Home Blog Page 274

Wet’suwet’en land defenders enforce evacuation order, close Morice River Forest Service Road

By
Brent Patterson
-

Gidimt’en Checkpoint photo.

On November 14 at 9 pm PT, Gidimt’en Checkpoint tweeted: “WET’SUWET’EN people are once again in control of Wet’suwet’en yintah! [Hereditary Chief] Dinï ze’ Woos asserts jurisdiction by enforcing our laws with the 2021 Evacuation Order. The Morice River FSR [Forest Service Road] has been disabled, blocking trespassers from our yintah [territory]!”

They add: “CGL [Coastal GasLink] was given 8 hours to evacuate their worksites and after asking for an extension of two hours to get their workers out safely, CGL chose to keep their workers in the territory. They blockaded the road with trucks and heavy machinery on a bridge near what is known as Camp 9A.”

Jennifer Wickham, Gidimt’en Checkpoint media coordinator, says the eviction order radioed to CGL pipeline workers came with conditions that no Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers travel past the 30- kilometre point on Morice River and that all workers leave peacefully without any violence or harassment.

The RCMP

The deadline for evacuation had been set for 1 pm PT, but, as noted above, extended to 3 pm PT at the request of Coastal GasLink.

At 12 pm PT, Michael Toledano tweeted: “ALERT: 3 RCMP have broken the conditions of the evacuation and are responding to Gidimt’en frontline.” At that time, the Gidimt’en Checkpoint also tweeted: “Reports now they are putting up a drone.”

Yesterday, Dawn Roberts of the RCMP said: “We have had and will continue to have a police presence in the area. The primary responsibility of those officers has been to conduct roving patrols and respond to any complaints, but there has [sic] been no indications that I’m aware of that we were doing any enforcement today.”

Militarized raids in 2019 and 2020

The RCMP have previously launched two heavily militarized raids.

The first was on January 8, 2019, when 14 land defenders were arrested. Three weeks prior to that, the Gidimt’en clan had established a checkpoint at the 44-kilometre mark on the forest service road in support of a long-standing Unist’ot’en clan blockade at the 66-kilometre mark at the bridge crossing the Wedzin Kwa (Morice River).

After that raid, The Guardian reported, “Canadian police were prepared to shoot Indigenous land defenders blockading construction of a natural gas pipeline.”

And the second raid began on February 6, 2020, in which another 22 land defenders were arrested over a 5-day period.

In that instance, the RCMP set up an exclusion zone on January 13 blocking the public and media access at the 27-kilometre mark on the forest service road.

At the time of the second raid, The Tyee reported: “More than 40 officers arrived at the Gidimt’en camp at kilometre 44 on the Morice West Forest Service Road in two helicopters and a dozen police vehicles… People at the Gidimt’en camp said the RCMP force included tactical squad officers armed with rifles.”

International community

The international community is watching this situation closely.

World Beyond War and Christian Peacemaker Teams have been present on Wet’suwet’en territory for the past two weeks.

Today is also the deadline for Canada to submit its report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on its compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

On December 19, 2019, the UN Committee passed this resolution that called on: “The State party to guarantee that no force will be used against the Wet’suwet’en peoples and that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and associated security and policing services will be withdrawn from their traditional lands.”

This past June, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Supreme Court of the UK also issued statements on blockades in relation to the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, calling for tolerance and cautioning against disproportionate responses.

Peace Brigades International-Canada will be present on Wet’suwet’en territory beginning later this week as observers to monitor and report on compliance by the state with international human rights norms and conventions.

2020 map.

International community turns its attention to the Wet’suwet’en land defence struggle

By
Brent Patterson
-

On November 14, Michael Toledano tweeted: “Early today, the Cas Yikh ppl of the Wet’suwet’en @Gidimten clan enforced a long standing eviction of Coastal Gaslink. Workers were given 8 hours to leave, or the main road will be closed permanently. The eviction was sent by Chief Woos, then read over road radio channels.”

Toledano adds: “Workers have about 6 hours to leave. A handful have headed out. The eviction order warned that if RCMP are called to the scene, the road will be shut immediately.”

This is the evacuation order issued today.

When the eviction order was first posted on January 4, 2020, the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs stated: “We expect Coastal GasLink to peacefully comply with our eviction notice, and ask that British Columbia uphold its commitment to implement UNDRIP and instruct RCMP to respect our rights and refrain from interference in Wet’suwet’en law.”

That CGL fracked gas pipeline, being built on Wet’suwet’en lands without their free, prior and informed consent, has been backed by two highly militarized RCMP raids. The first was on January 8, 2019, when 14 land defenders were arrested. And the second on February 6, 2020, in which another 22 land defenders were arrested.

After the first RCMP raid in 2019, The Guardian reported, “Canadian police were prepared to shoot Indigenous land defenders blockading construction of a natural gas pipeline…” Significantly, that article highlighted: “The RCMP commanders also instructed officers to ‘use as much violence toward the gate as you want’…”

The Gidimt’en Checkpoint is asking for people to come to camp. That call was made again in this video after the notice of the eviction was issued to Coastal GasLink. The application form to go is on the Gidimt’en Yintah Access website here.

Activists from World Beyond War and Christian Peacemaker Teams along with others have spent the last two weeks on Gidimt’en territory. Peace Brigades International-Canada will also be present starting next week.

Video report from Rachel Small, World Beyond War Canada. Please also see this report from Esther Townshend, Turtle Island Solidarity Network, CPT.

The real work continues after the COP26 summit

By
Brent Patterson
-

Video: Wet’suwet’en land defenders have been criminalized for defending their territory against a fracked gas pipeline being built on their lands without consent. The application form to come to camp to support this struggle is here.

The United Nations COP26 climate summit concluded in Glasgow, Scotland on November 13. This is the full text of the Glasgow Climate Pact reached at those talks.

Greta Thunberg has tweeted: “The #COP26 is over. Here’s a brief summary: Blah, blah, blah. But the real work continues outside these halls. And we will never give up, ever.”

None of the 97 points in the pact mention land and environmental rights defenders, despite the murder of more than 1,005 defenders since COP21 in 2015.

In the lead-up to COP26, Fridays for Future made six demands of the governments preparing for the COP26 summit.

One of those demands was: “Stop the violence and criminalization against indigenous peoples, small farmers, small fisherfolk, and other environmental and land defenders. Support the work they do. Respect and listen to our defenders.”

The next Conference of Parties summit, COP27, will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on November 7-18, 2022.

COP28 will take place in 2023 in the United Arab Emirates.

Given the numbers documented by Global Witness over the years, hundreds more land and environmental rights defenders will be killed in between these summits.

Peace Brigades International continues to provide physical and political accompaniment to these frontline defenders in countries where they are most targeted.

“COP26 is a performance, it’s an illusion constructed to salvage capitalist economies rooted in resource extraction and colonialism. …Every day Indigenous people are criminalized, incarcerated, murdered, and disappeared because of industries propelling climate change. …We can’t get too comfortable at COP26, we need to be fighting for COP26 to be obsolete.“ – Tla’amin land defender Ta’Kaiya Blaney

Takaronto-based World Beyond War organizer Rachel Small has just returned from Wet’suwet’en territory. Her video report can be seen here.

PBI-Colombia notes serious threat against CSPP human rights defender Adriana Lizarazo

By
Brent Patterson
-

On November 13, PBI-Colombia tweeted: “Alert! Serious threat against human rights defender of our accompanied organization @CSPP_ in Santander.”

Earlier, the CSPP tweeted: “Human Rights Defender of the @CSPP_ and the @coeuropa [a network of 285 social and human rights organizations] received several threatening messages by WhatsApp from a profile that identifies with the letters AGC, acronyms of the armed group calling itself the Gaitanistas Self-Defense Forces of Colombia.”

CSPP president Franklin Castañeda has also tweeted: “We reject the threats received today by Adriana Lizarazo, human rights defender and coordinator of @CSPP_ in Santander. We ask @FiscaliaCol [the Attorney General’s Office] to promptly investigate and clarify this fact and @UNPColombia [the National Protection Unit] to provide the necessary protection to Adriana and her family.”

The CSPP further explains:

“At 12:26 p.m. [on Saturday November 13], human rights defender ADRIANA LIZARAZO, coordinator of the Santander branch of CSPP and recently appointed as Spokesperson for the Northeast Node of the Colombia-Europe-United States Coordination, received several messages by Whatsapp from the number 313 879 3816, a subscriber who in his profile is identified with the letters AGC, acronym of the name of armed group calling itself Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia, also known as Clan del Golfo.”

One of the threatening messages says: “On Tuesday wait at the office of… a little package that we are going to send you.”

Among the requests made by the CSPP in response to this situation: “We call on the international community, the IACHR, and the Inter-American Human Rights System to provide follow-up and accompaniment to human rights defender ADRIANA LIZARAZO, her family and the people who make up the Committee of Solidarity with Political Prisoners foundation, particularly in its Santander branch.”

Voices at Risk: Canada’s Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders outlines the actions the Embassy of Canada in Colombia could take at this time. That can include making public statements and using social media:

“Los llamamientos públicos comunes incluyen instar a las autoridades a realizar investigaciones prontas e imparciales de las presuntas violaciones de los derechos humanos y a tomar todas las medidas necesarias para garantizar la protección de todas las personas contra la violencia, las amenazas, las represalias, la discriminación, la presión o cualquier otra acción arbitraria como consecuencia de el legítimo ejercicio de sus derechos.”

Founded in 1973, the Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP) was Colombia’s first human rights defence organization.

One of the cases CSPP supports is that of the municipality of San Luis de Palenque in the department of Casanare, in which it defends social leaders who have been subjected to judicial proceedings for having led protests against the activities of the Calgary-based oil company Frontera Energy.

PBI-Colombia has accompanied the CSPP since 1998.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Council of Maya Ch’orti’ Communities of Quetzaltepeque in the struggle for the recovery of their ancestral lands

By
Brent Patterson
-

On November 13, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted: “PBI accompanies the Council of Maya Ch’orti’ Communities of Quetzaltepeque during its meeting with the organization #Udefegua on their struggle for recognition as indigenous communities and the recovery of their lands.”

PBI-Guatemala has explained: “The Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Authorities of Olopa and Quezaltepeque are fighting for recognition as indigenous communities, the recovery of their spirituality, the defense of their territory and the right to free, prior and informed consultation before the entry of mining projects into their territory.”

It adds: “They also seek to minimize the negative impacts of mining activities on the health of the people in their communities, denounce illegal logging and fight against gender violence in their communities.”

IWGIA has noted: “The report of the Human Rights Ombudsman of Guatemala, presented to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, on the occasion of the country review (session 98/2019), notes that there has been no significant progress on human rights for indigenous peoples.”

“For example, no legislation has been adopted regarding access, respect, registration or security of ancestral possession of indigenous lands; but instead, judicial evictions continued without indigenous peoples having had due process.”

It adds: “The report also notes that the State has not respected the rights of indigenous peoples to their lands and territories, nor their self-determination, nor does it guarantee prior consultation; instead, it continues to license extractive industries in indigenous territories and criminalizes human rights defenders.”

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

PBI-Colombia accompanies CCALCP as it supports Catatumbo communities in their demand for the right to peace

By
Brent Patterson
-

On November 13, the Luis Carlos Perez Lawyers’ Collective (CCALCP) tweeted: “In Bucaramanga during a visit by @christian_aid and @PBIColombia to @ccalcp progress was made in the construction of strategies in favor of Catatumbo communities in their demand for the right to peace, and actions to protect the work of human rights defenders.”

The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) has explained: “Located in North Santander department in a geographically remote area along the Colombia-Venezuela border, inhabitants in Catatumbo have long suffered violence and displacement due to the presence of multiple illegal armed groups that fuel their violence with funds from illicit economies.”

WOLA has further noted: “[Colombian civil society is] calling on all the armed actors present in the region—including the FARC’s dissidents, EPL, ELN, paramilitaries and Colombian armed forces—to cease hostilities and abide by a humanitarian accord in Catatumbo, which would guarantee the security of the civilian population.”

Adam Isacson of WOLA has further cautioned that the resumption of fumigation could spur a wave of violent rural protests and blockades that could be as dramatic as the mass national strike protests this year.

Earlier this year CCALCP tweeted: “Breaches of the National Comprehensive Program for the Substitution of Illicit Crops (PNIS) in Catatumbo will be studied by the Constitutional Court in a guardianship review filed by CCALCP together with [other organizations].”

Ten United Nations Special Rapporteurs have also told the Colombian government: “[Spraying poses] enormous risks for human rights and the environment, at the same time that it would not comply with the conditions established in the ruling T-236 of the Constitutional Court, nor with international obligations. in the matter.”

T-236 concluded there are elements to affirm, provisionally, that glyphosate is a toxic substance that, depending on the level of exposure, can cause cancer or have other health implications.

PBI accompaniment

The Colombia Caravana UK Lawyers Group has noted: In the period between 2005 and March 2013, CCALCP suffered 36 separate security incidents, including written and email death threats from paramilitary groups and the illegal interception of communications.”

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has accompanied CCALCP since 2006.

In November 2019, Julia Figueroa and Andrea Nocove from CCALCP along with Ivan Madero from CREDHOS visited Canada. You can read more about that at: Photo-journal of 8-day solidarity tour by Colombian human rights defenders from CCALCP and CREDHOS to Canada.

Earlier this week, CCALCP also tweeted: “We support the work of @AscamcatOficia [the Catatumbo Peasant Association] in defense of the territory, peace, a dignified life for the Catatumbo peasant women, victims and social leaders, Guarantees for the defense of human rights.”

Border militarization a concern as the US, Mexico and Canada hold summit on November 18

By
Brent Patterson
-

On November 18, US President Joe Biden will host Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for a North American Leaders’ Summit (NALS) in Washington, DC.

The media have previously dubbed these meetings Three Amigos summits.

The White House statement on the summit notes that climate change and “a regional vision for migration” will be on the agenda.

This past June, PBI signed this statement that expresses concern about the “militarization of borders, particularly in the United States, Mexico and Guatemala.”

That statement also highlighted: “There are hostilities, harassment, surveillance, defamation and aggressions against human right defenders, shelters and spaces supporting migrants, even during the pandemic.”

Last month, this report by the Transnational Institute found that Canada spent an average of $1.9 billion a year (over the years 2013-18) on the militarization of its borders while only contributing $149 million a year over the same period on climate financing to mitigate the impacts of climate change that drive forced migration.

Similarly, it found that the US spent $19.6 billion a year on the militarization of its borders and just $1.1 billion on climate financing.

The report does not include Mexico, but this past April Reuters noted: “Mexico has doubled its detentions of migrants with a deployment of 10,000 troops to its southern border, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said as Washington leans on regional governments to help slow arrivals at the U.S. border.”

At that time, the Associated Press also reported: “Mexico will maintain a deployment of about 10,000 troops, while Guatemala has surged 1,500 police and military personnel to its southern border and Honduras deployed 7,000 police and military to its border ‘to disperse a large contingent of migrants’ there.”

Meanwhile all three governments meeting next week have backed climate-disruptive megaprojects.

That includes the Line 3 tar sands pipeline in the US (that saw the arrest of 900 water protectors over this past year in Minnesota), the Morelos Integral Project (PIM) pipeline, aqueduct and thermoelectric plant in Mexico, and the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline on Wet’suwet’en territory in Canada.

PBI-Canada shares the concern that states appear to be prioritizing militarization over decarbonization and human rights.

Mexico will host the next North American Leaders’ Summit in 2023.

The last summit was held in June 2016 in Ottawa with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Barack Obama.

PBI-Guatemala meets with departmental and municipal authorities in Chiquimula

By
Brent Patterson
-

On November 12, PBI-Guatemala posted: “At PBI we traveled to the department of Chiquimula to present our work on the ground to the departmental and municipal authorities.”

PBI-UK has previously explained the theory behind this:

“Though government forces are not always the main threat to human rights defenders, they can obstruct their work and increase their vulnerability.

Wherever a PBI volunteer encounters a representative of government forces, that person should ideally already know who PBI is, what they are there to do, and that their superiors will reprimand them if they do anything to antagonise PBI.

Commanders at field level must know that any violations against PBI will be noted at higher levels. The teams must therefore regularly liaise with local police and military commanders to make sure that their subordinates know who PBI is.”

Peace Brigades International first operated a project in Guatemala from 1983-1999, which closed following the Peace Accords. Unfortunately, the human rights situation soon began to deteriorate and PBI returned  in 2003.

Defensor de la tierra de Tla’amin: “Rechazamos las soluciones coloniales para el cambio climático”.

By
Brent Patterson
-

Fotograma del video de Eriel Tchekwie Deranger.

En la cumbre de la COP26 en Glasgow, el defensor de la tierra de Tla’amin, Ta’Kaiya Blaney, declaró:

“Mi tierra y mis aguas están bajo la ocupación ilegal genocida del gobierno canadiense, las industrias de extracción de recursos y las corporaciones internacionales que nos están desangrando de nuestro derecho de nacimiento, el salmón, los cedros, el suelo.

El cambio climático sangra por nuestro derecho de nacimiento, pero el cambio climático es simplemente un síntoma de la fuerza destructiva más significativa responsable de tomar nuestras tierras y vidas todos los días y eso es el colonialismo.

Yo y todos mis familiares aquí hemos sido criminalizados, vigilados y experimentamos violencia a manos de la policía, las manos de la RCMP [Real Policía Montada de Canadá] y las órdenes judiciales emitidas por los gobiernos coloniales para sacarnos de nuestras tierras cuando nos interpongamos en el camino de las ganancias.

La COP26 es una actuación, es una ilusión construida para salvar las economías capitalistas arraigadas en la extracción de recursos y el colonialismo.

No vine aquí para arreglar la agenda, vine aquí para interrumpirla. El colonialismo es lo que causó el cambio climático y no voy a buscar soluciones a mis colonizadores.

Rechazamos las soluciones coloniales para el cambio climático. Las soluciones basadas en la naturaleza y los mercados de carbono son soluciones falsas enraizadas en la mercantilización de la naturaleza.

Todos los días, los pueblos indígenas son criminalizados, encarcelados, asesinados y desaparecidos debido a las industrias que impulsan el cambio climático. El cambio climático no es un fenómeno inocente, hay nombres detrás de él ”.

Para escuchar su discurso completo, haga clic aquí.

Puedes seguir a Ta’Kaiya en Instagram.

Foto de Adrien Salazar.

Ta’Kaiya Blaney at COP26: “My land and waters are under genocidal illegal occupation”

By
Brent Patterson
-

Still from video by Eriel Tchekwie Deranger.

At the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Tla’amin land defender Ta’Kaiya Blaney stated:

“My land and waters are under the genocidal illegal occupation of the Canadian government, resource extraction industries and international corporations that are bleeding us dry of our birthright, the salmon, the cedars, the soil.

Climate change bleeds of our birthright, but climate change is merely a symptom of the most significant destructive force responsible for taking our lands and lives everyday and that is colonialism.

Myself and all my relatives here have been criminalized, surveilled and experienced violence at the hands of the police, the hands of RCMP and injunctions issued by colonial governments to remove us from our lands when we get in the way of profits.

COP26 is a performance, it’s an illusion constructed to salvage capitalist economies rooted in resource extraction and colonialism.

I didn’t come here to fix the agenda I came here to disrupt it. Colonialism is what caused climate change and I’m not going to my colonizers for solutions.

We reject colonial solutions for climate change. Nature-based solutions and carbon markets are false solutions rooted in the commodification of nature.

Everyday Indigenous people are criminalized, incarcerated, murdered, and disappeared because of industries propelling climate change. Climate change is not a blameless phenomenon, there are names behind it.”

To listen to her full speech, please click here.

You can follow Ta’Kaiya on Instagram.

Photo by Adrien Salazar.

1...273274275...476Page 274 of 476