounted to $14,671,705.14.
The report also notes that the seventh largest amount of military exports in 2025 went to Türkiye totalling $60,760,039.44.
In its annual Freedom in the World report, Freedom House gave Türkiye a score of 32/100 and listed the country as “not free”.
Furthermore, Amnesty International has documented that in Türkiye in 2025: “Baseless investigations, prosecutions and convictions of human rights defenders, journalists, opposition politicians and others intensified. …The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association were arbitrarily restricted. Law enforcement officials used less lethal weapons against peaceful protesters, causing numerous injuries. …Victims of human rights violations, including alleged torture and other ill-treatment by state officials, continued to face a culture of impunity.”
It is unclear how Global Affairs Canada officials reconcile this with their stated commitment to ensure: “Canadian goods and technology are not used in a manner that is prejudicial to human rights, peace, security or stability.”
Peru
The Global Affairs Canada report also notes the “value of military goods” exported to Peru in 2025 totalled $1,998,607.10.
While $2 million is a relatively smaller number compared to exports to the United States, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Türkiye, this does not diminish concerns about the impact these exports could have on human rights defenders and communities.
In their 2025 report on Peru, Amnesty International documented: “Authorities used unnecessary and disproportionate force against demonstrators. The victims of excessive force during the 2022-2023 protests had still not obtained justice. Attacks on journalists and human rights defenders intensified.”
Monitoring the impact for human rights defenders
The primary mission of Peace Brigades International is the protection of human life, specifically through the accompaniment of individuals, human rights defenders, whose lives have been threatened because of their activism.
Given the Government of Canada’s stated commitment this past February 2026 to “increase our defence exports by 50%”, which could mean an additional $1 billion to $2 billion in exports, increased monitoring is required to ensure stated commitments to “human rights, peace, security and stability.”
The Philippines
The Government of Canada has not disclosed how it will increase these exports by 50% or to what countries, but there is reason for concern that exports could increase to the Philippines following the Canadian government tabling a Notice of Intent in November 2025 to enter into free trade negotiations with the Philippines and the signing of a “Status of Visiting Forces Agreement” that same month to further deepen “security cooperation” with the Philippines.
Canada’s defence minister David McGuinty has stated: “Peace is built on rules, not recklessness. …The Philippines has shown true leadership in upholding international law … and for that [it has] Canada’s greatest and deepest respect.”
Between 2012 and 2024, the Philippines was the third deadliest country for land and environmental defenders, according to data from Global Witness. They note that 306 defenders were killed in the Philippines during this period.
Global Witness has further noted about the situation in the Philippines: “The military has been linked to the highest number of killings and detentions of land and environmental defenders in the last decade.”
We continue to follow this and evaluate the available information.
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PBI-Canada is also following the relationship between the security of human rights defenders and military exports in the context of the annual CANSEC “defence, security & emerging technology event” that is expected to take place again in May 2027 at the Cohere Centre in Ottawa.
Photo: The Organization of American States (OAS-OEA) observes the opening of polling stations in Colombia, May 31, 2026.
The first round of the presidential election took place in Colombia on Sunday May 31, 2026, with a second round about to take place on Sunday June 21, 2026.
The security situation
While Peace Brigades International is a non-partisan organization, we are attentive to the security situation for human rights defenders and communities in the context of escalated violence at the time of elections.
Latin America Reports notes: “According to the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE), 386 municipalities across 31 departments have been identified as having some level of electoral risk linked to violence and the presence of armed groups.”
Just ahead of the first round vote, Lina Mejía, coordinator at the humanitarian organization Vivamos Humanos, told Latin America Reports: “It’s not just a question of whether armed groups will respect the elections themselves, but also whether there will be mobility restrictions, whether electoral materials will be protected from attacks after the vote, and whether communities will be free from intimidation.”
And The Guardian cautioned: “During the election period, there has been a surge in guerrilla attacks, homicides, kidnappings, forced displacement and massacres; and last year, the rightwing senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot during a campaign event and later died. The violence is widely seen as a reminder that although the landmark 2016 peace deal between the government and most of Farc dramatically reduced violence for years, it did not end it for good.”
First round results
The Guardian reports: “A far-right lawyer and Donald Trump admirer will go head-to-head against leftwing senator Iván Cepeda in the race to be Colombia’s next president after he won a surprise victory in the first round of voting. With 100% of ballots counted, the outsider Abelardo de la Espriella secured 43.7% of the vote – just over 10.3m votes – compared with 40.9% (about 9.6m votes) for Cepeda, a philosopher and human rights activist who has served as a senator since 2014 and is backed by the current leftwing president, Gustavo Petro.”
Differing visions
Assessing the situation the day prior to the first round vote, Gimena Sanchez, a Colombia expert at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a human rights nonprofit, told Al Jazeera: “The leading candidates fall into two camps: continuity with the leftist government of Petro and an approach to security that focuses on negotiations with armed groups, and right-wing candidates who very much want to go back to a hardline security model that Colombia had in the past. You have polar opposite visions for the country.”
Thomson Reuters has reported: “Portraying himself as an outsider free from political baggage, de la Espriella has proposed a tough offensive against illegal armed groups, the construction of 10 mega-prisons, and poverty reduction through better education, health care and housing for the poorest. Cepeda, a 63-year-old lawmaker and son of a murdered communist leader, …has promised to pursue peace with illegal armed groups through negotiations, an approach that has brought little progress under Petro. Cepeda also plans to deepen reforms meant to reduce inequality and poverty, including by raising taxes on high-income earners, granting one million hectares to victims of the country’s six-decade internal conflict and expanding health-care coverage.”
Americas Quarterly comments: “One half of the electorate supports a more inclusive, egalitarian, and sustainable socioeconomic model alongside peace negotiations to end organized violence, while the other half favors a hardline crackdown on illegal groups, socially conservative values, and minimal state intervention in the economy.”
Caldwell Manners of Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT) also comments: “For communities that have spent generations demanding land, rights, recognition, and peace, the outcome of this election will shape not only public policy but also the prospects for a more just and democratic Colombia.”
June 21 vote
With the second route vote less than three weeks away, we keep in mind the concern expressed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) “about political violence in the ongoing electoral process in Colombia.”
The IACHR, an autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), has called on the State “to take all measures necessary to ensure that the presidential election process can be completed, in particular by preserving the safety of all presidential candidates.” It has also reminded the State “of its obligation to ensure that citizens may fully exercise their political rights safely and on an equal footing.”
At PBI-Canada we are monitoring news reports about the security situation in Colombia during this election period, following the social media posts from PBI accompanied organizations, defenders and communities, and staying in communication with our colleagues at PBI-Colombia.
Photo: The PBI-Colombia accompanied José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (Cajar) condemned the murder of Walberto Quintero Medina and expressed its solidarity with his family and with the Sinaltrainal union, whom they have accompanied for several decades in demanding guarantees for the development of their work.
The latest edition of this annual report notes: “Trade unionists and workers were killed in Angola, Colombia, Indonesia and Mexico.”
Peace Brigades International has projects in Colombia, Mexico and Indonesia, as well as Honduras, Guatemala, the Philippines, Kenya and Nepal. Peace Brigades International-Canada has worked to strengthen Protection Mechanisms for human rights defenders, including union activists, particularly alongside our colleagues at PBI-Mexico.
“The Americas region remained the deadliest for workers and their representatives, with extra-judicial killings recorded in Colombia and Mexico.”
Walberto Quintero Medina (Colombia)
“In Colombia, Walberto Quintero Medina, Vice President of the CUT federation’s departmental committee in Cesar and an Executive Committee member of the SINALTRAINAL union for food industry workers, was murdered on 28 April 2025. He was shot at a public establishment in front of his friends and died in hospital. Medina’s death joins a long list of crimes committed against union leaders and human rights defenders. Several SINALTRAINAL members have been murdered in the past 20 years.”
On 16 December 2025, trade unionist Campo Elías Urrutía Vargas was murdered on his farm in Tauramena. He was a member of the National Board of Directors of Fedearroz, the national federation of rice growers, and the National Executive of the Aguazul committee of rice farmers.”
“On 4 August 2025, Mario Machuca Sánchez, union leader of the Confederación Revolucionaria de Obreros y Campesinos (CROC), was shot and killed in the parking lot of a car agency by assailants disguised as delivery workers from a digital platform.”
“In October 2025, Noé Pérez Urquidi, leader of the Confederación Autónoma de Trabajadores y Empleados de México (CATEM) in Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, was murdered by an armed commando in the parking lot of the Plaza Pabellón shopping centre.”
In July 2025, union leader César Contreras, who served as General Secretary of the Unión Nacional de Transportistas del Cambio (UNTRAC), was shot dead in his office in Cancún. According to witnesses, two armed men entered his office, shot him, and fled the area.”
“The leader of the Confederación de Trabajadores de México (CTM), Juan Francisco Palacios Murillo, has been missing since 13 June 2025. Earlier in June, during a demonstration against the breach of agreements related to the construction of a public building, Murillo denounced threats from members of organised crime groups urging him to withdraw. The Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that his disappearance was forced and carried out against his will.”
Honduras and Guatemala
The ITUC report also documents:
-“Multinational Fyffes declined to sign a collective agreement in Honduras despite years of organising by seasonal fruit workers.”
-“In February 2026, the Honduran government ordered Fyffes/Sumitomo to compensate predominantly seasonal workers and pay fines of almost US$800,000 for labour rights violations at its melon farms in Choluteca. Fyffes subsidiaries Suragroh and Melon Export S.A. failed to pay overtime, bonuses, and social security contributions, amid inadequate occupational health and safety standards. Fyffes has declined to sign a collective agreement despite years of organising by workers, contesting the legal standing of the Sindicato de Trabajadores/as Agrícolas (STAS) and postponing negotiations.”
-“In Honduras, agricultural workers and their representatives were stuck in prolonged disputes over union recognition with their employer, while in Guatemala and Chile, union representatives faced retaliation for their organising efforts.”
On May 13, 2026, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted on social media:
“Last week and this week #LuzLeticia to Mirtala and Marta Hernandez Agustín to hearings of the discussion of the case of the enforced disappearance of their sister #PBIaccompanies after 44 years of her disappearance. The accused is Juan Francisco Cifuentes Cano, former chief of the Fifth National Police Corps.
During the first hearings, the sisters of Luz Leticia, Marta and Mirtala, gave their statements. During the month of May, the oral and public debate will follow.”
“This week, #PBI is accompanying Marta and Mirtala Hernández Agustín to the hearings in the case seeking to shed light on the forced disappearance of their sister #LuzLeticia on November 22, 1982. Among other evidence, an expert report was presented on documents found in the National Police Historical Archive that revealed police actions linked to the events.
To learn more about the case and the sisters’ struggle, check out our bio.”
And most recently, on May 26, PBI-Guatemala posted:
“Also, this week PBI accompanied the sisters of #LuzLeticia the sisters in their search for justice for the disappearance of the university student committed to the social struggle in favor of the Guatemalan population.
To learn more about the case and the sisters’ struggle listen to our COME CLOSER podcast in the linktree in the bio.”
PBI-Guatemala has previously noted: “[The mother of Luz Leticia] Doña Valentina participated in the formation of the Mutual Support Group (GAM), joining her efforts with those of other families in the same situation. It was at that time that the Hernández Agustín family came into contact with Peace Brigades International (PBI), which at that time accompanied the GAM, and which, already in 1984/85, accompanied one of the Hernández Agustín sisters who finally had to go into exile in Canada. Currently, PBI continues to accompany Valentina, Marta and Mirtala, Luz Leticia’s mother and sisters.”
Additional reading
Luz Leticia Hernández Agustín studied at the Belen Institute, School of Commerce and Faculty of Economics of the University of San Carlos.
Verdad Justicia has posted: “Luz Leticia was born on November 22, 1957, the same day she was detained-disappeared, when she was 25 years old. Her family remembers her as a woman, she was a very intelligent, affectionate woman, such a beautiful smile and a hard worker.”
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has noted Luz Leticia and Ana Maria López Rodríguez were “captured on November 21, 1982, by security forces made up of elements of the special operations reaction battalion (BROE) and the intelligence service. (SIM) while they were at the address located in block 4, block “E”, lot 13 of the Monte Real II neighborhood, zone 4 of Mixco.”
On the accused, Prensa Libre also reports: “Cifuentes Cano was the director of a police division and worked closely with the Army in counterinsurgency operations during the de facto government of the dictator Efraín Ríos Montt (1982-1983), as explained by the Prosecutor’s Office before the Fifth Criminal Court of First Instance. The ex-commander is accused of the forced disappearance of the university students Luz Hernández and Ana López, who 40 years later have still not been located.”
“At a press conference held in front of the Supreme Court of Justice, the Agrarian Platform and the Coordinating Committee of Popular Organizations of Aguán (COPA) expressed their concern over the reform of the criminal code through the Law for the Strengthening and Protection of the Agro-Industrial Sector in Honduras.
As they explained, these reforms could expose #socialmovements, #ruralcommunities, and human rights defenders to the risk of criminalization during their #socialprotest activities.
The protesters also demanded transparent investigations into the recent massacres in the Aguán region, calling for legal safeguards for the #peasantorganizations active in the region.”
Reportar Sin Miedo additionally reports: “In a statement, [the Peasant, Indigenous and Popular Alliance of Honduras] expressed its rejection of the Law for the Strengthening and Protection of the Agroindustrial Sector of Honduras, considering that it shields agribusiness while persecuting communities. They also announced the filing of an appeal of unconstitutionality against Decree 84-2026, for opening the door to treating defenders of the territory and social leaders as terrorists. Among their demands, they call for a prompt and independent investigation of the massacre, an end to the criminalization of social protest, the repeal of repressive penal reforms, and the prioritization of food security over agro-industrial interests. ‘Peasant communities are not a threat to Honduras. They are the ones who produce food and defend life,’ they said.”
MNTV.hn has also previously explained: “The Peasant, Indigenous and Popular Alliance of Honduras (ACAINPH) denounced that the draft ‘Law for the Strengthening and Protection of the Agro-industrial Sector of Honduras’ would represent a risk to agrarian reform and rights of access to land in the country. The organizations pointed out that the initiative, promoted in the National Congress (CN), would grant privileges to agribusiness entrepreneurs and could criminalize protests and peasant demands linked to land conflicts. …The alliance called on social and human rights organizations to monitor the legislative process and defend territorial rights.”
And El Libertador has reported: “[Raul Ramirez of ACAINPH has] warned that, if the law is approved, the organizations will defend their territories. ‘They may approve it, but it is unfair, illegal and unconstitutional. Our defence will be in the streets and on the land’, he said, assuring that the peasant sector will maintain permanent mobilizations.”
“Last May 28th we participated in the conversation ‘Voices in the street: the right to defend human rights and social protest in the context of the World soccer in Mexico’ organized by the Civil Society Organizations Space for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (Espacio OSC).
Events such as the World Cup soccer and others of a mass nature are platforms for civil society to freely exercise its right to protest.”
In other panels in its Instagram post, PBI-Mexico also says:
“The right to defend human rights and engage in social protest in the context of the World Cup in Mexico.
Events such as the World Cup and other large-scale gatherings should serve as platforms for civil society to freely exercise its right to protest.”
“In the conversation ‘Voices in the Street’, human rights organizations, journalists and public institutions warn about risks of criminalization, surveillance and excessive use of force during the 2026 World Cup in Mexico.
We also emphasize the need to strengthen inter-agency prevention, monitoring, documentation and coordination measures in the face of possible human rights violations.
The participants agree that the right to protest, freedom of expression and defence of human rights should be fully guaranteed during the World Cup.”
The World Cup, which runs from June 11 to July 19, 2026, will feature 13 matches in Mexico, split between Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara. The iconic Azteca Stadium in the capital will host the opening match.
It will also include matches that will be played in Toronto (June 12, 17 and 20) and Vancouver (June 14 and 18).
Journalist Joaquín López-Dóriga has reported: “In the midst of preparations for the 2026 World Cup in Mexico City, families of missing people are preparing protests to make visible a national crisis that they accuse of being ignored.”
EFE adds: “The mothers and fathers are preparing peaceful protests, which they announce they will do from the opening match at the Azteca Stadium on June 11. In addition, these relatives will deliver letters to different embassies, to warn about the security risks that, they say, could also affect tourists.”
We recall the plea from a mother who participated in the Mother’s Day march in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico: “Hopefully just as millions of people will gather to shout a goal, there will also be space to shout for those who are missing.”
“Five years after the 2021 Social Uprising / National Strike, Peace Brigades International was in Cali accompanying the Association for Research and Social Action (Nomadesc) at various events focused on remembrance, listening, and demanding truth, justice, and reparations for the victims of human rights violations that occurred during the social protests.
We participated in the listening space organized by the Ad Hoc Committee of Experts and in the People’s Public Hearing in Siloé, alongside victims, family members, and social organizations that continue to denounce impunity and defend the memory and dignity of those who were killed, disappeared, and those who continue to face prosecution, injured, persecuted, and displaced in the context of social protest.
We listened to the voices of those who, despite the pain and the multiple and severe hardships they have endured, continue to demand guarantees of non-repetition and the recognition of historical truth.
At PBI, we are deeply concerned about the persistence of high levels of impunity regarding the human rights violations that occurred during the Social Uprising. We are also concerned about patterns of gender-based violence against women, girls, and LGBTIQ+ people, as well as acts of racist and classist violence, documented by organizations such as Amnesty International.
We call on the international community, the diplomatic corps, and our support network to continue accompanying and supporting the efforts of victims, organizations, and independent truth-seeking mechanisms. We also urge national institutions to ensure the necessary resources and conditions so that initiatives such as the Ad Hoc Committee of Experts can continue to create spaces for listening, documentation, and the formulation of recommendations aimed at truth, justice, reparations, and guarantees of non-repetition.”
The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) organized a presence outside the CANSEC arms show on Wednesday May 27, 2026, in Ottawa.
They also organized a Potluck meal at the Ottawa Meeting House on the evening of Tuesday May 26, the day before the Witness that started at 8:00 am and a Peaceful Faithful Gathering that started at 4:30 pm outside the Cohere Centre.
The CANSEC arms show is an annual event that brings together 60+ international delegations and 300+ companies in a venue with 20,000 attendees to exhibit, market, buy and sell weapons and emerging military technologies.
Potluck, May 26 starting at 6:00 pm.
Witness, May 27 starting at 8:00 am.
Peaceful Faithful Gathering, May 27 starting at 4:30 pm.
Mass mobilization, May 28
Quakers were also present at the mass mobilization that drew hundreds of people to the Cohere Centre on the morning of Thursday May 28 starting at 7:00 am.
Webinars
In the lead-up to CANSEC this year, the Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC-Quakers) also organized two webinars in collaboration with Peace Brigades International-Canada to draw attention to the urgency of peace.
The first webinar, held on February 11, 2026, included presentations explaining Canada’s involvement in the arms trade and the impacts this has on other countries. It included Kelsey Gallagher from the Waterloo, Ontario-based Project Ploughshares speaking about the No More Loopholes Act.
The second webinar, held on April 16, 2026, included information on how Quakers in the United Kingdom have nonviolently protested Britain’s biggest arms fair DESI, and a discussion of how Canadians can do the same for CANSEC.
We continue to collaborate with the Quakers to help provide education about peace and opportunities to share these concerns with others.
