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PBI-Colombia accompanied lawyers on Day of the Endangered Lawyer webinars, January 24

By
Brent Patterson
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Yessika Hoyos, Lina Peláez, German Romero, Franklin Castañeda.

We will be watching two webinars on Monday January 24, the Day of the Endangered Lawyer.

The webinar that day with Lina Peláez (Nomadesc), German Romero (dhColombia) and Franklin Castañeda (CSPP) starts at 11 am EST/COT (5 pm CET). To register, please click here.

And the webinar with Yessika Hoyos (CCAJAR) will start at 5 pm EST/COT. To register, please click here.

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project accompanies the Association for Social Research and Action (Nomadesc), Associated Network of Human Rights Defenders (dhColombia), the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP) and the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR).

In this article, Heather Neun and Catherine Morris of Lawyers Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) write: “Colombia has long been one of the most dangerous places in the world for human rights advocates, but the danger intensified in 2020 and 2021 with a surge of massacres and assassinations of human rights defenders and community leaders.”

Neun and Morris note: “More than 700 lawyers were among those killed in Colombia between 1991 and 2013. Between 2017 and 2019 at least three lawyers were killed, along with several attempted assassinations.”

“Added to the attempted and actual murders are numerous death threats. Between 2017 and 2021, at least eight individual lawyers received death threats.”

What can Canadians do?

Neun and Morris further note: “Colombian human rights lawyers and defenders are in need of solidarity from governments and civil society, including lawyers, in other parts of the world. Canadian lawyers can assist by sparking increased awareness of the situations of lawyers in danger and by becoming engaged in advocacy for their protection.”

“Canadians can [also] encourage the government and Canada’s diplomatic missions in Colombia (and elsewhere) to take concrete actions to apply the [Voices at Risk] Guidelines in consistent and creative ways, contributing to the safety of defenders by demonstrating that ‘the world is indeed watching’.”

To read the full article by Neun and Morris, please see Escalating Threats to Colombian Human Rights Advocates: The Day of the Endangered Lawyer, 24 January 2022.

REGISTER: The Lawyers Rights Watch Canada, Law Society of Ontario and Human Rights Watch webinar with Yessika Hoyos (CCAJAR) at 5 pm EST.

REGISTER: The International Observatory for Lawyers (OIAD) webinar with Lina Peláez (Nomadesc), German Romero (dhColombia) and Franklin Castañeda (CSPP) at 11 am EST.

PBI-Honduras accompanies Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) as Garifuna land defenders criminalized

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 17, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project tweeted: “PBI accompanies @ofraneh in front of the Court of First Instance of Trujillo, Colón. At PBI, we are concerned about the constant criminalization of people from the Garífuna community in their legitimate defense of their ancestral lands.”

This past week, Criterio reported: “The coordinator of the Honduran Black Fraternal Organization (Ofraneh) Miriam Miranda, denounced the detention and torture against two defenders of the territory arrested yesterday, Thursday, January 13, in Trujillo and transferred to Tocoa, both municipalities of Colón, in northern Honduras.”

That article adds: “The names of the people arrested are Luis Gutiérrez and Leonard Brown, both members of the Garifuna community of Waba To, accused according to Miranda, for the crimes of usurpation and damages.”

WA-DANI further notes: “The Honduran justice system today [January 14] issued alternative measures to the defender of ancestral lands, Leonard Brown. This decision comes a day after he was arrested, without any crime.”

That article adds: “Leonard is a Garifuna who active in the defense of ancestral lands, but in the eyes of the Honduran justice, he is a usurper and invader which, of course, is a serious plot to affect the Garifuna population.”

It then comments: “Undoubtedly, in other countries people like him are given honors, in Honduras instead, they are persecuted and criminalized.”

Extractivism displaces Garifuna communities

Criterio has also reported: “In September of last year, the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Honduras denounced the complicity of the Police Directorate of Investigation (DPI) and other state forces with extractive and landed companies that try to forcibly displace Garifuna communities.”

“This after members of the National Police and the DPI arrived in the area in patrols without plates with an eviction order against Antonia Portillo. The expulsion at that time was not carried out by the defense work of the board of directors of the Cristales and Río Negro neighborhood, and other defenders who are part of the recovery of the ancestral territory, reported the Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders.”

The article also notes: “Tuesday, January 18, marks 18 months since the forced disappearance of the president of the Board of Trustees of the Garifuna community of Triunfo de la Cruz, Albert Snaider Centeno Thomas and with him three more young Garifuna from the same community (Milton Joel Martínez Álvarez, Suamy Aparicio Mejía García and Gerardo Misael Tróchez Calix), without their whereabouts being known yet.”

Penelakut land defender Kevin ‘Bear’ Henry missing, logging company stops search vehicles

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 16, the Toronto Star reported: “Bear Henry, a two-spirited 37-year-old who has been protesting old-growth logging at Fairy Creek, since March 2021, went missing on Nov. 27. Henry’s family and friends fear the worst.”

The Fairy Creek blockade (Ada’itsx) is located on Pacheedaht and Ditidaht territory, approximately 100 kilometres north-west of the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island. Bear’s last text was sent from Lake Cowichan, about 60 kilometres from the blockades.

Bear’s Aunt Rose Henry, known by friends as Grandma Losah, says: “Bear’s last text said someone was banging on the side of their van and that they were scared.”

The article adds: “Their van, spray-painted with phrases like ‘Land Back’ and ‘Fairy Creek forever’ was a target for angry loggers, says Grandma Losah. Bear, she said, had received previous threats.”

“Saturday [January 15] marked the first day RCMP formally allowed protesters to search logging roads where they believe Bear was travelling when they disappeared.”

“But on Saturday afternoon, Bear’s search team was still denied entry by security officers contracted by Teal-Jones, the timber company that has logging rights on the land protesters consider ‘unceded’ and is at the heart of the Fairy Creek old-growth demonstrations.”

“Teal-Jones denies that it has restricted access to search and rescue personnel, spokesperson Shawn Hall wrote in an email.”

“The search group on Saturday retraced Bear’s planned journey from Victoria to Cowichan Lake, over mountain roads and then to Fairy Creek. But once at the Fairy Creek blockade, the team was prevented by security from taking search vehicles into the logging territory, despite permission from the RCMP detachment via satellite phone.”

The full Toronto Star article can be read at Search for missing Indigenous logging protester grows tense in B.C.

To donate to the search effort, visit the Bring Bear Home! GoFundMe page. Public online materials are available for those who want to become involved in search efforts. Email bringbearhome2021@gmail.com to receive more information that will become available in an automatic response.

Bear Henry is Missing: This Facebook group was formed so that family and friends of Bear Henry can keep track of all information in the continued search for them.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Peaceful Resistance of San Pedro Ayampuc as 10th anniversary of mine blockade nears

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 15, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted: “On Thursday [January 13] PBI accompanied the Peaceful Resistance of San Pedro Ayampuc and we introduced ourselves to the municipal authorities.”

San Pedro Ayampuc is located about 20 kilometres north of Guatemala City.

On March 2, 2012, residents from San Pedro Ayampuc and San José del Golfo – an area known as La Puya – set up a 24-hour a day blockade at the entrance of the Vancouver-based Radius Gold Inc. El Tambor mine.

By August 2012, the Canadian company sold El Tambor to US-based Kappes, Cassiday & Associates, but retained an economic interest in the mine (including quarterly royalty payments on the gold production from the mine).

On May 23, 2014, after two years of peaceful struggle, the communities in resistance to the mine were violently evicted by the police.

(Two PBI-Guatemala volunteers who witnessed the May 2014 eviction were informed by the Guatemalan government of the cancellation of their temporary residence in the country, although the executive eventually reversed the decision.)

By February 2016, the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya won a Guatemalan Supreme Court ruling that provisionally suspended the mining licence because there had not been prior consultation with affected communities, as is required under Guatemalan and international law, in particular the International Labour Organization’s Convention 169.

Even after their eviction in 2014 and the court ruling in 2016, members of La Puya continued a 24-hour presence in opposition to the mine.

On May 21, 2021, the court suspension on the mine imposed in 2016 was lifted, but authorization for the mine to begin operation has not been granted. The police were present at the site to enforce the court ruling, while the Resistance reaffirmed its commitment to the peaceful fight for the defence of life, natural property and territory.

We continue to follow this situation closely.

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has accompanied the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya since November 2012.

Oneida land defender Trevor Bomberry charged by police in struggle to reclaim territory used as municipal golf course

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: The camp on December 22, 2021. Photo by Brian Thompson/The Expositor.

On January 13, Global News reported: “A Six Nations of the Grand River resident who’s been a figurehead in an occupation at a now-closed Brantford municipal golf course is facing charges, according to police.”

That article adds: “Trevor Bomberry, 48, is facing two charges: break and enter plus public mischief.”

There will be a court hearing on this on January 20 to set dates.

On October 9, Six Nations land defenders began a re-occupation of the Arrowdale Golf Course in Brantford, Ontario.

At that time, Bomberry said: “This is our land. Mostly all of Brantford belongs to our people. It’s been stolen.”

He has also stated: “An archeological study was done here finding bones, arrowheads and pottery.”

And he noted: “Unfortunately, the city has been using our hunting grounds as a golf course and putting buildings on it without the consent of my people.”

The land occupation was ended on December 31 after “it was decided in good faith to pull back efforts directly on the frontline in an attempt for this to be honourably settled within the courts.” The full statement on this from the Arrowdale Land Defenders can be read here.

The land falls within the Haldimand Tract, which includes 10 kilometres on either side of the Grand River. The 950,000-acre parcel of land was granted to Six Nations of the Grand River in 1784 for allying with the British in the American Revolution.

In April 2021, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council, the traditional government of the Six Nations, called for a moratorium on development of the area.

In December 2019, the City of Brantford decided to close the golf course and put some of the land up for sale.

Bomberry has countered: “I don’t know how they can sell something that doesn’t belong to them in the first damn place.”

Veronica Martisius of the local activist group Know Your City Inc., also says: “[The City doesn’t] have the consent of the Six Nations people to sell these lands, to develop these lands, and the land should stay as it is and the city should reconsider its decision.”

The City says: “The broader matter of Indigenous land claims is a complex issue and one that is not within the city of Brantford’s jurisdiction to resolve.” Nevertheless, the City has maintained that the occupation was “unlawful.”

The Six Nations of the Grand River launched a court case in 1995 on the title to these lands. It is scheduled to go to court in October of this year.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Human Rights Law Firm (BDH) at media conference on Maya Q’eqchi’ struggles

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 14, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted: “Today PBI accompanied the Human Rights Law Firm at a press conference on the situation in Laguna Larga, Laguna Lachuá and Izabal.”

Laguna Larga

In December, the  Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued a follow-up resolution in which it analyzed the implementation of precautionary measures in favour of the Q’eqchi’ families of the Laguna Larga community in the department of Petén who were forcibly displaced by the army and police on June 2, 2017.

PBI-Guatemala has previously posted: “115 families were evicted under the pretext that the territory where they lived was within the boundaries of a protected area.”

Izabal

In November, the IACHR condemned the excessive use of force against demonstrators and members of the Q’eqchi’ communities in the department of Izabal who had maintained peaceful actions and blockades against the Fenix mine on their territory.

Laguna Lachuá

The IACHR has also previously condemned the murder of Alberto Cucul Cho, a Q’eqchi’ defender of the territory in the department of Alta Verapaz, who was killed while on his way to the Laguna Lachuá National Park where he worked as a park ranger. He advocated against the illegal logging of fine woods and the hunting of protected species.

PBI-Guatemala began to accompany lawyer Édgar Pérez Archila in August 2010 and then extended that accompaniment to other lawyers at the Human Rights Law Firm (Bufete Jurídico de Derechos Humanos) in late 2013.

Photo: One of the placards refers to the upcoming 5th anniversary of the displacement of the Laguna Larga community from the Maya Biosphere Reserve protected area. Another sign says “CONAP = desalojos” which means the government agency known as the National Council for Protected Areas (CONAP) = evictions. The concern has been expressed that protected areas can mean that corporate extractivism continues while Indigenous communities are forcibly displaced in the name of forest conservation.

Media release of Québec-Canada human rights verification mission to Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
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Text of December 7, 2021 media release:

The Québec-Canada-Colombia human rights verification mission was present in Colombia from November 25 to December 7, 2021, at the invitation of Colombian civil society.

The objective of the mission was to collect testimonies and verify the allegations of serious human rights violations reported in the wake of the national strike which shook the country from the end of April to the beginning of September 2021.

The mission also investigated allegations of rights violations in the context of Canadian trade and investment in Colombia. These contain international and national commitments to the protection of human rights, including important environmental issues.

Once back in Quebec, the mission undertakes to write a report which, on the one hand, will detail the field observations of the mission, and on the other hand, will present all of its conclusions and recommendations. The mission also undertakes to make its report public within the Canadian or international bodies concerned.

The Canadian-Quebec mission toured the country with the theme “Vivos se los llevaron, Vivos los Queremos” (Alive they were taken, alive we want them).

It heard disturbing testimonies during the meetings she held with numerous organizations and associations in the following departments: Cundinamarca, Antioquia, Valle del Cauca, Cauca y Huila.

Citizen collectives, educational institutions, social associations, direct victims and people close to them have submitted cases to the mission. These cases highlighted the importance and extent of the consequences caused by the repression carried out during and after the national strike throughout Colombian territory.

Citizen participation in this mission exceeded our expectations, both in terms of the number of participants and the diversity of testimonies that will allow us to analyze the situation more closely and follow up on the process of organizations from Canada and Colombia in course of the next few months.

Already, we note some serious violations of fundamental rights in certain regions of Colombia. During our visits and hearings, we were able to observe a pattern of systematic intervention that is repressive and very worrying for the future.

We noted, in particular, a systematic profiling of social and trade union leaders, with serious consequences for the victims, their families and the communities.

Many of the people who criticize the policies and actions of the state are stigmatized, harassed, displaced, abducted, criminalized and even killed.

Even people who have not participated in the various social events are affected, young people in particular and several victims of sexual and gender diversity.

In addition, leaders and members of indigenous communities pointed out that they were attacked by armed civilians during the strike, sometimes even supported by the police. These actors reported witnessing similar violence perpetrated against Afro-Colombian communities in the context of defending their territory.

Most of the people consulted mentioned having participated in consultation tables with different levels and institutions of government, all without success. These consultations do not succeed or, worse, these consultation tables are ways of identifying social leaders and then attacking them.

We have noted cases of false criminalization of these leaders. In addition, we have seen a discourse that seeks to trivialize the violence mentioned above.

We visited several communities directly affected by the numerous activities of mining and hydroelectric companies registered in Canada and supported, in many cases, by Canadian investments. Forced displacements, attacks on health, mobility, fracture of the social fabric, militarization of the territory, criminalization and assassinations of social and environmental defenders are among the impacts reported to the Commission.

Enforced disappearances are obviously important. However, they are little affected by official reports in Colombia so far. We have found that there is an underestimation of cases of disappearances, particularly during the general strike. Several organizations establish the number of 300 disappearances, or even more, rather than the hundred recognized by the State.

Everything we have heard and observed concerns us deeply about the general human rights situation in Colombia, a situation that continues to deteriorate. We will therefore make urgent recommendations in our forthcoming report.

We take this opportunity to thank all the associations and organizations that we have met.

PBI-Honduras accompanies trial of Guapinol River defenders

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 14, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project tweeted: “PBI accompanies the oral trial against the defenders of @guapinolre. It is expected that today the Court will admit the new proposals proposed by the defense that demonstrate the illegality of the mining project on the Guapinol River in Tocoa.”

Earlier today, @guapinolre also tweeted:

– “Guapinol trial started briefly, without live broadcast. It was suspended for 30 minutes to give the defense time to review content of a USB that @MP_Honduras [Public Ministry] proposed yesterday without indicating its content or why they were presenting it as evidence.”

– “Today the Court rules on new evidence. Will it allow key witnesses and reports that demonstrate that the mining license is illegal and that this is why defenders were legitimately protesting? Will you allow secret witnesses and USB with secret info at the request of MP?”

(Update: The Court allowed defense to review USB that MP proposed yesterday without explaining content. Defense responded by rejecting the test for being manipulated videos. Even so, they do not show any illicit behavior by defenders.)

– “Court, again, does not guarantee transmission of the trial alleging lack of stable Internet connection. What do they want to hide? @PJdeHonduras [Judicial Power of Honduras] must take immediate measures to resolve the situation and guarantee transparency and publicity. We demand a fair trial!”

PBI-Honduras tweeted: “@OACNUDHHN [the Office in Honduras of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights] reminds that ‘the publicity of judicial processes, which includes transmission and observation, is an obligation in terms of #DDHH that allows transparency and respect for due process.’”

These water protectors are being criminally prosecuted for peacefully protesting the installation of an open-pit iron oxide mine in Carlos Escaleras National Park after contamination of the Guapinol River and the San Pedro Sector appeared.

Seven of the defenders incarcerated since September 1, 2019, while an eighth defender has been held since December 8, 2018.

In February 2021, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that the detention of the Guapinol defenders was arbitrary, breached a number of human rights standards including the guarantee to a fair trial, and called for their immediate release.

Their trial began on December 1-2, resumed on December 9, but then adjourned without ruling on a habeas corpus application filed on December 14. The trial resumed on January 13 and is scheduled to continue to January 27.

From Canada, we continue to closely follow the social media updates on this trial.

PBI-Honduras photos.

United Nations reports that 78 human rights defenders were killed in Colombia in 2021

By
Brent Patterson
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Video: Climate activists from Colombia name some of the environmental defenders killed in Colombia outside the UN COP26 climate summit, November 2021.

On January 13, Reuters reported: “At least 78 human rights defenders were killed in Colombia in 2021, the United Nations human rights agency said on Thursday, adding that more cases were still being verified.”

“The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said it received 202 accusations of killings of human rights leaders in Colombia last year. Of these 78 were confirmed as killed, 39 cases were still being verified, and 85 were inconclusive.”

That article also notes: “Local human rights group Indepaz found that 171 social leaders were killed last year, while international advocacy organization Human Rights Watch reported in a separate report on Thursday [January 13]  that 500 human rights defenders had been assassinated since 2016.”

Front Line Defenders and Global Witness

In February 2021, Front Line Defenders released its Global Analysis 2020 that reported 177 human rights defenders had been killed in Colombia that year.

Then in September 2021, Global Witness released their annual report LAST LINE OF DEFENCE: The industries causing the climate crisis and attacks against land and environmental defenders. That report documented the murders of 65 land and environmental defenders in Colombia in 2020.

Canada and Colombia

It is in this context that many Canadian resource extraction companies operate in Colombia.

In 2018, Natural Resources Canada noted that $8 billion of Canadian energy assets abroad (CEAA) are in Colombia. In 2019, according to Natural Resources Canada, 23 Canadian mining companies held assets in Colombia totalling $1.38 billion.

IPS has reported: “The drafting of Colombia’s laws governing oil and mining has come under scrutiny from trade unionists and human rights activists, who allege that CIDA, the Canadian International Development Agency, helped write the legislation to advance the interests of Canadian companies operating in the country.”

Speaking about the energy and mining legislation, Francisco Ramirez, president of SINTRAMINERCOL, stated: “The new code flexibilized environmental regulations, diminished labour guarantees for workers and opened the property of afro-Colombian and indigenous people to exploitation.”

Canadian oil companies also pushed for the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

In May 2008, nine members of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce called on the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to move forward with the deal. Three of them were representatives of oil companies, all of them based in Calgary. The agreement was signed by November 2008 and came into effect on August 15, 2011.

The concept of corporate due diligence includes the idea that companies must publicly report on the steps they have taken to prevent human rights and environmental harms.

Given the relationship between extractivism and violence against defenders, the absence of due diligence legislation in Canada, the role Canada has played in writing mining and energy laws, and the high level of Canadian investment in resource extraction sectors in Colombia, we continue to follow this situation with deep concern.

PBI-Canada watching as trial of Guapinol River protectors resumes in Honduras

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: PBI-Honduras was present on December 14 as the legal team representing the Guapinol defenders filed a writ of habeas corpus seeking their release. Libertad para Guapinol comments: “Despite having the duty to immediately resolve the legal action, the Constitutional Chamber has failed to do so.”

On January 12, Criterio reported (in Spanish):

“The trial against the eight defenders of the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers will resume this Thursday, January 13, and will last until Thursday, January 27, announced the Court of Judgment of Colón, based in Trujillo. This without the Supreme Court of Justice having referred to the habeas corpus admitted on December 14.

In addition to this, the Justice for the Peoples Law Firm, part of the legal team that defends the eight environmentalists who have been under arbitrary detention for more than two years, published on its social networks that, despite the fact that the Court has shown a lack of independence, the Court of Appeals of La Ceiba declared the recusal against the judges without place.

This after the judges admitted a fourth crime, three years after the events for which Guapinol’s defenders are being tried occurred. The crimes for which they were being charged until a month ago were: unjust deprivation of liberty against Santos Corea, aggravated arson against Santos Corea, aggravated fire against Inversiones Los Pinares.

The fourth and new crime promoted by the Public Ministry (MP) and the private accusation is of aggravated damages. This new case was arbitrarily incorporated by the Court of Tocoa, composed of Judges Ricardo Geovanny Rodríguez, Franklin Marvin Arau Santos and Henry Geovanny Duarte Zaldivar.

The trial has been suspended twice. The first was due to the irresponsibility of the Public Prosecutor’s Office when it stated on the second day of the hearings that it still did not have at its disposal the means of evidence against the accused before the Tribunal and the defence team; and the second time after the MP and Court of Tocoa incorporated the fourth crime.

On the incorporation of this new accusation, the Observatory for Justice of the Defenders of the Guapinol River, through Karol Bobadilla, denounced that “the resolution that was issued by the Court was an arbitrary resolution and that it exceeds what had been requested and had also established the parties within their arguments”. Likewise, it was concerned that such incidents would occur at the opening of the trial and therefore requested the Court to replace that decision.

The eight defenders of the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers have been deprived of their liberty for more than 28 months, despite being recognized environmental defenders and that the United Nations Working Group on Illegal Detention concluded that their detention was arbitrary and should be released as soon as possible. They also called for a thorough and independent investigation of the judges and prosecutors who promoted the trial.

The recommendation was made at the end of February 2021 and almost a year later Ewer Alexander Cedillo Cruz, José Abelino Cedillo Cantarero, José Daniel Márquez Márquez, Kelvin Alejandro Romero Martínez, Porfirio Sorto Cedillo, Orbin Nahún Hernández, Arnold Javier Alemán and Jeremías Martínez Díaz, continue to be arbitrarily detained.”

The original article can be read at Juicio contra defensores de Guapinol se reanuda sin que la CSJ haya resuelto habeas corpus.

More from Libertad para Guapinol can be read at Guapinol trial resumes Thursday as Supreme Court fails to rule on arbitrary detention.

This tweet highlights that a Camp for Justice and Freedom will be installed this morning.

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