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PBI updates MEP Miguel Urbán Crespo on the situation in Guatemala, Mexico and Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
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On February 16, Miguel Urbán Crespo tweeted: “Thank you the compañeras from #PBIGuatemala, @PBI_Mexico and @PBIColombia for taking the time to inform us about the situation of defenders and coordinate actions and proposals.”

The top row in the photo shows advocacy representatives from the Peace Brigades International frontline entities in Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala, while the second row has Urbán (center) and two of his colleagues.

Urbán is a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the Left in the European Parliament grouping (formerly known as the European United Left/Nordic Green Left). He is also a member of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly.

The Left currently holds 41 seats in the European Parliament.

PBI at the European Parliament

In November 2019, Peace Brigades International organized to have women human rights defenders speak to the Subcommittee on Human Rights.

The delegation of defenders included Nora Ramiréz and Franklin Álvarez (CNTC-Honduras), Telma Perez (TZ’KAT-Guatemala), Emilie DeWolf (Consorcio Oaxaca-Mexico), Sandra Calel (UVOC-Guatemala), and Olga Araujo (NOMADESC-Colombia).

At that time, the Left in the European Parliament tweeted: “In Latin America women defenders of land environment and human rights are particularly vulnerable. The multinationals arrived to explore the natural resources but with them brought violence and oppression.”

MEPs call for Guapinol water defenders to be released

In April 2020, Urbán was among the MEPs who signed this letter to the Honduran president that called on him “to free Guapinol rights defenders amidst COVID crisis.” The letter also expressed their “deepest concerns over prolonged pre-trial detention of human rights defenders in Honduras, and in particular of members of the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa.”

MEPs nominate Guapinol and Berta Caceres for Sakharov Prize

In September 2020, the Left group in the European Parliament nominated the late Honduran activist Berta Cáceres (founder of COPINH) and the water defenders of Guapinol for the European Parliament’s annual Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

At that time, Urbán stated: “Berta Cáceres and the political prisoners of Guapinol represent all the defenders of land and territories and indigenous peoples.”

Peace Agreement in Colombia

The Left in the European Parliament has also called for “the EU implement an audit to the funds disbursed to support the peace agreement and to encourage progress in its implementation” and has urged “the fulfilment of the signed agreements, the rejection of violence against social leaders and demand that the safety of the signatories of the agreement be guaranteed, for the real construction of a stable and lasting peace.”

Furthermore, the Left in the European Parliament has petitioned the European Parliament to suspend trade deals with Colombia unless the Colombian government takes urgent action to address its poor human rights record.

Urbán has also commented on the report ‘The Role of Companies in Armed Conflict and Sociopolitical Violence’ by the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR) that notes several European firms have exacerbated the conflict in Colombia

He said: “Civil society, human rights defenders, local communities, they are raising their voices, which we join and support, to denounce the non-compliance with the Peace Agreement, the persistence of paramilitaries, the killings of human rights defenders, the land grabbing, and the forced displacement of peasants, indigenous and Afro-descendant populations.”

Urbán highlighted: “We have to challenge all this in light of the activities of European big companies and hold European countries accountable for their compliance.”

Members of Parliament in Canada

Inspired by this meeting, PBI-Canada will be looking into organizing a similar briefing for Members of Parliament in Canada committed to human rights in Latin America. To date we have organized meetings between defenders accompanied by PBI and MPs Paul Manly (Green Party) and Alistair MacGregor (New Democratic Party).

Photo: In November 2019, Emilie DeWolf (Consorcio Oaxaca-Mexico), Telma Perez (TZ’KAT-Guatemala) and Kerstin Reemtsma (Peace Brigades International-Guatemala) spoke at the European Parliament in Brussels.

PBI-Honduras observes Guapinol residents filing complaint against public corruption

By
Brent Patterson
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On February 16, PBI-Honduras posted: “Yesterday, we observed an action by the residents of Guapinol after filing a complaint with the Special Prosecutor for Transparency and Combat Against Public Corruption.”

PBI-Honduras adds: “Tocoa social organizations denounce that the mayor of the municipality, Adán Fúnez, and the municipal secretary falsified public documents to benefit the companies Los Pinares and ECOTEK.”

Adding to this, Pasos de Animal Grande reported: “The Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods [of Tocoa] filed a formal complaint with the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Transparency and Combating Public Corruption … for the adulteration of minutes … signed by the public official Norma Agripina García.”

The article adds that a complaint of “Abuse of Authority of Officials of the Secretariat of Natural Resources and the Environment [MiAmbiente]” relates to an iron oxide pelletizing plant “of the investment company ECOTEK, owned by Lenir Pérez and Ana Facussé and investors linked to the American company Nucor.”

And Radio Progreso further reports: “According to the complaint, municipal and MiAmbiente officials have committed the crime of Abuse of Functions to the Detriment of the Public Administration and Public Faith, due to the illegal extension of an operating license for 12 months in favor of Inversiones ECOTEK (Los Pinares) by MiAmbiente, violating article 44 of the Administrative Procedure Law.”

That article adds: “According to the Municipal Committee in Defense of the Commons, the second irregularity was committed by the municipal secretary of Tocoa, Norma Agripina García, by tampering with the act 083-2016 of the Cabildo Abierto, in order to prove that ECOTEK-Los Pinares socialized the iron pelletizing plant project ‘which was never made’.”

And Defensores en Linea adds: “The press conference was attended by relatives of the political prisoners for defending the water and the life of Guapinol, such as Lidia Martínez Simeón, wife of Jeremías Martínez, who condemned those acts of corruption that are taking place to favor extractive companies in the area and pointed out that as a result her husband is imprisoned for defending water and life.”

Leonel George says the action corroborates the corruption between the company, municipality and government who have persecuted and judicialized at least 32 people defending natural resources (against the Los Pinares iron oxide mine).

PBI-Honduras has been accompanying various processes in relation to the defenders of the Guapinol River since 2019.

PBI-Mexico accompanied People’s Front marks the 2nd anniversary of the death of Samir Flores

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Mexico has posted: “Two years after the murder of human rights defender Samir Flores Soberanes, the Frente De Pueblos Morelos Puebla Tlaxcala calls for actions for life, against the mega projects and for Samir.”

Those action include: “Friday February 19: Demonstration at Calvary, Cuernavaca, 11 am; Saturday February 20: Commemoration in the community of Amilcingo and dislocated actions in all geographies; and Sunday February 21: National and International Meeting for Life, Water Defense, Coronavirus and Mega Projects in Huexca.”

Indigenous Náhuatl land and water defender Samir Flores Soberanes was a vocal opponent of the Integral Project for Morelos (Proyecto Integral Morelos).

On February 20, 2019, Flores was shot in his home in Amilcingo, Morelos and died later that day in hospital. He was 30 years old.

Flores was a member of the People’s Front in Defence of the Land and Water of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala (FPDTA-MPT), which is now accompanied by PBI-Mexico.

The FPDTA-MPT described his murder as “a political crime for the human rights defence that Samir and the FPDTA carried out against the [Integral Project for Morelos] and for people’s autonomy and self-determination.”

The PIM megaproject consists of a 171-kilometre gas pipeline across the states of Tlaxcala, Puebla and Morelos; a gas-fuelled thermoelectric plant in the town of Huexca, Morelos; and a 12-kilometre aqueduct to divert water from the Cuautla River to cool the turbines at the thermoelectric plant.

The megaproject being built by Italian and Spanish companies (including Seville, Spain-based Abengoa) could be operational by the end of this year.

Some have asked that the thermoelectric plant be converted into a solar panel factory.

The FPDTA-MPT has stated: “Lopez Obrador [supporting the PIM] betrays the peasant and the promise of change of his government, to favour transnational corporations [including] Canadian miners like Alamos Gold, among others.”

Last year, Toronto-based Alamos Gold reactivated work on their Esperanza open-pit gold mine near the community of Tetlama (about 60 kilometres due west of Huexca). Mines can be energy-intensive and could use electricity generated by the plant.

#SamirFloresVive

PBI-Colombia accompanies the Inter-Church Commission on Justice and Peace to the Puente Nayero Humanitarian Space

By
Brent Patterson
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On February 15, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project posted on its Instagram page: “Last week brigadistas accompanied members of [the Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace – CIJP] and Orlando Castillo, member of the Coordinating Committee of the Puente Nayero Humanitarian Space in Buenaventura.”

The Puente Nayero Humanitarian Space is situated in the La Playita neighbourhood in Buenaventura. The CIJP advises the families who live there on protection, provides legal representation, and documents human rights violations.

In this short video posted on the PBI-Colombia page, Orlando Castillo claims the right of the population to search for their missing relatives.

Opposition to port expansion

The PBI-Colombia post adds: “Social organizations, including the ‘Nydia Erika Bautista’ Foundation for Human Rights (FNEB) accompanied by PBI, are fighting against the port expansion [in Buenaventura], reporting that it would destroy areas where they report common and watery graves.”

On February 12, PBI-Colombia tweeted that it had accompanied the Association for Research and Social Action (NOMADESC) at a march in Cali calling attention to the situation of escalation of violence and violations of human rights in Buenaventura.

El Pais reported: “A large group of people took to the streets in Cali this Thursday [February 11] to support the inhabitants of Buenaventura, reject the violence in the port and ask for more social investment.”

PBI-Colombia has also previously noted that NOMADESC has undertaken research “to show how the current port expansion and infrastructure development are linked to the human rights violations.”

Canada in the GRUC

The Government of Canada has noted: “Since 2015, alongside the Embassy of the Netherlands to Colombia, Canada has chaired the Sub-Committee on Human Rights of the Donors’ Group (GRUC) in Colombia, which consists of foreign embassies and multilateral organizations that provide international assistance to Colombia.”

In September 2019, PBI-Colombia accompanied a visit by the Canadian Embassy to Buenaventura along with embassy representatives from Norway, Spain and France to hear testimonials from residents, NOMADESC and CIJP.

The port in Buenaventura accounts for about 60 per cent of all Colombian imports and exports by sea. Given the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement implemented in 2011 and the $1.73 billion in two-way merchandise trade between Canada and Colombia in 2017, Canadian goods undoubtedly pass through this port.

Social leaders who lead a civic strike in 2017 called for social investment, a local hospital, and access to clean drinking water in Buenaventura rather than the further militarization of the city and continued expansion of the port.

#SOSBuenaventura

Orlando Castillo is a social leader, human rights defender, coordinator and co-founder of the Puente Nayero Humanitarian Space in Buenaventura.

PBI-Guatemala reports on its accompaniment of the Retalhuleu Community Council in two of its publications

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project accompaniment of the Retalhuleu Community Council (CCR) is noted in two of its most recent publications, the Monthly Information Package and Bulletin No. 44.

PBI-Guatemala began to accompany the CCR in April 2020 due to the risks and threats experienced by its members.

Bulletin No. 44

In their article ‘The sugar business in Guatemala: Sweet profits for exporters, bitter impacts for communities’ (pages 9-12), PBI-Guatemala notes:

“The geographic area of Guatemala’s Southern Coast includes the departments of Retalhuleu, Suchitepéquez, Escuintla and Santa Rosa.

The economy of this area is based primarily on ago-industrial products for export, principally sugar cane and African palm. This extractive economic model requires maximum production within a limited space. That is why it employs methods which are highly polluting, and which have very negative impacts on the health and living conditions of the people.

In 2015 the local population organized itself into the Council of Communities of Retalhuleu (CCR) to address this situation. The CCR is made up of 18 communities, the majority of whom come from the municipality of Champerico, who are demanding their right to water, food and health.

Sugarcane production uses large amounts of water, which impacts the availability of this basic resource for local consumption. Land studies have shown that the mills use any and every means to guarantee their water supply, including diverting rivers and drilling wells for which they have not carried out adequate environmental impact studies.”

This article concludes with a quote from Abelino Mejia Cancino, a member of the Council of Communities of Retalhuleu, who says: “We need people to realize that when they consume sugar, it has an impact on the life of the communities and on the right to water for all. We call for the consumption of what is healthy and good produced by the campesinos and not products made by the big companies.”

Monthly Information Package

PBI-Guatemala says: “With regard to our accompaniment of Retalhuleu Community Council (CCR) on January 14 we met with four of their members who have been experiencing criminalization since 2018 for their work denouncing the adverse impacts produced by sugar mills in the region.”

It highlights: “We traveled to the department to accompany them to the hearing scheduled for January 15, however, this was suspended and rescheduled for March 18.”

And in the Political Accompaniment section, it adds: “In our dialogue with Guatemalan authorities, we met in person with: Ignacio Arreaga Cifuentes, Governor of Retalhuleu; Nancy Evanury Galindo Gramajo, Head of the PDH Auxiliary office in Retalhuleu; Marivel Hernández, Chief of Services of the PNC in Retalhuleu.”

PBI-Canada encourages you to read these PBI-Guatemala publications at Bulletin No. 44 and Monthly Information Package.

We are also closely following the situation for the Retalhuleu Community Council and note a recent statement by the Guatemalan Sugar Association (ASAZGUA) about sugar exports from Guatemala to Canada.

In September 2020, ASAZGUA reported: “The main destinations for Guatemalan sugar exports in metric tons (MT) were Canada with 333,596 MT, the United States with 261,628 MT, Chile with 211,075 MT and Mauritania with 165,425 MT.”

For more on the Retalhuleu Community Council, please see this 7-minute video (with English subtitles) recently posted on the PBI-Guatemala Facebook page.

PBI-Colombia accompanied CREDHOS and the struggle to protect the San Silvestre wetland in Barrancabermeja

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: PBI-Colombia accompanied CREDHOS president Ivan Madero (in dark blue shirt) when he visited with San Silvestre wetland defender Yuli Andrea Velázquez shortly after shots were fired at her home by gunmen.

The Ciénaga de San Silvestre (a wetland body of water) is where the city of Barrancabermeja, Santander gets its drinking water.

The Barrancabermeja-based Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) has played an important role in supporting the defenders threatened for their activism in defence of this vital ecosystem.

Dr. Yesid Blanco

PBI-Colombia has noted: “Yésid Blanco, who is a doctor and pediatrician, and a colleague of Óscar Sampayo, has researched and reported on [the massive pollution generated in the wetland by leachate from the landfill site in Barrancabermeja] and its effects on health, including the causes and effects with evidence and toxicology reports.”

CREDHOS has stated: “A small yet powerful sector sees in Dr. Blanco an obstacle to the furtherance of their interests.”

PBI-Colombia notes that CREDHOS was acting as Dr. Blanco’s lawyers. It also highlights this civil society statement signed by CREDHOS that notes that he was researching the increasing levels of mercury in the wetland related to the landfill site.

Threat by Black Eagles

On November 4, 2020, El Espectador reported that 18 people, 14 of whom reside in Barrancabermeja, are named in a pamphlet from Águilas Negras (Black Eagles) that said they have 24 hours to leave the territory or they will be declared a military target.

W Radio added: “The people mentioned have denounced the environmental damage caused by the authorities in the oil port, in the Ciénaga de San Silvestre and other tributaries that supply water to more than 300,000 inhabitants of this sector.”

CREDHOS president Ivan Madero denounced the threat against the environmental defenders in this two-minute video.

Attack on Yuli Andrea Velázquez

On January 21, El Tiempo reported: “This Wednesday, January 20, the environmental engineer, environmental defender and member of the Barrancabermeja Fisheries Federation, Yuli Andrea Velázquez, was the victim of an attack on her home.”

That article added: “Yuli is recognized in her region for denouncing an alleged corruption with the resources that the company Ecopetrol and the Santander Regional Autonomous Corporation invest to clean the wetland, unclog the pipes and make an environmental recovery of all the wetlands of Barrancabermeja, especially that of San Silvestre.”

As seen in this tweet, CREDHOS president Ivan Madero, accompanied by PBI-Colombia, visited with Yuli at her home the day after the attack against her.

Death threat against Luis Alberto González

On February 9, W Radio reported: “Luis Alberto González was again the victim of death threats, but this time with an intimidating pamphlet signed by the ELN. The authorities indicated that this social leader has dedicated himself to the defense of the environment, but mainly in defense of the San Silvestre wetland.”

Dígame.com.co reports: “Luis went to CREDHOS so that they could help him to carry out due process. For their part, personnel from the organization stated that they provided the necessary support so that the authorities could establish due care.”

Ramon Abril of CREDHOS says: “We did the legal support for him and the political support of the international community, so that his situation is revealed. When he filed the complaint, they told him that the investigator was busy, that he was going on a trip that they did not attend to, now we are filing the complaints.”

The human right to water

The right to water is a fundamental human right. PBI-Colombia accompanied CREDHOS plays an important role in defending this right and the wetlands around Barrancabermeja from garbage dumps, the Ecopetrol refinery, and the Sogamoso dam (partly owned by Toronto-based Brookfield Assets Management).

For more about CREDHOS, please see the PBI-Colombia website.

CREDHOS president Ivan Madero (center) arrives in Toronto in November 2019 for an 8-day advocacy tour in Canada organized by Peace Brigades International.

PBI-Canada stands in solidarity with the Families of Sisters in Spirit Vigil 2021 happening today

By
Brent Patterson
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Algonquin activist Bridget Tolley has posted on Facebook:

“This Valentine’s Day families of missing and murdered Indigenous women along with friends & allies will come together to honor our stolen sisters, show love & support for Indigenous women, families, communities and Nations and demonstrate our solidarity with Memorial Marches for MMIWGT2S (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Transgender and Two-Spirit people) across Canada.”

“Because of Covid-19 we are unable to meet on Parliament Hill this year on February 14th, 2021. WE will honor our loved ones by lighting a candle at 6 pm. Please feel free to share any photos or stories of our MMIWGT2S.”

Bridget adds: “In Honor of all MMIWGT2S. In Honor of all our Stolen Sisters. In Honor of all Victims of Police Killings.”

Genocide in Canada

In its final report released in June 2019, the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls found that “state actions and inactions rooted in colonialism and colonial ideologies” are in part responsible for the thousands of Indigenous women and girls who have been murdered or gone missing in Canada.

That report describes this as a Canadian genocide.

The report also recognizes that this is both historic and ongoing: “Canada has displayed a continuous policy, with shifting expressed motives but an ultimately steady intention, to destroy Indigenous peoples physically, biologically and as social units.”

Journalist Brandi Morin has written: “There have been approximately 4,000 or more Indigenous murdered or missing women and girls in the last 30 years. That works out to about 133 a year, or three a week. [But in truth this crisis has] been happening since 1492.”

Indigenous land defenders killed around the world

We also remember that Global Witness has documented that 212 land and environmental rights defenders were killed globally in 2019. Over 1 in 10 of the defenders killed were women and 40% of all the defenders killed belonged to Indigenous communities. Between 2015 and 2019 over a third of all fatal attacks targeted Indigenous people, even though Indigenous peoples make up just 5% of the world’s population.

Additionally, Front Line Defenders just reported that 331 human rights defenders were killed in 2020. 44 of those killed were women and 26% of all those killed were working specifically on Indigenous peoples’ rights.

It is within this context that we recognize the risks faced by Indigenous women land defenders within this country opposed to megaprojects including the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline on Wet’suwet’en territory, the Trans Mountain tar sand pipeline on Secwepemc territory, and the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric dam on Innu lands.

As the Families of Sisters in Spirit asks, please light a candle at 6 pm today.

PBI-Canada notes Canada’s responsibility for the individual and collective safety of Mi’kmaq rights defenders

By
Brent Patterson
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Last week Front Line Defenders reported that 331 human rights defenders around the world were killed in 2020 and that 26 per cent of those killed were working specifically on issues related to the rights of Indigenous peoples.

Human rights defenders accompanied by Peace Brigades International in Latin America have emphasized that the State has a responsibility to address systemic injustice and to ensure the individual and collective safety of defenders.

This United Nations report further affirms: “The State is the primary duty bearer in relation to human rights, and certainly with respect to the rights of Indigenous peoples.” This applies to state violence and violence by non-state actors.

Now Brett Forester at APTN reports:

“Mi’kmaw lobster fishers who were blockaded, attacked and assaulted while exercising a treaty right to harvest lobster late last year say internal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) documents expose systemic racism in the bureaucracy and preferential policing by law enforcement.

APTN News obtained hundreds of internal records that reveal public servants and law enforcement agencies knew potentially violent protests against the Mi’kmaq were coming, yet did little to intervene.

[Sipekne’katik First Nation lobster harvester Jason] Marr broadcast tense video over Facebook while he was barricaded inside a West Pubnico, Nova Scotia lobster storage facility on October 17, 2020.

The building was burned to the ground after Marr was escorted out.”

The article highlights that prior to this, Coast Guard threat assessors identified the risk of protests turning violent as “likely” and that a Department of Fisheries and Oceans account emailed a dangerous occurrence report to the Department of National Defence, the RCMP, the Canadian Boarder Services Agency, and Transport Canada.

After the compound was destroyed, Mi’kmaw lawyer Pam Palmater tweeted: “THIS deeply-ingrained racism & white supremacy w/n [the RCMP] is exactly why we’ve long called to #DefundTheRCMP They stand by & watch Mi’kmaw get attacked by racist violent white fishermen yet when Mi’kmaw peacefully assert rights in come SWAT teams.”

Documentary film maker Michael Toledano tweeted: “It’s hard to watch RCMP stand down for racist mobs to terrorize Mikmaq people, while Wet’suwet’en are still harassed daily for hunting and holding ceremonies on their own land, while OPP are arresting people in Six Nations for asserting land rights. Canada is abysmal.”

And Idle No More stated: “The inaction of the federal and provincial government and the RCMP to protect Mi’kmaq people is a violation of Indigenous inherent rights, Treaty rights, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.”

In their report Defending Tomorrow, Global Witness has noted:

“States (through their governments) have the primary duty, under international law, to guarantee that defenders’ human rights are protected and that they can carry out their activism safely.

To safeguard defender rights, governments should: Legally legitimise the role of land and environmental defenders and publicly condemn any threats against them, with specific attention to gender-based violence and attacks.

[Government should also] ensure national policies safeguard the rights of defenders and protesters to free assembly and speech, as well as potential recourse to civil disobedience.

To ensure accountability, governments should bring to justice those responsible for ordering or carrying out any threat or attack against a land or environmental defender.”

PBI-Canada remains attentive to this situation and calls on the Canadian government to read the Global Witness Defending Tomorrow report.

 

PBI-Canada notes Haudenosaunee land defenders to remove barricades, allies concerns about police violence and forcible displacement

By
Brent Patterson
-

On September 10, 2020, provincial MPPs Suze Morrison and Sol Mamakwa and federal MP Matthew Green visited Haudenosaunee land defender Skyler Williams at the 1492LandBackLane resistance to land theft in southern Ontario.

On February 12, #1492LandBackLane tweeted:

“It’s been over 200 days since we asserted our land rights by occupying 1492 Land Back Lane, stopping the continued theft and development of our lands.

For over 100 days now we’ve also been holding the roads. When police antagonized and shot at us, members of our community came out to make sure that we would be safe and able to stay on the land. These barricades have protected us for over 100 days now.

On Tuesday morning we will be opening the roads, not to bow to police pressure, but because we are listening to our community.

Further criminalization of the peaceful occupation of our lands is unacceptable. Any further escalation and antagonization by the OPP will not be tolerated by us, our community, or by our growing network of allies across the country.”

Following that tweet, provincial MPP Suze Morrison tweeted: “One thing is for sure. Land disputes can’t be settled with policing. The Federal and Provincial governments need to come to the table & work with the Haudenosaunee people in good faith.”

And federal MP Matthew Green tweeted: “After more than 200 days @MarcMillerVM @Carolyn_Bennett have failed to honour their obligations in Nation to Nation relationships with the Haudenosaunee by peacefully coming to the negotiating table on this land dispute. @1492LBL are acting in good faith. Why won’t you?”

In this video, Green further states: “I am prepared to return should the authorities, the police and others, use their act of good will and good faith as a way to increase or escalate violence on those territories through forcible displacement and removal from those lands. …Further violence against the 1492 land defenders will not be tolerated.”

To support the 1492 Land Back Lane – Legal Fund established to assist with the legal costs resulting from the criminalization of the land defenders, click here.

On September 15, 2020, the Guapinol water defenders in Honduras who were attacked by police and imprisoned for their opposition to a mine development polluting their drinking water tweeted: “Our solidarity with the Haudenosaunee people.”

PBI-Spanish State organizes online conference on human rights and business, February 25-27

By
Brent Patterson
-

On February 12, PBI-Spanish State (Estado Español) posted on Facebook about three webinars it is co-organizing on Human Rights and Business.

PBI-EE notes: “This year 2021 marks ten years since the adoption by the United Nations Human Rights Council of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Their ‘non-binding’ character (euphemism for voluntary) has been subject to criticism from social movements around the world.”

It adds: “To hear the voice of those who resist and denounce the violations of human rights of large companies, to learn more about the situation in specific sectors and countries, to know what the state of the issue is in the legislative field, we invite you to our Matchdays on human rights and businesses, February 25, 26 and 27.”

The first webinar on Thursday February 25 at 12 pm EST, moderated by Miriam García Torres of PBI-EE, features several human rights defenders accompanied by PBI including: Berenice Celeita of Nomadesc (Colombia), Donald Hernández of CEHPRODEC (Honduras) and Omar Jerónimo of CCCND (Guatemala).

For a complete list of all the speakers and the programme for the Conference on human rights and business, please click here.

This coming June 16 will mark the 10th anniversary of the Human Rights Council endorsing the Guiding Principles on business and human rights. The 7th session to negotiate a Binding Treaty on transnational corporations and human rights is expected in October.

In September 2018, PBI-Mexico commented: “After 7 years of the Guiding Principles being in force, PBI has not witnessed an improvement in the situation of risk for human rights defenders on the ground.”

It then highlighted: “PBI believes that a Binding Treaty could potentially lead to greater protection of human rights defenders working on business and human rights cases.”

On a PBI-United Kingdom webinar in July 2020, PBI-Colombia accompanied Yessika Hoyos from the Jose Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective (CCAJAR) commented: “Many companies together with the states have been blocking this issue.” Those countries reportedly include Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.

PBI-Canada continues to encourage Members of Parliament in Canada to endorse the global civil society call for a Binding Treaty.

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