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PBI-Honduras accompanies ARCAH and MADJ at launch of the Permanent Assembly of People’s Power in Tegucigalpa

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 12, PBI-Honduras tweeted: “PBI accompanied @Arcah_hn [Alternative for Community and Environmental Reclamation of Honduras] and @MovAmplioHn [the Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice/ MADJ] during the public presentation of the Permanent Assembly of People’s Power of Honduras.”

Their tweet adds: “At PBI, we highlight the importance of dialogue and joint work in defense of human rights.”

Criterio reports: “At least 50 organizations of the popular and social movement in Honduras made official this Tuesday [January 11] the formation of the Permanent Assembly of People’s Power (APPP) in the vicinity of the Presidential House, an event during which they read their proclamation and announced the next delivery of a letter addressed to President-elect Xiomara Castro.”

“The coordinator of the Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice (MADJ) and lawyer, Víctor Fernández, told Criterio.hn that the APPP is a body that raises several issues of struggle that involve the demand for the construction of the National Constituent Assembly, demilitarization, the revocation of the model of unconsulted and corrupt concessions.”

“As well as the demand for justice against crimes against defenders of the territory, environment and human rights from the eighties to the present, with the murders committed during the coup d’état of 2009 and the electoral fraud of 2017, between others.”

“Fernández said that the Permanent Assembly of People’s Power is opening an autonomous communication channel with the new government, through which they will deliver the letter to President-elect Xiomara Castro in the coming days.”

That article adds: “The proclamation in total has fourteen points, and states that they are moved by their ‘historical responsibility for the construction of a society and a State directed by and from the popular proposal, which overcomes and defeats the hegemony of capital, which does justice to the victims and that it punish the elites who have plundered and filled our people with pain and shame, historically making the vital contribution of women, indigenous peoples, blacks, Afro-indigenous peoples and the invisible dissidents.’”

VTV also reports: “The installation of the National Constituent Assembly and the demilitarization of the country are part of the proposals for the new government announced today by more than 50 grassroots organizations that make up the Permanent Assembly of People’s Power.”

Xiomara Castro will be inaugurated on January 27.

 

PBI-Kenya accompanies march in Nairobi demanding an end to femicide and justice for Elizabeth Ibrahim Ekaru

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Kenya outside the Supreme Court of Kenya in Nairobi, January 11.

On January 12, PBI-Kenya tweeted: “Yesterday #WHRDs and #HRDs across Kenya demonstrated against the increase in femicide and violence against women in Kenya, after the murder of #WHRD Elizabeth Ekaru.”

Elizabeth Ibrahim Ekaru was murdered on January 3 in the town of Isiolo.

The Star reports that in that community situated 285 kilometres north of Nairobi: “Women rights activists, civil society groups and the public joined in the peaceful procession to protest the killings of other Kenyan women as well.”

Women’s rights defender Alice Karori told the Star: “We marched to the County Commissioner of Isiolo’s office where we presented our petition against the killing of our very own rights defender Elizabeth and other women who died through femicide.”

That article adds: “They also submitted a petition, which sought for a speedy investigation into the killings of Ekaru, to the county commissioner’s office.”

AmKenyan also reports: “Human rights defenders on Tuesday [January 11] held protests in at least six counties to condemn the murder of environment and land activist Elizabeth Ibrahim-Ekaru.”

That article continues: “In Nairobi, protestors were led by women human rights defender Rachael Mwikali from, the Coalition of Human Rights Defenders, the Social Justice Centres Working Group among other groups. They petitioned the judiciary at the Supreme Court of Kenya before proceeding to Harambee House where they presented another petition to the Office of The President.”

And YWLI, a feminist centre based in Nairobi, tweeted: “Femicide is a global issue, @StateHouseKenya [the official residence of Uhuru Kenyatta, the President of Kenya] should declare now. 1. Declare #Femicide a national emergency. 2. @DCI_Kenya [the Directorate of Criminal Investigations] to give an update and accountability on the progression all femicide cases in Kenya.”

Further reading: PBI-Kenya shocked by killing of land rights activist Elizabeth Ibrahim Ekaru, calls on government to protect WHRDs (January 6, 2022)

PBI-Honduras notes six femicides in Honduras this year, a woman is murdered every 23 hours

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 11, PBI-Honduras tweeted: “So far in 2022, more than six femicides have been registered in Honduras. According to @CONADEH [National Commissioner for Human Rights], a woman is murdered every 23 hours.”

The tweet above concludes: “We highlight the important work in defense of women’s rights carried out by thousands of defenders throughout the country.”

In 2020, PBI accompanied 54 organizations across our different projects, comprising of 1,803 individuals, 896 of whom are women. That year, 173 PBI volunteers, 77% of whom are women, contributed to our work around the world.

On March 6, 2020, PBI-Honduras observed the International Women’s Day march in Tegucigalpa. At that time, they noted: “The topics for which they showed presence on the street included: Impunity for sexual crimes, rapes and femicide, and the machismo of Honduran society that has many faces.”

Prensa Latina also reported, “Women’s advocacy organizations protested demanding the State to declare a national emergency state due to the high rate of femicides.”

“To remind prosecutors they are obliged to investigate crimes against women, they marched to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.”

That article further notes: “On the first day of 2020 five women were reported dead, according to official data.”

The Agencia EFE article on the march quotes Ana Cruz of the Women’s Tribune (la Tribuna de Mujeres) who says 390 women were killed in Honduras in 2019.

That article also notes: “At the end of the march, a performance by young women was staged to demand that a ‘national emergency’ be declared for femicides in the country and that the prosecutor not ‘turn a deaf ear’ to the appeals of women calling for ‘justice’.”

On Facebook this week, PBI-Honduras highlighted: “For years, Honduras has been among the most dangerous countries in Latin America to be a woman. At PBI, we are concerned about the vulnerable situation for women in this country.”

International Women’s Day march, Tegucigalpa, March 6, 2020.

Sign at Annie Pootoogook Park vandalized in Ottawa

By
Brent Patterson
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Mother and Child (2006), coloured pencil and ink on paper, by Annie Pootoogook.

On Monday January 10, the sign at the Annie Pootoogook Park in the Ottawa neighbourhood of Sandy Hill was vandalized with red paint.

The Ottawa Citizen reports: “The name honouring the internationally renowned Inuk artist was crossed out and ‘Sandy Hill’ scrawled in spray paint.”

The park was named after Pootoogook in November 2021.

The body of 46-year-old Pootoogook was found in the Rideau River in September 2016.

At that time, the Toronto Star reported: “Pootoogook, born in Cape Dorset, Nunavut, was an acclaimed, award-winning contemporary Inuit artist best known for her frank, ink-and-crayon drawings of contemporary northern life.”

That article further noted: “Her work was reflective of her own life and community, at times chronicling her experience of physical and sexual abuse and living with relatives suffering from alcoholism.”

After her death, Stephen Dale wrote: “Throughout Canada, and internationally, Annie Pootoogook was responsible for a seismic shift in the way Inuit art is perceived. The young artist offered a candid, unfiltered and unembellished view of life in the North, where aspects of traditional Inuit culture coexist with Nintendo consoles, frozen foods and the televised visage of Dr. Phil, and where modern problems such as alcoholism and domestic abuse have touched many lives.”

CTV also commented: “Her art reflected her experience as a female Indigenous artist living and working in contemporary Canada.”

An appreciation by Nancy G. Campbell of Pootoogook’s artwork can also be read here.

This past November, Annie’s older sister Elisapie Pootoogook was found dead in downtown Montreal after seeking shelter in a condominium building construction site.

Photo by Randy Boswell.

PBI-Colombia warns of death threats against the Peace Community of San José de Apartado

By
Brent Patterson
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On December 23, 2021, PBI-Colombia accompanied the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó on a march in defence of life and to protest the murder of Huber Velásquez just a few days earlier.

On January 11, PBI-Colombia tweeted: “Death threats increase in #Uraba against the Peace Community of San José de Apartado, a process accompanied by PBI Colombia, at the same time that there are murders of residents in the region.”

PBI-Colombia also shared a Colombia+20 tweet that states: “A list of 15 people for whom there is a death sentence circulates in that Urabá community. According to testimonies, the maxim is to work with the AGC or to be assassinated. The climate of anxiety increased after the fall of ‘Otoniel’ [the leader of the AGC, arrested in October 2021].”

That El Espectador article notes: “The threats began on November 19 in the village of Mulatos Medio, where the paramilitaries of the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC) or Clan del Golfo convened a meeting of the Communal Action Boards to announce to the population that there would be strict control of the cutting of wood in the region with reprisals for those who failed to comply with their orders.”

“The culmination of everything was the murder of Húber [Velásquez], a merchant and friend of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó.”

El Espectador further notes that the Special Jurisdiction for Peace declared on January 7, 2022, that the massacre of four campesinos and four children from the Community on February 21-22, 2005, as a crime against humanity.

Justice for Colombia is also now reporting that the JEP has determined that army colonel Orlando Espinosa Beltrán, who was one of six military officials convicted in 2019 over the killings, is among the officials guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Their article adds: “The peace community in San José de Apartadó was established in 1997, declaring itself as neutral in the conflict. However, its inhabitants faced high levels of violence, principally from paramilitaries and state actors, as they attempted to live peacefully amid one of the most conflict-affected regions of Colombia.”

PBI-Colombia has accompanied the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó since 1999.

On March 23, 2021, PBI-Colombia accompanied the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó as it marked its 24th anniversary in struggle for life and territory.

CCAJAR lawyer Yessika Hoyos to speak on Day of the Endangered Lawyer webinar, January 24

By
Brent Patterson
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Colombian lawyer Yessika Hoyos will be speaking on a Day of the Endangered Lawyer webinar on Monday January 24 at 5:00-7:00 pm EST/COT. To register, please click here. PBI-Colombia has accompanied CCAJAR since 1995.

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.”

They highlight: “This year, LRWC is working with the Law Society of Ontario’s Human Rights Committee and Human Rights Watch to organize an online event to discuss the situation of lawyers at risk in Colombia.”

To register for this webinar that includes Yessika Hoyos from the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR), please click here.

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.”

“Death threats were received by prominent human rights lawyers from CCAJAR, Reinaldo Villalba in 2020, and Yessika Hoyos Morales and Sebastián Escobar Uribe in early 2021. The CCAJAR lawyers’ collective itself received death threats in December 2021, only the latest ominous development in its 40 year history.”

“The longstanding attacks against CCAJAR led the law firm to file a 2001 petition against Colombia before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR). The petition set out the pattern of persecution of the organization and its members since the 1990s in the form of attacks, intimidation, and illegal surveillance by state authorities.”

“The persecution continued for years after the petition was filed, the evidence of which the IACHR considered in its 2019 report on the petition’s merits, which found that the Colombian government was responsible for the violation of the rights of CCAJAR members, including their rights to life, personal integrity, freedom of expression and association, movement, and residence.”

“The petition was recently referred to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and will be heard by the Court in 2022.”

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.

Peace and Reconciliation Foundation warns of increased violence in Colombia as May 29 presidential election approaches

By
Brent Patterson
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This is an election year for Colombia.

The presidential election will take place on May 29 and current President Ivan Duque, who is not running for re-election, will hand over power to the new president on August 7.

There will also be legislative elections on March 13. That election will elect members to the House of Representatives and Senate.

Bloomberg has reported that a survey conducted between November 26 and December 1, 2021, shows Senator Gustavo Petro leading the presidential candidates with 42.1%, while former Medellín mayor Sergio Fajardo ranks second with 18.9% support.

That article adds: “Rodolfo Hernandez, former mayor of Bucaramanga, obtained 13.8%, while Óscar Iván Zuluaga, from President Iván Duque’s Democratic Center party, had 12.7% support, according to the survey.”

Some commentary points to the recent wins by Gabriel Boric in Chile and Pedro Castillo in Peru. For instance, OilPrice.com comments: “Conflict-torn Colombia could be the next regional country to have a left-wing anti-extractivist president. Former leftwing guerilla senator Gustavo Petro holds a massive lead over his opponents in the country’s political polls.”

It adds that Petro promises to not renew existing coal mining contracts upon expiry, restrict large-scale open pit metals mining, end contracting for petroleum exploration, eventually halt crude oil exports, and ban fracking.

Last month, Infobae reported: “The Peace and Reconciliation Foundation (Pares) warned of the growing violence in the face of the 2022 elections in which 16 people have been killed in the exercise of their electoral work for next year and who, in addition, are part of the 140 victims of another type of violence related to the campaigns for next year’s elections in 99 events that have been registered since March 13 of [2021].”

In September, Reuters had reported: “Most victims were elected public officials like mayors and city councillors from left-leaning parties like the Green Alliance and Human Colombia, the group [Pares] said.”

The Pares report says: “This situation will likely worsen nationally given the strengthening of alternative political parties compared to traditional political classes.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has maintained a friendly relationship with Colombian President Ivan Duque and Canadian companies are heavily invested in the oil industry in Colombia. Between 2019 and 2021, Canadian companies secured 39 new oil exploration blocks in Colombia.

The Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia also continue to import coal from the controversial Cerrejón mine in Colombia. NB Power has been buying approximately 500,000 tonnes of coal from the mine since the mid-1990s.

We will be watching this electoral context in Colombia in 2022 in relation to the safety of human rights defenders.

PBI has been present in Colombia since 1994.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Ch’orti’ Ancestral Authority land defender Felipe Diaz Ramos at first statement court hearing

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 10, PBI-Guatemala posted: “PBI accompanied the hearing of the first statement of the ancestral authority of Olopa Felipe Diaz Ramos, detained this morning and charged with illegal detention.”

Prensa Comunitaria has explained: “He is a defender of the land and currently resists the illegal operations of the mining company Cantera Los Manantiales.”

FGER adds: “For his work in defense of the rights of the Ch’orti’ communities, the owner of the mining company filed a complaint in 2019 which resulted in the capture of Díaz Ramos on January 9. The spokesman of the indigenous community of Olopa, Ubaldino García, points out that this detention is part of criminalization, persecution and intimidation actions against people who defend the rights of Mother Earth.”

In 2015, the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines granted a 30-year mining licence to Cantera Los Manantiales to mine in the area about 200 kilometres east of Guatemala City without consulting the Ch’orti‘ communities of Olopa.

In 2016, twenty-two leaders who engaged in nonviolent protest were criminalized.

In November 2018, Ch’orti’ environmental activist Elizandro Perez, who led a local resistance against the mining company, was found dead in his home.

In February 2019, a peaceful blockade of the mine site was established given this violation of Indigenous rights and pollution of local water sources.

In March 2019, a group of armed men assaulted Ch’orti’ resisters participating in the rotating 24/7 blockade known as a “resistance point.”

In November 2019, the Supreme Court of Justice “provisionally suspended” the mine pending consultation with affected Indigenous communities.

In June 2020, traditional authority and mine opponent Medardo Alonzo Lucero was murdered.

In August 2020, the home of Ch’orti’ defender Ubaldino García Canan, an interlocutor of the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa, was broken into and documents were stolen.

In December 2021, Mongabay reported: “[After the court ruling] the resulting government-led consultation process consists of information and dialogue, without the possibility of respecting the community’s potential refusal to consent to mining.”

That article adds: “More than 20 local Maya Ch’orti’ community leaders and residents faced criminal charges related to their protest activities.”

According to the police, the arrest of Felipe Díaz Ramos on January 9, 2022, related to a court order issued on August 19, 2021.

PBI-Guatemala began accompanying the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Authorities of Olopa and Quezaltepeque in June 2021.

PBI-Guatemala at courthouse for first statement hearing, January 10, 2022.

PBI-Guatemala seeks field volunteers, application deadline is January 23

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has issued a call for new field volunteers and is accepting applications until January 23.

The training and selection week will be held May 29 to June 4 in Yorkshire, England.

Placement in the field would come after that.

Among the requirements are a good level of Spanish, the ability to commit a minimum of 12 months work in the field, and being at least 25 years of age.

Among the organizations that PBI-Guatemala accompanies include: Chicoyogüito Neighborhood Association of Alta Verapaz (AVECHAV), the Human Rights Lawyer’s Office, Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Authorities of Olopa and Quezaltepeque, ‘New Day’ Ch’orti’ Campesino Central Coordinator, the Peaceful Resistance La Puya, Retalhuleu Community Council, and the Union of Campesino Organizations for the Verapaces (UVOC).

To watch two recent webinars about volunteering in the field, please click here (October 24, 2021) and here (February 28, 2021).

More about the application process can be read here.

PBI-Honduras mourns the murder of trans leader Thalia Rodriguez

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo by Reportar sin miedo.

On January 10, PBI-Honduras posted: “We deeply regret the murder of trans leader and activist Thalía Rodriguez that occurred today January 10 in Tegucigalpa.”

“Thalía was a tireless advocate of the rights of the LGBTIQ+ community. Just a month ago a report was published about her life and work as an activist in Honduras.”

“We express our concern for the situation of violence and discrimination that the LGBTIQ+ collective suffers and for all the risks that advocate community members face day-to-day.”

PBI-Honduras then highlighted: “We remember the importance of carrying out an exhaustive investigation.”

Report without Fear reports: “The 58-year-old activist stood out for leading the trans movement in Honduras. It is the first LGBTIQ+ violent death of 2022 and the 400th since Vicky Hernández’s transfemicide in June 2009.”

That article also quotes JLo Córdova, member of the trans association Muñecas de Arcoíris, who says: “Thalía had been fighting for many years so that in Honduras the trans community had rights. She was a warrior because she always fought for our rights. We condemn and repudiate his murder. No more hate crimes against our community. We are outraged by this vile murder.”

The Washington Blade adds: “Rodríguez, 58, led Asociación Cozumel Trans, a Honduran trans rights group.”

CATTRACHAS, the Lesbian Feminist Organization of Honduras, tweeted: “We demand compliance with the judgment of the @CorteIDH [Inter-American Court of Human Rights] against Honduras in the case of Vicky Hernández, especially in providing protection to LGBTI people in the country.”

In June 2021, The Guardian reported: “In a landmark ruling for transgender rights, the Honduras government has been found responsible for the 2009 murder of the trans woman and activist Vicky Hernández.”

“The court ordered Honduras, which has the world’s highest rate of murders of trans people, to implement a sweeping range of measures designed to protect trans people, including anti-discrimination training for security forces and state collection of data on violence against LGBTQ+ people.”

That article also noted: “Lawyers working on Hernández’s case argued that state agents actually committed the murder. …The court ruling, which ordered Honduras to restart its investigation into Hernández’s death, found ‘several indications of the participation of state agents.’”

Last month, Thalia stated: “Really who is the protagonist of all the damage they do to the trans women’s community? It’s the same state. The one who says he watches and protects is the one who kills us, the one who hurts us.”

Arcoiris coordinator Donny Reyes has echoed that concern: “The biggest problem that we face is the violence of the state security forces towards the LGBT+ community: the armed forces, the police, the criminal investigation police, military police, municipal police.”

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has accompanied Arcoíris, the LGTB Association of Honduras, since July 2015.

“We deeply regret the murder of the leader and trans activist Thalía Rodríguez that occurred today, January 10, in Tegucigalpa. Thalía was a tireless defender of the rights of the LGBTIQ + community.”

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