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After PBI-Colombia visits Ecuador with observation mission, human rights complaint filed at the UN against military helicopter attack on farmhouse

By
Brent Patterson
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Video still: “CANSEC is Global” promotional video shows military arm patch. “We’ve had the Ecuadorean minister on our booth.”

Video footage from the United States Southern Command retweeted by U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth suggests that the Ecuadorian armed forces used an Airbus H225M helicopter purchased directly from the manufacturer in 2023 in the bombing of a farmhouse in the village of San Martin in northern Ecuador on March 6, 2026, that is now the subject of an Alliance for Human Rights complaint as “an attack on a civilian population” filed with the United Nations and Ecuadorean officials.

Though not a conclusive link to the 2023 contract, Airbus was an exhibitor at the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa in 2022 and 2023, while an Ecuadorean military official was featured in a “CANSEC is Global” promotional video for CANSEC 2023 that additionally notes “the Ecuadorean minister” was present.

Community mobilizations against CANSEC have highlighted that human rights considerations are marginalized when 60+ international delegations and 300 corporate exhibitors are brought together at CANSEC.

PBI on observation mission in Ecuador

Deutsche Welle now reports that Peace Brigades International, Front Line Defenders, the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), Civicus, 11.11.11, and other international human rights organizations participated in an observation mission in Ecuador that took place from March 2-5, 2026.

The joint report on that mission will be published soon.

DW notes the report “speaks of the closure of civic space, threats against judicial independence and an increase in coercion against people who defend rights in extractive contexts or socio-environmental conflicts.”

DW highlights this excerpt of the statement (on March 6) from the mission: “The implementation of a security-type policy and the normalization of states of emergency and surveillance, as well as militarization, under the argument of facing a serious structural security crisis, is part of the deeply worrying panorama that we observe.”

INREDH: “They bombed a farm”

The Deutsche Welle article adds: “As for the militarization of the country, the population of San Martín, in the province of Sucumbíos, on the border with Colombia, allows us to glimpse what is happening.”

Ingrid García, executive coordinator of the Regional Human Rights Advisory Foundation (INREDH), told DW: “The military set fire to the houses and the next day they bombed a farm that was already completely destroyed.”

Video of that bombing was released on March 6, 2026, the day after the observation mission concluded its visit to Ecuador.

Alliance for Human Rights complaint

By March 24, the New York Times reported: “The Alliance for Human Rights, a coalition of groups in Ecuador, filed a 13-page complaint with the Ecuadorean authorities and the United Nations, claiming that the military’s actions were attacks on a civilian population. ‘There isn’t a single public official who has come to verify what happened,’ said María Espinosa, a human rights lawyer.”

Airbus helicopters

Global Defense Corp reports: “Ecuador currently operates a helicopter fleet in which Airbus types represent 80 percent, including the H215 Super Puma, H125 Ecureuil, H125M Fennec, and H145M. These platforms support current counterinsurgency efforts in northern provinces.”

That article also notes: “On June 2, 2025, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa and Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo formally delivered the first two Airbus H225M helicopters to the Ecuadorian Army [sourced directly from manufacturer Airbus] during at a ceremony held at Fort Huancavilca in Guayaquil.”

Photo of the H225M helicopter.

Ecuador, Airbus at CANSEC

The Global Defense Corp article says the contract was signed in 2023. The month of that signing is not specified.

Though not a definitive connection, Airbus was present at the CANSEC arms show that took place on May 31-June 1, 2023, in Ottawa, while a short clip of an Ecuadorean military officer was featured in the promotional video released ahead of CANSEC 2023 by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI).

Human rights violations in Ecuador were raised prior to that time.

Amnesty International has noted: “Ecuadorian organizations reported that the response of the authorities to protests by Indigenous peoples over socio-environmental issues that began in June 2022 resulted in a wide range of human rights violations. These included arbitrary detentions, excessive use of force, criminalization and attacks on journalists and human rights defenders.”

Ongoing monitoring

Peace Brigades International and the other groups in the observation mission pledged to “continue to accompany, monitor and raise awareness internationally about the situation of human rights and the rights of nature in Ecuador.”

PBI-Canada is doing so through its monitoring of the CANSEC arms show taking place this coming May 27-28, 2026, in Ottawa.

Further reading

–PBI expresses concern about the repression of human rights defenders in Ecuador, Canadian groups call for “Voices at Risk” to be implemented (PBI-Canada article, March 11, 2026)

–Despite human rights violations against Indigenous peoples and journalists, CANSEC promotes participation of Ecuadorean military at arms show (PBI-Canada article, May 28, 2023).

Nomadesc organizes 5 actions to end impunity on the 5th anniversary of the Social Uprising in Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
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Image text “5 years since the Social Uprising. To commemorate, remember, rediscover, breathe and always resist.”

The Association for Social Research and Action (Nomadesc) is marking the 5th anniversary of the national strike and social uprising in Colombia.

Nomadesc has posted on social media:

“5 years after the social outbreak, the memory remains alive. We do not forget. We do not stay silent. We do not give in. We unite as organizations to demand truth, justice, and an end to impunity. 5 years, 5 actions to keep resisting. #memory #nationalstrike #colombia.”

The five actions they highlight are: “1) April 28 – Memorial Gallery; 2) May 1 – Demonstration, 3) May 22 – Public hearing, 4) June 13 – Recognition gathering, 5) July 17 – Festival without media.”

They also list the names of 76 people who call to us. The poster notes: “Between April 28 and October 10, 2021, excessive violence by the police claimed the lives of 76 people in the cities of Cali and Yumbo.”

We will be following from Canada these activities in Cali, Colombia.

Journalist, researchers killed by Armed Forces of the Philippines on eve of Operation Balikatan exercise with Canadian soldiers

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: RJ Ledesma, Maureen Keil Santuyo, Errol Wendell, Alyssa Alano.

The Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment has expressed its solidarity with the families of the 19 people killed in the Toboso Massacre by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Negros Island on April 19, 2026.

Among the 19 people killed by the AFP were environmental defender and community journalist RJ Ledesma (who was there reporting on how renewable energy projects affect farming communities), community researcher and National Network of Agrarian Reform Advocates (NNARA) youth member Maureen Keil Santuyo, community researcher and organizer among sugar workers Errol Wendell, and University of the Philippines Diliman student Alyssa Alano (who had been living among farmers in Negros to study conditions of land grabbing and militarization).

Malaya Movement USA has also noted that Lyle Prijoles was killed in this attack in Toboso, Negros. They highlight: “Lyle was a Filipino American born in San Diego and community organizer in the Bay Area. …One example [of his work] was his advocacy for the Philippine Human Rights Act because he knew that US taxpayer dollars were funding bullets and bombs used by the PNP [Philippine National Police] and AFP.”

Kalikasan states: “Negros has long been subjected to heightened counterinsurgency, where communities serve as deadly military battlegrounds and residents are impunitively accused of being members of the insurgency, all under the guise of ‘security’. This militarization enables land grabbing and the expansion of large-scale projects—such as energy, mining, and reclamation without genuine consultation or respect for people’s rights and the environment.”

Militarization, land grabbing and killing defenders

Global Witness has documented that between 2012 and 2024, at least 306 land and environmental defenders have been killed in the Philippines (the third highest in the world after Colombia and Brazil).

Global Witness has previously noted: “The military was responsible for 64 out of 117 killings of Indigenous defenders between 2012-23.”

The Canadian military in the Philippines

Photo: Canada at the opening ceremony for Exercise Balikatan on April 20, the day after the Toboso Massacre. On April 22, David Hartman, the Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines, tweeted: “Canada is proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our partners during Exercise #BALIKATAN.”

The Toboso Massacre took place one day before the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) began its participation in Exercise BALIKATAN. The Canadian Defence Review had reported that Canadian personnel would be training “shoulder-to-shoulder” with partners, which would include the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Less than six months ago, on November 5, 2025, the Canadian government tabled a Notice of Intent to enter into free trade negotiations with the Philippines.

And just a few days earlier, on November 2, Canada and the Philippines signed a “Status of Visiting Forces Agreement” to further deepen security cooperation after a closed-door meeting in Manila.

At that time, Canada’s defence minister David McGuinty 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.”

In response, BAYAN Canada echoed the calls from BAYAN Philippines for “the immediate termination of the Canada-PH SOVFA.”

And the Ontario Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (OCHRP) in Ottawa stated the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) “means increased violence against activists and poor, people forced from their homes via careless military actions, as well as fisherfolk barred from accessing waterways to support their livelihoods during large exercises like Balikatan, and it means a blank check for the corrupt Government of Marcos Jr. to continue to repress the Filipino people.”

The Philippines at CANSEC

Defence Minister McGuinty will be speaking at the CANSEC “defence, security & emerging technology event” that will take place at the EY Centre in Ottawa this coming May 27-28, 2026.

The Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI) has also indicated that a delegation from the Philippines will there too.

That event will bring together 60+ international delegations and 300 exhibitors including the five most profitable weapons companies in the world: Lockheed Martin, RTX Corporation, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, and General Dynamics.

For updates on the mass protest being planned for May 28, click here.

Accompaniment

Peace Brigades International-Canada is highlighting the dangers faced by human rights defenders from the arms exports promoted at the CANSEC arms show as part of our commitment to holistic protection accompaniment.

PBI recently launched a Southeast Asia Project to accompany human rights defenders in the Philippines, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand.

Further reading: How the militarisation of mining threatens Indigenous defenders in the Philippines (Global Witness and Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, December 2024) and A Dangerous but Strategic Moment for Filipino Environmental Defenders (Danilova Molintas, November 23, 2025).

PBI-Canada sends a 25th anniversary solidarity greeting to the Association for Social Research and Action (Nomadesc) in Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
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Video still: Berenice Celeita, the president of Nomadesc, holds a tear gas canister during a PBI-Canada webinar on police violence against National Strike participants in Colombia, June 3, 2021. Three weeks earlier, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) had stated: “The Colombian government has responded with excessive force in the deployment of the military and police with the widespread use of live firearms, rubber bullets and tear gas against protesters.”

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has posted on social media:

“We extend our greeting and fraternal embrace to Nomadesc on their 25 years of work, @nomadescdh to organizations, communities, and collective processes of southwestern Colombia that fight for life, speaking out against violence and extractivism. #nomadesc #25thanniversary #colombia🇨🇴.”

PBI-Canada shares in this embrace of the work of the Association for Social Research and Action (Nomadesc).

Over just the past five years we recall a few key moments:

Berenice speaks on PBI-Canada webinar on police violence, June 2021

Berenice speaks on PBI-Canada webinar on weapons exports, May 2022

PBI-Canada visits with Nomadesc in Colombia, June 2022

Berenice visits Ottawa, October 2023

Berenice speaks on PBI-Canada webinar COP16, October 2024

Worker solidarity

We also highlight just two of the times that Nomadesc has expressed solidarity with workers struggles in Canada:

– Nomadesc in Colombia expresses solidarity with CUPE and Air Canada flight attendants (PBI-Canada article, September 4, 2025)

– PBI-Colombia accompanied NOMADESC expresses solidarity with Unifor struggle in Saskatchewan (PBI-Canada article, June 24, 2020).

And we note that at the time of the National Strike the labour movement in Canada were clear in their solidarity: Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), Unifor, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), United Steelworkers (USW), Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE),  Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Union of Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), British Colombia General Employees Union (BCGEU) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Photo: MAY 19, 2021: “PBI accompanied NOMADESC in Loma de la Cruz and Punto Resistencia in Cali in their work of monitoring and verifying violations of the human rights of protesters in the National Strike.”

Arms exports

And we note just a couple examples of their solidarity against war and genocide:

– PBI-Colombia accompanied Nomadesc demands an end to the genocide in Palestine (PBI-Canada article, August 30, 2025)

– Nomadesc message to CANSEC arms show in Canada “We Colombians do not want more weapons” (PBI-Canada article, June 2, 2022).

“We Colombians want no more weapons, no more massacres, no more disappearances, no more threats. No more fear. #StopTheGenocide. We demand truth, justice and guarantees that this will never happen again. Do not send us any more weapons. That makes you accomplices to barbarism. #Nomadesc #uip”

Accompaniment

Peace Brigades International has accompanied Nomadesc since 2011 and its president Berenice Celeita since 1999.

PBI-Canada remembers Indigenous Lenca water defender Berta Cáceres protesting the FTAA in Quebec City in April 2001

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Berta Cáceres with her children in 1999. Two years later, just after her 30th birthday, Cáceres was in Quebec City to protest the FTAA.

Long-time solidarity activist Tracy Glynn recalled at a memorial for Berta Cáceres in Fredericton, New Brunswick: “In 2001, Berta marched on the streets of Quebec City against the Free Trade Area of the Americas [FTAA] — with some of us here today. Let’s be clear that free trade agreements are foreign investor protection agreements. Berta fought against these kinds of agreements most of her life.”

“¡Hermano! Let’s get closer. Vamos.”

Nina Lakhani, author of Who Killed Berta Cáceres? Dams, Death Squads, and an Indigenous Defender’s Battle for the Planet (Verso Books) has also written about Cáceres in Quebec City in April 2001.

Lakhani highlights: “It was a crisp spring day and Berta Cáceras was there wrapped up, pumped and ready to resist on behalf of the Lencas, her indigenous group. …Berta was with the Mexican environmentalist Gustavo Castro. They had travelled to Quebec up the east coast as part of a speaking tour organized by Rights Action, a not-for-profit group investigating the impact of North American trade, economic and security policies in Central America.”

“Berta and Gustavo stood in front of parliament facing the impenetrable chain of riot cops, among protesters drumming and singing. It struck Berta that the demonstration was too far back. ‘¡Hermano! Let’s get closer. Vamos,’ she shouted, grinning at Gustavo, grabbing one end of the blue and white Honduran flag. Gustavo seized the other end and they rushed forward into a cold jet of water from a cannon behind police lines. They were pushed back and soaked, the flag went flying.”

Lakhani adds: “But Berta jumped up and yelled, ‘Let’s go again.’ This time, blinding tear gas forced the pair back. But they surged forward again and again, recalled Gustavo. ‘That was Berta. Always tenacious and always willing to put herself in the middle of every act of resistance. She never lost that energy.’”

“Adelante Compañero, you’ll recover from this soon enough.”

Daniel Fireside also recalls: “I met Berta in the spring of 2001. I was hired to be her accompanier/translator/driver for the next two weeks as we traveled across Canada on a speaking tour culminating in a series of protests and alternative conferences outside the Summit of the Americas… After almost two dozen speaking events in half as many towns, we ended up in Quebec City. There we met up with the co-directors of Rights Action, Grahame Russell and Annie Bird, as well as the leader of an environmental activist NGO based in Chiapas, Mexico, the sociologist Gustavo Castro Soto.”

“The lines of police, decked out in full riot gear, gas masks, and body-sized shields, took a proactive approach, lobbing canisters of tear gas and spraying water cannons whenever more they saw a handful protesters gathering together.”

Fireside then writes: “After one too many of these smoking cans was shot in our direction, I was moved to kick it away. I succeeded, but the winds changed and I was enveloped in a cloud of gas. …Berta squirted my eyes with a cleansing solution and gave me an approving smile for my foolhardy action. ‘Adelante compañero’, she said. ‘You’ll recover from this soon enough.’ And then she added with a laugh, ‘At least it isn’t the stuff your government sells to Honduras. They add a chemical that makes us vomit.’”

“Canadian-backed regime change coup”

Grahame Russell has written: “I met Berta in 1998 through my work with Annie Bird at Rights Action that, for 18 years, funded and was a partner-in-activism with Berta and COPINH that Berta had co-founded with her former partner Salvador Zuniga. Over these 18 years, Berta became a very dear friend.”

“On March 2, 2016, Berta was assassinated late at night in her bed, in her home in La Esperanza, Honduras.”

Russell writes: “It bears repetition over and over in the U.S. and Canada, that Berta was assassinated by a narco-dictatorship government and sectors of the traditional Honduran elites who came back to power after the U.S. and Canadian-backed regime change coup in June 2009.”

Photo: On the tenth anniversary of her death, PBI-Canada and PBI-Honduras gathered with many others, including Berta’s children and Gustavo Castro, at the cemetery in La Esperanza, Honduras where Berta Cáceres is buried. Peace Brigades International has accompanied the coordinators of COPINH, including Berta’s daughter Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres, since May 2016.

Photos: Peace Brigades International-Canada coordinator Brent Patterson, March 2, 2026, en route from La Esperanza to Tegucigalpa, Honduras for a march to demand justice for Berta Caceres; and April 20, 2001, FTAA protest, Quebec City.

Photo: Grahame Russell and Brent Patterson, Trent Community Movements Conference in Peterborough, Ontario; April 2023.

PBI supports “Dialogues on Journalism and Exile in Central America” regional conference in Guatemala City, April 15-16

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo by Instituto de Prensa y Libertad de Expresión. Dina Meza (centre) from the PBI-Honduras accompanied Association for Democracy and Human Rights in Honduras (ASOPODEHU).

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) highlights:

“To address the growing exile of journalists in the region, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) brought together journalists, media outlets, civil society organizations, government officials, diplomatic missions and international institutions for a regional conference entitled ‘Dialogues on Journalism and Exile in Central America’, held in Guatemala City on 15 and 16 April 2026.

One of the main outcomes of the conference was the clear willingness of Guatemala, Costa Rica and Honduras to create, with the support of RSF, a working group dedicated to strengthening cooperation in supporting and protecting journalists in exile. This initiative aims to translate the proposals into concrete measures, with the ambition of extending the dialogue to the host countries of the region.

The event was organized by RSF with the support of the EU and in partnership with human rights organisations, Protection International, Peace Brigades International (PBI) and Diakonia, consolidating a collective effort to promote effective responses to one of the biggest current challenges to press freedom in Central America.”

The full statement from RSF can be read at RSF brings together regional actors and organises conference on journalism and exile in Central America.

We continue to follow this issue that includes journalists exiled from Central America who are now living in Canada.

Photos: PBI-Honduras with Dina Meza.

UN High Commissioner Volker Türk affirms need to strengthen Protection Mechanism after meeting with Espacio OSC and PBI-Mexico

By
Brent Patterson
-

Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, has concluded his visit to Mexico.

On April 20, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted on social media: “At the start of High Commissioner @volker_turk’s visit to Mexico, @PBI_Mexico accompanied the meeting he held with representatives of civil society organizations, where the importance of strengthening dialogue and coordination between the government and civil society organizations was expressed.”

Espacio OSC also posted on social media: “During @volker_turk’s visit from @UNHumanRights, we delivered this letter regarding violence against human rights #humanrights defenders and journalists, and we called for action to promote the recommendations issued by @ONUDHmexico [the Mexico Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Defense and promotion of the rights of all persons] to strengthen the @Mecanismo_MX [Protection Mechanism].”

Statement by Volker Türk

On April 22, at the end of his visit to Mexico, Türk stated:

“I conclude my visit to Mexico with this press conference. It has been a very fruitful visit that has allowed me to learn first-hand about both the achievements and the challenges facing the country in terms of human rights.

The challenge of violence against journalists and human rights defenders continues unabated. Women defenders and reporters face aggravated risks, especially when they challenge organized crime, corruption, or gender-based violence.

I had the opportunity to listen to several and diverse testimonies of defenders of indigenous peoples, environmental peoples, LGTBI+ people, or victims of the abuse of informal pretrial detention, among others, who have paid an unimaginable price for defending rights.

The Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists is a very relevant model and a benchmark in the region, particularly for its governance scheme that actively incorporates civil society. Ensuring timely access for those who require it and consolidating their prevention capacity will enhance their effectiveness.

I spoke with the Attorney General of the Republic [Ernestina Godoy Ramos] and we agreed that the capacity for investigation must be increased after any attack on defenders and journalists. I hope that the investigation protocol for crimes against human rights defenders, in the drafting of which my Office has participated, will be adopted and implemented as soon as possible.”

Canada-Mexico Human Rights Dialogue

PBI-Canada looks forward to providing input for the upcoming Canada-Mexico Dialogue on Human Rights and Multilateral Affairs expected to take place in late-May in Ottawa. The thematic issues to be discussed include freedom of expression, media freedom and rights in the digital space, the theme under which the Protection Mechanism is expected to be discussed by the two countries.

We are now planning a second webinar with PBI-Mexico and Espacio OSC in advance of the Canada-Mexico Dialogue on Human Rights and Multilateral Affairs.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa Chiquimula at meeting with mayor

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has posted on social media:

“On Friday [April 17] #PBI accompanied the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa Chiquimula in its support to the Council of Ancestral Authorities of San Juan Ermita during its first meeting with the mayor of the municipality. An important step for dialogue and collective work by the community.”

Territorial defence against mining

PBI-Guatemala has previously explained: “The Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa 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. 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.”

Accompaniment

Peace Brigades International began accompanying the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa in June 2021, following their request, which is based on the serious increase in security incidents, defamation and criminalization.

Communities in France, Belgium and Canada protest the complicity of Safran in violence against Palestinians, Wet’suwet’en nation

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Organizers turn cars away during a shift change outside the Safran Electronics & Defense Canada Inc. facility in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Photo by Irene Suvillaga (Canadian Dimension magazine, March 2024).

Safran is both a sponsor and an exhibitor at the CANSEC arms show taking place at the EY Centre in Ottawa on May 27-28, 2026.

In their “Guide to French arms companies complicit with Israel, 2025 Edition”, Stop Arming Israel (France) notes: “Specializing in aero engines, equipment for civil and military aviation, and advanced electronics, Safran employs nearly 100,000 people worldwide, including more than 45,000 in France across its numerous subsidiaries, with around 20% of its business dedicated to the military sector.”

That Guide highlights: “In 2024, Safran Aircraft Engines placed an order with the Israeli startup Odysight.ai to acquire its predictive maintenance system based on micro-cameras combined with artificial intelligence software that analyzes the operating status of an aircraft in real time. This same technology is also used by the Israeli Air Force for its combat helicopters.”

Actions in France

Photo: Stop Arming Israel France co-organized an action in front of the headquarters of Safran to denounce the sale of arms to Israel.

In March 2024, Anadolu Agency reported: “Activists from the Stop Arming Israel organization in Paris held a protest in front of the headquarters of Safran… Marking a global day of action against arms companies ‘complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and West Bank’, member of Loic, one of the groups under Stop Arming Israel, told Anadolu that it was ‘mobilized in front of Safran Electronics and Defense headquarters in response of this call’. The group is there to ‘denounce the company’s complicity in the ongoing war,’ the member added.”

In December 2023, Workers in Palestine also noted: “The [Stop Arming Israel] collective, comprised of trade unionists, workers and activists have held frequent pickets of arms factories, arms fairs and university-based arms research centres, and have flyered workers at the Safran Genneviliers and Safran Velizy plants.”

Belgium

Stop Arming Israel (Belgium) has documented: “Safran Aero Boosters, 31% owned by the Walloon government, produces components for the American F-15 and F-16 warplanes in Herstal. These aircraft end up in the hands of the Israeli army and are used to bomb Palestine. …In Belgium, Safran has three operational sites: a production site for engines used for the F-15, a test center in Liers, and Safran Aircraft Engine Services in Zaventem and Steenokkerzeel.”

The Belgian news agency RTBF has also reported: “By analyzing in detail the types of fighter-bombers and the armies that use them, our experts are categorical: the engine parts manufactured by the Walloon company Safran Aero Boosters are indeed found in the reactors of Israeli F-15s and in particular in those used recently over Gaza or South Lebanon.”

Image by RTBF.

Blockade in Peterborough

In February 2024, the Palestinian Youth Movement noted: “Community members in Peterborough where Safran Electronics [is located] was shut down, as it provides telemetry equipment to the Israeli government and weapons manufacturers.”

Canadian Dimension further reports: “Just after dawn on February 26, a group of approximately 40 activists blocked both driveway entrances to the Safran Electronics & Defense Canada Inc. facility located in the south-end of Peterborough.”

The article explains: “In Canada, Safran’s direct subsidiary, Safran Electronics, employs over 1,700 workers at seven industrial sites across the country, including in Ajax, Montréal, Mirabel and London. Safran Electronics manufactures unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones), military aircraft engines, optronic equipment and sites, as well as other components for military operations.”

That article in Canadian Dimension magazine by Professor Kirsten Francescone and freelance journalist Irene Suvillaga also notes: “A press release from 2021 identifies an agreement between Safran and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., an Israeli defence company, to produce a proprietary battlefield targeting technology which is designed to ‘improve situational awareness for ground forces.’ Safran has also supplied surveillance equipment including fingerprint scanners and mounted camera systems to the Judea and Samaria police force in the occupied West Bank to uphold what Amnesty International has described as a system of ‘automated apartheid.’”

Photo by Irene Suvillaga (Canadian Dimension magazine, March 2024).

Hunger strike at McGill targets Safran

At the time of the blockade in Peterborough, Ontario, students at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec also began a hunger strike to demand that their university divest its shareholdings in Safran.

The McGill Daily has reported: “French company Safran supplied biometric technology to the Israeli Police Force operating in the West Bank in 2013. …McGill currently invests $1,507,748 in Safran.”

The Guardian also quoted Rania Amine, an undergraduate student at McGill University on her 33rd day of a hunger strike against these investments, saying: “McGill has ultimately pushed us to take this extreme form of action and put our bodies and our health and our lives on the line to make them know that it is absolutely unacceptable that they use our tuition money to invest in this way.” Middle East Eye reported that Rania was hospitalized on her 34th day of being on hunger strike.

Video still: Rania Amine.

On Wet’suwet’en territory

Francescone and Suvillaga also note: “In 2023, Peace Brigades International reported that the RCMP special task force responsible for the militarized raids on the ancestral lands of the Wet’suwet’en nation in British Columbia utilize Airbus H145 helicopters, the engines for which are produced by Safran.”

Photo: The H145 is equipped to deploy the RCMP’s Emergency Response Team.

Vertical has reported: “The machine’s two Safran Helicopter Engines Arriel 2E turbines are equipped with full-authority digital engine control (FADEC), which integrates with the H145’s state-of-the-art Helionix avionics suite.” The link between the Airbus H145 and Safran Arriel engines is also made on this Safran website.

Shut Down CANSEC, May 27-28

A wide range of social movements, peace groups, faith communities, non-governmental organizations, and individuals will be mobilizing to protest the CANSEC arms show on Wednesday May 27 and Thursday May 28.

PBI-Canada to participate in “Shut It Down” webinar on community resistance to the arms trade in the United Kingdom, Spain and Canada

By
Brent Patterson
-

Webinar speakers: Laura Ferrer (Spain), Kirsten Bayes (UK) and Simon Black (Canada).

PBI-Canada will participate in the “Shut it Down: Global Actions Disrupting the Arms Trade” webinar on Thursday May 7 at 1:00 pm EDT.

To register for that webinar, click here.

The webinar will bring together Laura Ferrer from Desarma Madrid, a “platform for the demilitarization of Madrid [that is] against arms fairs and other events”, Kirsten Bayes from the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), “a UK-based organisation working to end the international arms trade”, and Simon Black from Labour Against the Arms Trade, a “coalition of peace and labour activists working to end Canada’s participation in the international arms trade”.

The webinar will be moderated by Brent Patterson from Peace Brigades International-Canada, an accompaniment organization that has linked the arms trade with violence against human rights defenders and communities.

The webinar will explore these questions with the panelists:

1-What is your organization doing to disrupt the arms trade in the city where you are located? What informs why you have taken on this work?

2-What is a key lesson that you have learned in this work?

3-What do you think would most strengthen the global movement to disrupt the arms trade? How do we take this to another level as we see military spending and militarism dramatically increase around the world?

4-What is next on your agenda? What is your next moment/next planned intervention to disrupt the arms trade?

5-What message do you have for those who will be mobilizing in Ottawa on May 27-28 to challenge the CANSEC arms show?

To register for the webinar, click here.

“Shut it Down: Global Actions Disrupting the Arms Trade” is jointly organized by Shut Down CANSEC, an Ottawa-based campaign to shut down the CANSEC arms show, and the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), “an anti-imperialist and democratic formation” that works for “the cause of just peace” and “human rights in the civil, political, economic, social and cultural fields”.

Additional reading: PBI-Canada remembers Ueli Wildberger and the “menschenteppich” at the arms show in Winterthur, Switzerland (November 2023).

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