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PBI-Mexico accompanies the Peoples’ Front as community assembly creates drinking water committee in Xoxtla, Puebla

By
Brent Patterson
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On November 21, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted on social media:

“In the last few days we accompany the People’s Front of Morelos Puebla Tlaxcala (FPDTA) in their activity to support the fight for water defence in Xoxtla, Puebla.

During the community assembly, more than 400 people voted to suspend the excavation of new wells, supporting the court ruling ordering to temporarily halt extraction.

We express our concern for the environment of risk faced by members of the FPDTA and the community of Xoxtla for their legitimate defense of the territory. From PBI we recognize your struggle and will continue to follow this organizational process.”

That community assembly took place on November 11.

At that time, El Sol de Puebla reported: “Residents of the municipality of San Miguel Xoxtla demanded that the municipal authorities return to the citizens the control of the wells based on uses and customs. Therefore, they created a drinking water committee so that it is in charge of ensuring that the vital liquid stays in the demarcation and no longer profits from it.”

Community radio station FM Cholollan has commented: “The struggle of the people of Xoxtla represents a historic watershed in the defense of water as a common good. Through community organization and the strategic use of legal tools, they have shown that it is possible to confront the extractivist interests that have profited from this vital resource for years. The public assembly and the refusal to dialogue behind closed doors show its commitment to transparency and participatory democracy.”

Notably, the community assembly came just days after Animal Politico reported on November 6: “A federal judge ordered the temporary suspension of the excavation of the Pavigi well, known as the Bienestar well, located in the municipality of San Miguel Xoxtla, Puebla. In the same ruling, the judge also ordered the cessation of operations at wells 4 and 5 in San Miguel Xoxtla, as well as prohibiting the issuance of any extensions to the concession or the granting of new ones.”

That article then highlights: “In a statement, the community of Xoxtla emphasized that federal justice ‘comes after the justice of the people and sides with the community, not the governor,’ regarding the administration and allocation of water in their territory. They also emphasized that this legal victory is the result of a long struggle by the community, as the residents of Xoxtla themselves halted the preparation of well number 5 more than a year ago, and that of well number 4 in May of this year.”

That Animal Politico article further provides the context: “According to data from the Committee in Defense of Water of San Miguel Xoxtla, Puebla ranks fifth in the exploitation of illegal deep wells, and this exploitation comes not only from water truck drivers, but also from real estate companies, industries, and primarily from criminal transnational corporations like Agua de Puebla.”

In July 2025, La Jornada de Oriente also reported: “The companies Ternium México S.A. de C.V. and Concesiones Integrales [a private water company that holds the concession for the drinking water service in Puebla] currently exploit just over 89 percent of Xoxtla’s groundwater, while 5 percent corresponds to agricultural purposes and the rest for services and domestic activities, reveals the Public Registry of Water Rights (RPDA) of the National Water Commission (Conagua).”

That article adds: “Ternium, the company considered the largest steel producer in Latin America, with one of its plants in Xoxtla, extracts 3,162,342 cubic meters of water per year, that is, 66.31 percent of the total of the 14 water concession titles that are registered in the municipality.”

The Guardian has also previously reported: “Relatives of two missing Mexican environmentalists [human rights lawyer Ricardo Arturo Lagunes Gasca and Aquila Indigenous community leader Antonio Díaz Valencia] are pointing the finger at a transnational mining company [Ternium] which they claim is responsible for environmental destruction and violence in the rural community, and may have links to the criminals who abducted their loved ones.”

Accompaniment

Following the court ruling on November 6, Citizens’ Council for the Defence of Land and Water in San Miguel Xoxtla posted about: “The criminalisation, not only on social media and the false rumours that our comrade Pascual had been murdered, but also direct attacks from the State Governor and Secretary of the Interior, who claimed that the water did not belong to a leader, but to the nation, and that Xoxtla had water and would supply it to the city of Puebla.”

Educa Oaxaca has also explained: “[Their] resistances [in defence of the right to water] have provoked a wave of violence and criminalization against water and territory defenders such as Pascual Bermúdez and Renato Romero, in addition to a campaign of lies and public attacks against the movement by the Governor of the State and an attempted aggression with a firearm against people who remained on guard at wells 5 and 4 in the early morning of October 30.”

PBI-Mexico has accompanied the Peoples’ Front in Defence of Land and Water – Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala since early 2020.

We continue to follow this.

Canada signs Declaration at COP30 that commits to proactive policies for the safety of environmental journalists and defenders

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo by UNESCO.

A growing number of countries, now including Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain, have signed a “Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change” at COP30 in Belem, Brazil.

The Declaration includes the language:

“Concerned by the growing impact of disinformation, misinformation, denialism, deliberate attacks on environmental journalists, defenders, scientists, researchers and other public voices and other tactics used to undermine the integrity of information on climate change, which diminish public understanding, delay urgent action, and threaten the global climate response and societal stability

We call on Governments to:

Create and implement policies and legal frameworks aligned with international human rights law that promote information integrity on climate change, and respect, protect and promote human rights, including the right to freedom of expression and access to information; and ensure the safety of environmental journalists, defenders, scientists, researchers and other public voices”

At the launch of the Initiative, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay commented: “Through this initiative, we will support the journalists and researchers investigating climate issues, sometimes at great risk to themselves, and fight the climate-related disinformation running rampant on social media.”

And this United Nations statement headlined “Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change” summarizes: “The Declaration – endorsed by Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay – establishes shared international commitments to tackle climate disinformation and promote accurate, evidence-based information on climate issues. The Declaration also calls on governments, the private sector, civil society, academia and funders to address the impact of disinformation, misinformation, denialism and deliberate attacks on environmental journalists, defenders, scientists and researchers that undermine climate action.”

Reporters Without Frontiers (RSF) comments: “The commitments made by the signatory states include … the implementation of proactive government policies to ensure the safety of environmental journalists…”

RSF further notes: “Around the world, journalists who investigate and report on issues related to the environment, natural resources and their management are regularly obstructed from doing their jobs, threatened and attacked for exposing operations such as illegal land exploitation, gold mining, deforestation and pollution. Over the past decade, nearly 30 journalists working on these topics have been killed…”

The RSF list of “30 journalists [who] embody [the] struggle for freely reported environmental coverage” includes the PBI-Guatemala accompanied Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ journalist Carlos Ernesto Choc for his reporting on the Fenix nickel mine.

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Guatemala on social media:

“Yesterday [November 18, 2025], #PBI accompanied community journalist Carlos Ernesto Choc in El Estor, located in the department of Izabal. We visited the community radio station Xyaab’ Tzuultaq’a and Defensoria Q’eqchi’, which is leading strong resistance in the region, informing communities about mining operations and the violence occurring in the territory.

Because of their work, the radio station’s collaborators have suffered many threats, raids and criminalisation. Their commitment is to care for the land, water and well-being of the indigenous communities, guardians of El Estor, and that is why they continue to fight.

During the visit, we delivered our latest Popular Bulletin, on whose cover they appear. They were very happy and proud of their work of struggle and resistance since 2017. Popular Bulletin No. 17 is intended to highlight the importance of the work of community radio stations.

It is available for download and reading on our website (https://shorturl.at/tmDvQ). We continue to support Carlos Choc’s work as a journalist in his territory, in his struggle to build bridges between the different strategies of resistance in Izabal and make them visible.”

Further reading: Countries seal landmark declaration at COP30—marking first time information integrity is prioritized at UN Climate Conference (United Nations External Press Release, 12 November 2025).

PBI-Canada hosts webinar on COP30 with Indigenous West Papuan land and environmental defenders, Global Witness policy advisor in Brazil

By
Brent Patterson
-

On Tuesday November 18, PBI-Canada hosted a webinar that featured Indigenous West Papuan environmental defenders Dina Danomira and Teddy Wakum along with Global Witness policy advisor Javier Garate.

They offered their insights about COP30 in Belém, Brazil in a discussion with PBI-Canada coordinator Brent Patterson in Ottawa and an audience of 100+ people listening in from Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Norway, the United Kingdom, Honduras, Indonesia, Fiji, Rwanda, Morocco and New Zealand.

Just a few days prior, on Saturday November 15, Dina, Teddy and Javier participated – with 70,000 people – in the Great People’s March.

Dina Danomira

During the webinar, Danomira highlighted: “Not many people know that West Papua has the third largest rainforest in the world after Amazon and Congo. It is very important for us to increase our international solidarity and raise awareness about environmental destruction and human rights abuses in West Papua.”

The Guardian has also explained: “West Papua is the western half of the island of New Guinea, home to the world’s third-largest rainforest. It is rich in natural resources, including the world’s largest gold and copper mine, as well as extensive reserves of natural gas, minerals and timber. …West Papua, which has been under Indonesian control since 1963 [is] where thousands of acres of rainforest are being cleared for agriculture.”

That industrial agriculture includes sugar cane, palm oil and bioethanol production for export. (It remains to be seen how this will be impacted by the new Canada-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement announced by Canadian prime minister Mark Carney in September 2025.)

Teddy Wakum

Wakum further noted: “We are here to highlight the issue of Indigenous people and the other issue of human rights violations. In West Papua, in Merauke, we are concerned on the ground about the Indonesia policy that plans to take two million hectares of land.”

In September 2024, Mongabay reported: “A total of 2 million hectares (5 million acres) of forests, wetlands and grasslands in Merauke district will be razed to make way for a cluster of giant sugarcane plantations, part of the Indonesian government’s efforts to boost domestic sugar production. Five consortiums, consisting of Indonesian and foreign companies [including PT Global Papua Abadi], are confirmed to be participating in the 130 trillion rupiah ($8.4 billion) project, with roles ranging from developing sugarcane plantations and processing mills, to building the power plants to run them.”

Mongabay has also reported that Wakum, a lawyer and the director of the Merauke Legal Aid Institute (LBH), is providing legal assistance to many of the Indigenous communities affected by the food estate project.

Javier Garate

And Garate shared: “The Defenders Team at Global Witness has supported the COP do Povo or the People’s COP where there is a wall that the friends did with all the names of every person, every land and environmental defender, that we as Global Witness has documented who have been killed since 2012.”

In September 2025, Global Witness published its annual report on land and environmental defenders, titled Roots of Resistance, that showed that the total number of defenders killed or disappeared from 2012 to 2024 now comes to at least 2,253 people.

That list includes the names of 25 land and environmental defenders killed in Indonesia during that period. Global Witness notes that those killed in 2024 include:

Petition to stop PSN Merauke

At the conclusion of the webinar, Danomira stated: “For us, as West Papuan, we need all the international solidarity that we can get. So, as simple as mentioning West Papua in any action, in any protest, in any intervention, is very powerful for us. Our case is the same as in the Amazon and Congo, and even in conflict areas like Palestine, West Papua is experiencing a lot of that too.”

The Guardian has reported: “West Papuans say more than 500,000 of their people have been killed by the occupation in the past six decades, while millions of acres of their ancestral lands have been destroyed for corporate profit.”

That article adds that the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) describes this repression as a “hidden genocide”.

Danomira highlighted: “I would like to put in a petition that is ongoing which is part of a court case that they are bringing to the National Constitutional Court about the issue of the National Strategic Project in the whole Indonesia. If everyone could just help and sign the petition we are trying to send that to the President to stop this project.”

The petition – Land Grabbing and Deforestation Is the Biggest Deforestation, President Prabowo Stops PSN Merauke! – can be found here.

Earlier this year, Mongabay also explained: “Hundreds of Indigenous people and civil society groups in Indonesia are demanding an end to government projects that have seized their lands, fueled violence, and stripped them of their rights. …[They oppose the] displacement and suffering caused by …projects classified as being of strategic national importance, or PSN… which include roads, dams, power plants, industrial estates and plantations.”

That article notes that “priority projects” with the PSN designation are fast-tracked “often at the cost of people’s rights and environmental and social impacts.”

Defenders under threat

On the same day as the webinar, UN Special Rapporteurs Mary Lawlor, Michel Forst, Elisa Morgera and others highlighted: “The protection of Indigenous Peoples’ human rights is essential, as they are facing widespread violations not only because of the continued expansion of fossil fuels in their territories, but also just transition projects, mining and carbon credits that do not respect their rights or harm biodiversity, water, food and health. Indigenous Peoples seek to be heard and ask that solutions affecting them are co-developed with them.”

Also on the same day as the webinar, Morgera, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and climate change, further wrote: “At COP30, the international community must recognize that protecting human rights defenders – and co-developing climate solutions with them – is central to delivering on the Paris Agreement. …Protection of defenders and co-development of renewables and transition minerals projects must become a condition for climate finance, not an afterthought.”

UNEA-7 in Kenya, COP31 in Turkiye

Morgera further noted: “Beyond COP30, the UN Environmental Assembly in December could be another opportunity to take these points forward.”

The seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) will take place from December 8–12, 2025, in Nairobi, Kenya.

It is now known that COP31, briefly discussed during the PBI-Canada webinar, will take place in Antalya, Turkiye in November 2026.

We continue to follow this.

Previous reading: Register now for PBI-Canada webinar on COP30 and West Papuan Indigenous human rights defenders (November 14, 2025)

Additional reading: Canada signs Declaration at COP30 that commits to proactive policies for the safety of environmental journalists and defenders (November 20, 2025).

PBI-Mexico and PBI-Kenya meet with West Papuan Pusaka and Mexican Cerezo Committee human rights defenders in Mexico City

By
Brent Patterson
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On November 18, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted on social media:

“Last Friday [November 14], PBI Mexico – together with colleagues from Peace Brigades International – Kenya Project and PUSAKA [an Indonesian organization focused on research, advocacy and the documentation and promotion of indigenous peoples’ rights] – met with the Cerezo Mexico Committee to strengthen our collaboration and share analysis on the current context of human rights defence in Mexico.

We are grateful for this space for exchange, which reinforces the networks of international solidarity that accompany those who defend human rights.”

On November 20, PBI-UK also posted on social media:

“The Fight to Protect Defenders Just Got Stronger. PBI’s global teams just concluded a high-stakes exchange in Mexico City, focused on one thing: how to keep human rights and environmental defenders alive and working in the face of immense danger. We shared proven tactics, refined our threat analysis, and committed to a new strategy to make our most effective protection tools available to more defenders than ever before. Ben Leather, PBI UK Director: ‘Both PBI and the defenders we work with are thinking outside of the box to keep defenders safe and ensure they make change.’”

PBI-UK has further noted: “Protection experts from PBI’s field teams in Colombia, Costa Rica (covering Nicaragua), Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Indonesia, and Mexico, as well as colleagues from the International Secretariat [based in Belgium] and the UK office, joined forces [at this meeting in Mexico City].”

We continue to follow this work.

Register now for PBI-Canada webinar on COP30 and West Papuan Indigenous human rights defenders

By
Brent Patterson
-

Webinar speakers Teddy Wakum, Dina Danomira, Javier Garate.

Join us on Tuesday November 18 for an update about the United Nations COP30 climate summit from two Indigenous land defenders from Indonesia and a Global Witness representative who speaking from Belem, Brazil.

The webinar will take place at 3 pm local time in Brazil (10 am in Vancouver, 1 pm in Ottawa, 7 pm in Brussels).

Register now here.

Teddy Wakum Indigenous Papuan frontline human rights defender

Wakum has noted: “I am the Director of a legal aid organization in Merauke, West Papua. I am an fighting for the rights of indigenous West Papuans. …In Merauke the National Strategic Project plans to clear more than 2 million hectares of land. …This land clearing will not only affect the people in Papua but also contribute to the climate crisis, and this is only one example of many cases of deforestation in West Papua. This project also brings hundreds more military troops to the area to manage the project.”

Dina Danomira West Papuan Indigenous activist

From Belem, Danomira has posted on Instagram: “It is a shame that many Indigenous voices are not included in COP30 negotiations, and we feel this deeply as West Papuans. Our forest is not for negotiation, our forest is not YOUR BANK. We are guests here in the Amazon and we fight alongside them, our Indigenous relatives, for a sustainable future for the forest and our planet. The time for action is now. Let’s make sure indigenous rights are at the forefront of all discussions!”

Javier Garate Global Witness policy advisor

Garate is the Senior US Policy Advisor – Land and Environmental Defenders at Global Witness as well as a member of the Peace Brigades International-Canada Board of Directors and a former PBI-Colombia advocacy representative. Global Witness has highlighted that at COP30, countries must agree to stop criminalization against land and environmental defenders, ensure transparent and prompt justice for defenders who have been attacked, among other measures, and systematically identify, document and analyze attacks on land and environmental defenders.”

To register for this webinar, click here.

CANSEC attendee to be sentenced on November 24 for assault in Ottawa against Palestinian woman in May 2024

By
Brent Patterson
-

This past July, CBC News reported: “A Swiss man has pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman at an anti-war, pro-Palestinian demonstration in Ottawa during the 2024 CANSEC conference, a defence industry showcase hosted by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI).”

That article notes: “He is expected to be sentenced following submissions on Nov. 24.”

Rheinmetall manufactures ammunition

The CBC News article from July 2025 further noted that David Henschel resides in Switzerland and “is an employee of Rheinmetall Waffe Munition Schweiz AG (RWMSchweiz AG), an ammunition manufacturer”.

Rheinmetall explains: “RWM Schweiz AG (former Oerlikon Contraves Pyrotec AG) specialises in the development and manufacture of medium calibre ammunition for land, air and naval applications, including anti-aircraft rounds.”

In January 2024, Spiegel reported: “According to SPIEGEL information, Israel had asked in November [2023] for Germany to approve the delivery of around 10,000 rounds of 120-millimeter precision ammunition manufactured by Rheinmetall. …Since then, the Chancellery, the Ministry of Defense, the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Economics have been discussing the request in strict secrecy.”

The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) has reported: “On 3 July 2024, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Rheinmetall to respond to the allegation over Rheinmetall’s weapons deals with Israel during the ongoing invasion of the Gaza Strip and that Rheinmetall avoids the German government’s arms export restrictions by exporting weapons through subsidiaries based in other countries with less strict policies. We also invited Rheinmetall to respond to the call by UN Experts to cease the transfer of arms to Israel. The company did not respond.”

And Al Jazeera has previously reported: “British company BAE Systems, in conjunction with German company Rheinmetall, manufactures M109 self-propelled howitzers which have been used to shell densely populated areas in Gaza. Amnesty International has found evidence that these artillery weapons also deployed white phosphorus munitions, which can burn skin down to the bone and cause organ dysfunction; their use in civilian areas is restricted under international law.”

CANSEC 2026

In her July 2025 report, From economy of occupation to economy of genocide, Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, urged the international criminal court “and national judiciaries to investigate and prosecute corporate executives and/or corporate entities for their part in the commission of international crimes and laundering of the proceeds from those crimes.”

Numerous corporations that exhibit and sponsor CANSEC have been implicated in arming the genocide in Palestine.

The next CASEC, billed as “Canada’s leading defence, security & emerging technology event”, will be held on May 27-28, 2026, at the EY Centre in Ottawa.

Registration for CANSEC opens in March 2026.

More from shut.down.cansec on Instagram.

PBI-Honduras visits Travesía as ancestral Garifuna lands continue to be sold to private developers, agribusiness without consent

By
Brent Patterson
-

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

“Last week, we visited the Garifuna community of Travesía (Cortés). In 2011, the Honduran Black Fraternal Organisation (OFRANEH) filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for alleged violation of the right to collective property and prior consultation. The community of Travesía alleges that the title deed granted by the National Agrarian Institute in 1997 does not match their ancestral title, leaving them unprotected against the transfer of land to tourism projects.”

In July 2024, Mongabay provided this additional context:

“Since the early 17th century, the Garifuna Afro-Indigenous peoples of Honduras have lived on the country’s northern Caribbean coast, where they collectively own large tracts of rich coastal land and sustain their livelihoods on subsistence agriculture and small-scale fishing. But ever since palm oil plantations, tourist developments and other harmful practices have expanded across their ancestral lands and their way of life and territory have been under threat.

“Our communities are facing a war,” Miriam Miranda, a Garifuna human rights defender and leader of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH), told Mongabay over WhatsApp messages. “Today, we no longer plant corn, beans and rice on the coast,” she said. “Our territories have been filled with African palm oil.”

Land purchase agreements on Garifuna territory have been supported by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Other agencies, such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), have also provided loans to expand plantations in the area.

Garifuna leaders and human rights organizations, such as OFRANEH, have denounced the Honduran state for selling their ancestral lands to private developers, agribusiness and drug traffickers without their consent and argue that the government has failed to recognize, respect or protect their fundamental rights.

Since 2018, more than 150 Garifuna peoples have been killed, 37 criminalized and five forcibly displaced. In 2023, four Garifuna leaders were murdered, including Martín Morales Martínez, a member of the commission set up to ensure the state complies with the 2015 Inter-American Court ruling. Morales was also a part of the Committee for the Defense of the Land in Triunfo de la Cruz. Earlier, in 2020, four Garifuna leaders had disappeared after a group of 30 heavily armed men in police uniforms were seen entering their homes. These leaders were never seen again.”

The full Mongabay article can be read at Garifuna land rights abuses persist in Honduras, despite court ruling (Aimee Gabay, July 17, 2024).

We continue to follow this.

Additional reading

U.S. and Canadian tourism investors at center of land conflicts and criminalizations of Indigenous Garifuna people in Honduras (Karen Spring, Honduras Solidarity Network, August 26, 2025)

OFRANEH denounces Canadian Randy Jorgensen for trafficking archaeological items, usurpation of Garifuna lands (PBI-Canada, November 28, 2024)

PBI-Honduras visits Garifuna community of Nueva Armenia following police violence after recovery project (PBI-Canada, November 3, 2024)

‘Little Canada’ displacing Afro-Indigenous communities in Honduras (Sandra Cuffe, Ricochet, December 5, 2014).

PBI-Mexico accompanies Search for Relatives ‘Returning Home’ at Human Rights Commission working tables in Morelos

By
Brent Patterson
-

On November 13, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted on social media:

“#PBIaccompanies

Yesterday, we accompanied the collective Búsqueda De Familiares ‘Regresando A Casa’ A.C. (Search for Relatives ‘Returning Home’) at the working tables of the initiative ‘Regional Dialogues towards the Human Rights Agenda’ of the Human Rights Commission of the state of Morelos.

It was an enriching space to share concerns and reflections on the main challenges in the field of human rights, exchange ideas, and strengthen ties of collaboration between institutions and collectives.”

The BBC has reported: “More than 130,000 people have been reported as missing in Mexico. Almost all the disappearances have occurred since 2007, when then-President Felipe Calderón launched his ‘war on drugs’. In many cases, those disappeared have been forcibly recruited into the drug cartels – or murdered for resisting. While drug cartels and organised crime groups are the main perpetrators, security forces are also blamed for deaths and disappearances.”

That article adds: “Many affected families have formed search teams, known as ‘buscadores’, who scour the countryside and the deserts of northern Mexico, following tip-offs, often from the cartels themselves, as to the whereabouts of mass graves. The buscadores carry out the searches and their activism at great personal risk. Following the recent discovery in Jalisco state of an apparent narco-ranch by a search group, several of the buscadores involved were disappeared.”

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Colombia accompanies the Campesina Association of Catatumbo (ASCAMCAT) on Humanitarian Verification Mission

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo by Vivamos Humanos.

One week ago, PBI-Colombia posted on its Instagram stories: “From PBI we will be accompanying @ascamcat.oficial [the Campesina Association of Catatumbo] at the Humanitarian Verification Commission in Catatumbo.”

On November 12, Vivamos Humanos posted on X: “#VerificationCommissionofCatumbo Today, we head out to the municipality of Tibú, in the heart of Catatumbo, to carry out our verification commission together with the Catatumbo peacebuilding humanitarian table and other organizations.”

And yesterday, November 13, ASCAMCAT posted on Instagram: “As part of the second verification commission, the Catatumbo humanitarian committee visited the villages of #camposeis and #bertrania, calling for respect for minimum humanitarian standards. It also collected and documented human rights violations that contravene international humanitarian law (IHL).”

Video still from ASCAMCAT.

On November 11, Catatumbo Radio explained: “Between November 12 and 14, a verification commission made up of social and humanitarian organizations will enter the areas most affected by the armed conflict in Catatumbo, with the purpose of verifying the critical situation faced by the communities and documenting the human rights violations that persist in the territory.”

That post continues: “Humanitarian verification commissions play an essential role in conflict zones such as Catatumbo, as they allow for independent and close monitoring of the reality of the communities, make visible the complaints that often fail to reach official channels, and generate early warnings that can save lives.”

And Caracol Radio reports: “Juan Carlos Quintero, a member of the Association of Peasants of Catatumbo Ascamcat, told Caracol Radio that ‘there are 110 people who will be participating in this activity and receiving complaints from the civilian population, which is the one that has felt this conflict that tends to worsen and where we already have more than 83 thousand displaced people.’”

That article continues: “He pointed out that the greatest concern in the territory continues to be the attacks by illegal immigrants on the civilian population, the use of drones, and the war that does not cease after ten months of clashes between the ELN [National Liberation Army] and the FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia].”

We continue to follow this.

Further reading: PBI-Colombia accompanies Humanitarian Caravan that seeks an end to armed violence against civilians in Catatumbo (PBI-Canada article, February 5, 2025).

PBI-Guatemala attends the presentation of new public policy for the protection of human rights defenders

By
Brent Patterson
-

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

“Today, PBI is attending the presentation of the #PublicPolicy for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.

‘Defending human rights is not a crime, it is an act of active citizenship and deep love for the country,’ said Marco Antonio Sandoval, Minister of the Interior. ‘The Public Policy also represents a change in the mindset of the State: defenders are not enemies but allies of democracy (…) the State of Guatemala sees them, hears them and recognises them.’

The tool, which seeks to protect and recognise the role of defenders in a democratic society, was approved after a process that began in 2016 as a result of a request from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), within the framework of compliance with the guarantee of non-repetition, following the murder of defender Florentin Gudiel.

‘Public policy is the first step, we urge you to keep moving forward,’ @udefegua [Unit for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Guatemala] asked President Arevalo.”

The Associated Press reports: “The Guatemalan government on Thursday [November 13] presented its new public policy for the protection of human rights defenders that defines the actions to be taken when their life, safety and integrity are violated. This includes risk and threat prevention mechanisms, a protection system, and investigation protocols. It also promotes coordination with the Judiciary to guarantee access to justice and dignified reparation.”

Republica adds with additional details: “The Minister of the Interior, Marco Antonio Villeda, explained that the policy is based on three pillars: prevention of risks and threats through early warning systems, comprehensive protection with physical, digital and psychosocial measures, and access to justice and reparation to guarantee effective investigations and sanctions.”

Prensa Comunitaria reports: “The initiative seeks to address a historical context of attacks against defenders, including murders, criminalization, harassment and hate speech, especially directed at indigenous leaders, environmental leaders, journalists and women defenders.”

Their article further explains: “The policy defines a human rights defender as “any person who, individually or collectively, acts or seeks to act to promote and procure the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” according to international standards. The document also emphasizes that the status of defender is determined exclusively by the activity carried out, regardless of whether he receives remuneration, belongs to an organization or acts occasionally or permanently. A wide range of actors are included: from indigenous leaders and justice operators to journalists, community communicators and public officials, as long as their actions are peaceful and promote human rights, recognizing themselves as subjects of rights and not only as objects of protection.”

And Prensa Libre highlights: “Some data presented by Copadeh [the Presidential Commission for Peace and Human Rights] indicate that during the years 2022 and 2023, around nine thousand attacks against human rights defenders were registered, of which one thousand 500 were against communicators and journalists.”

Protection Mechanisms elsewhere

PBI-Canada and PBI-Mexico are working in collaboration with Espacio OSC to strengthen the existing Protection Mechanism for human rights and journalists in Mexico. Radio Canada International recently reported on the PBI supported advocacy intervention by Espacio OSC in Ottawa at: Canada asked to strengthen protection for defenders and journalists (RCI, November 5, 2025).

PBI-Canada also recently noted the Government of Canada highlighting the need to improve the Protection Mechanism in Honduras during that country’s Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations: Canada calls on Honduras to strengthen its Protection Mechanism for human rights defenders at UPR intervention at the UN in Geneva (PBI-Canada, November 12, 2025).

Global Witness has described Colombia’s National Protection Unit (NPU) as a “flawed protection mechanism”. They further note that in 2024 the NPU granted protection to over 4,000 human rights defenders and provided 321 groups with collective protection measures – 31 per cent of the requests the NPU received. In 2024, five defenders who had requested or were under protection were murdered.

We continue to follow this.

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