Home Blog Page 355

PBI-Canada notes UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights Marcos Orellana call to ban fracking in Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
-

On February 12, the Colombian news magazine Semana Sostenible reported: “United Nations Special Rapporteur on toxic substances and human rights, Marcos Orellana, asked Congress to prohibit the hydraulic fracturing technique for the exploitation of hydrocarbons in unconventional deposits in Colombia, due to the high impact on the environment, health and social welfare that it would cause.”

The 11-minute speech by Special Rapporteur Orellana can be seen here.

Orellana says: “New investments in this field are incompatible with the protection of human rights. This, because fracking generates toxic pollution, which threatens life, health and ecosystems; aggravates the planetary emergency and climate change; it violates the right to live in a healthy environment and undermines sustainable development.”

The news article adds: “His request is consistent with the recommendation made on January 29 by the UN Special Rapporteur on the environment and human rights, David Boyd, who stressed the need to face the climate crisis by guaranteeing a low-carbon future.”

Boyd said: “In light of its obligations and by virtue of constitutional and international human rights and environmental law, I respectfully hold that the Government of Colombia must pass a law to prohibit fracking.”

The National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) awarded a contract to Ecopetrol on November 25, 2020 to conduct a fracking pilot project near Puerto Wilches.

Additional contracts are expected to be awarded on March 30.

One of those contracts could go to ExxonMobil in partnership with Toronto-based Sintana Energy Inc. (and its Colombian subsidiary Patriot Energy) that would likely involve the VMM-37 block also situated near Puerto Wilches.

PBI-Canada continues to express concern about the human rights obligations of the Canadian government and Canadian corporations in the context of popular resistance to fracking and the deepening climate crisis.

PBI-USA calls on the Biden Administration to prioritize the protection of human rights defenders

By
Brent Patterson
-

On February 12, PBI-USA issued this statement commenting on the Biden Administration’s recent executive orders on immigration as well as statements by US officials with respect to the protection of human rights defenders.

PBI-USA comments: “We encourage the US government to prioritize ensuring protection for human rights defenders.”

Their statement highlights: “PBI is encouraged by the [the US State Department’s statement on January 20 that] the work of human rights defenders ‘is an integral part of a vibrant civil society’ and ‘investment in and support of them is likewise an investment in and support of the rule of law and democracy.’”

It also notes: “We welcome the US Embassy’s call for an expedited investigation of all the murders of human rights defenders in Honduras 2020 and encourage the US government to follow these cases closely and ensure justice is done.”

And PBI-USA recommends: “The US should encourage the Guatemalan government to abide by and implement the terms of the Peace Accords, supporting Guatemalan civil society organizations as they look for opportunities to dialogue with the Guatemalan government and find a way forward.”

PBI-USA also signed this recent civil society letter on human rights defenders sent to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

That letter expresses the concern: “We have seen situations where embassies are reluctant to support defenders in politically sensitive countries where the U.S. government has significant national security, economic, or geopolitical interests.”

It also calls on Secretary Blinken to: “[Elevate] the need for protection of environmental and land defenders, and ensuring justice for attacks against them, as a core part of the Biden Administration’s overall climate strategy, including in its engagement at the UN Climate Change Conference [this November in Glasgow].”

US-Canada relations

The first foreign leader that President Biden called after his inauguration was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. They spoke on January 22 and the readout from that call indicated that they would speak again this month (February).

Trudeau also spoke with US Vice President Kamala Harris on February 1 and US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry on January 26.

Foreign Minister Marc Garneau also met with Secretary Blinken on January 26. PBI-Canada has called on Minister Garneau to read the letter on human rights defenders sent by civil society to Secretary Blinken and furthermore to take action to strengthen the Voices at Risk guidelines for Canadian embassies.

 

 

PBI-Colombia accompanies NOMADESC at march calling for social investment, an end to violence in Buenaventura

By
Brent Patterson
-

On February 12, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project tweeted: “PBI accompanies NOMADESC in Cali calling attention to the situation of escalation of violence and violations of human rights in Buenaventura. Villagers denounce clashes, murders, forced disappearances and urban displacement.”

Last night, 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.”

That article adds: “Members of social groups, students, community leaders and citizens in general began to meet at 5:00 p.m. in the Parque de las Banderas, south of Cali. Around 6:30 p.m., the protesters took Fifth Street toward the San Francisco square, downtown Cali, where the day ended.”

And Blu Radio reported: “Alfredo Mondragón, a social leader in Valle del Cauca, said it is not possible for the port to move more than 6 trillion pesos in a year and the district’s budget to not exceed 500 billion. He indicated the port does not need military presence, but social support in order to cut the problem of conflict in this root district.”

About 85 percent of the 430,000 residents of Buenaventura are Black, about 80 per cent of the population lives in poverty, and the unemployment rate is about 40 per cent.

PBI-Colombia has previously noted that the Association for Research and Social Action (NOMADESC) has undertaken research “to show how the current port expansion and infrastructure development are linked to the human rights violations”.

The port accounts for about 60 per cent of all Colombian imports and exports by sea. Given two-way merchandise trade between Canada and Colombia totalled $1.73 billion in 2017, goods coming from and going to Canada undoubtedly pass through this port.

In May 2017, Buenaventura residents held a 22-day civic strike to protest investment in the port rather than the spending needed to build a local hospital and provide access to potable water. The Colombian government responded with the ESMAD riot police.

Canadian organizations – including CUPE, PSAC, CUPW and the Steelworkers – have worked in solidarity with the leaders of that strike.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) recently noted this webinar hosted by CoDevelopment Canada (CoDev) about the situation in Buenaventura that featured NOMADESC president Berenice Celeita.

PBI-Canada remains attentive and concerned to this situation.

PBI-Colombia has accompanied NOMADESC since 1999.

 

 

PBI-Colombia accompanied Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission warns of new threat against Perla Amazónica Peasant Reserve Zone

By
Brent Patterson
-

On February 10, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project accompanied Inter-Church Commission on Justice and Peace highlighted a new threat against the Perla Amazónica Peasant Reserve Zone (ZRCPA).

Their media release highlights with concern this new threat: “By express orders of the commandos of the armed structure Commands of the Border (CDF), the board of directors of the Peasant Reserve Zone, the Women’s Committees, the Environmental Committees, the ADISPA organization, must resign.”

The Association for the Integral Sustainable Development of the Perla Amazónica (ADISPA) is the association that manages the Perla Amazónica Peasant Reserve Zone (ZRCPA). The ZRCPA is located near Puerto Asis in the department of Putumayo, which is situated in south-west Colombia near the border with Ecuador.

Human rights defender Jani Silva is the president of ADISPA. Jani is accompanied by the Inter-Church Commission on Justice and Peace, which in turn has been accompanied by PBI-Colombia since 1994.

The media release adds: “Over the past six weeks, CDF units dressed as civilians and with short weapons, in three communities said they were working for progress and that is why no villager, nor organization can hinder the work of the oil company.”

It further notes: “Despite the distressing calls of the communities of ADISPA and ZRC for more than a year to the government and the State of Colombia to intervene from the human security approach nothing has been done.”

The Front Line Defenders Global Analysis report documented: “The killings of HRDs in Colombia did not stop during periods of lockdown … testament to the common refrain from HRDs during the year that ‘perpetrators do not self-isolate’. At the same time, the number of defenders receiving protection from the National Protection Unit was reduced.”

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, recently pointed out in this report to the Human Rights Council:

“Jani Silva is a woman and environmental human rights defender in Colombia. In January 2020, an unidentified person followed her home and to her workplace. In May 2020, it was revealed that she was among at least 130 people under illegal digital surveillance by army cyberintelligence. In July 2020, the organization Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz received information that an armed group was planning to kill Ms. Silva. Because of the threats, dating back to 2017, Ms. Silva has personal protection provided by the State, which includes a conventional vehicle and two security people. In addition, she has been assigned a mobile telephone and a bulletproof vest.”

By December 2020, Contagio Radio reported that the National Protection Unit (UNP) had withdrawn the bulletproof vest as a protection measure for Silva.

PBI-Canada continues to watch this situation with great concern.

To see a 1-minute video by Amnesty International about Jani Silva and the Perla Amazónica Peasant Reserve Zone, please click here.

PBI-Colombia accompanied CREDHOS takes part in cacerolazo protest against fracking in Puerto Wilches

By
Brent Patterson
-

On February 11, the Colombian human rights organization CREDHOS tweeted: “Today in Puerto Wilches at the demonstration against the fracking pilot projects; social organizations and the people of the Magdalena Medio reject fracking in their territories.”

PBI-Colombia also tweeted: “Today CREDHOS accompanies members of the community of Puerto Wilches in a march against fracking pilot projects.”

CREDHOS president Ivan Madero, who participated in a PBI advocacy tour in Canada in November 2019, was in Puerto Wilches for this cacerolazo. Puerto Wilches is about a 100 kilometre drive from where CREDHOS is based in Barrancabermeja.

A short video clip of the cacerolazo (a form of popular protest that involves people banging pots and pans) can be seen/heard here.

Semana Sostenible reported: “In front of the Puerto Wilches Citizen Integration Center, where the Territorial Dialogue on Pilot Projects for Comprehensive Research in Non-Conventional Sites is taking place, a group of inhabitants of that population carried out a cacerolazo as a rejection of the that technique of extraction of hydrocarbons in its territory.”

“With posters, whistles, drums and, obviously, saucepans, the participants told the ministries of Mines and the Interior, the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) and Ecopetrol, which were in charge of convening the Territorial Dialogue, that they do not want to fracking.”

That article also noted: “This cacerolazo took place before the public hearing that will be held this Friday [February 12], from 8:00 am, in the Fifth Committee of the House of Representatives, in which the academic arguments of those who defend and oppose this practice will be heard. These spaces have been taking place within the framework of the discussion of bills that seek to prohibit fracking in Colombia.”

Infobae also reported: “Citizens of the municipalities and others close to them joined a cacerolazo convened by the Committee for the Defense of Water, Life and territory of Puerto Wilches – Aguawil –with the accompaniment of the Alliance for a Colombia Free of Fracking, days after the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Environment called on Congress to ban fracking in Colombia.”

On January 29, UN Special Rapporteur David Boyd stated: “In light of its obligations under constitutional, international, human rights and environmental law, fossil fuels must be replaced by renewable energies. I respectfully maintain that the government of Colombia must pass a law to prohibit fracking.”

The National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) has already awarded a contract to Ecopetrol to conduct a fracking pilot project near Puerto Wilches.

Additional contracts are expected to be awarded on March 30.

One of those contracts could go to ExxonMobil in partnership with Toronto-based Sintana Energy Inc. (and its Colombian subsidiary Patriot Energy) that would likely involve the VMM-37 block also situated near Puerto Wilches.

PBI-Canada continues to express concern about the human rights obligations of the Canadian government and Canadian corporations in the context of popular resistance to fracking and the deepening climate crisis.

PBI-Mexico notes German court hearing on assault rifles believed to have been used in the disappearance of the Ayotzinapa 43

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has posted on its Facebook a statement from the German Coordination for Human Rights in Mexico about a Federal Superior Court hearing related to illegal arms exports to Mexico.

The statement notes: “The oral hearing before the Federal Superior Court of the case for the illegal arms exports to Mexico of the company Heckler & Koch (H&K) will be on February 11. The process puts the focus once again on the criminal liability of German arms manufacturers and on the serious deficiencies in the arms export control systems.”

In September 2020, Deutsche Welle reported that former managers with Heckler & Koch, Germany’s biggest gun-maker, had been convicted in 2019 of illegally selling weapons to Mexico, in violation of Germany’s export controls.

NPR also reported: “A Stuttgart court ruled that Heckler & Koch broke Germany’s War Weapons Control Act by sending more than 4,000 G36 assault rifles, ammunition and other weapons to a central government buyer in Mexico — where they were then distributed to areas seen as being at high risk for violence and human rights violations.”

That article also noted: “The guns, which were sold in 16 batches from 2006 to 2009, are believed to have been used in at least one high-profile murder case: the 2014 kidnapping and apparent killing of 43 students from a teachers college in Iguala, Guerrero.”

The Ayotzinapa 43 were students from a politically radical, poor, mostly Indigenous teachers’ college in the town of Ayotzinapa in Guerrero.

Carola Hausotter, coordinator of the German Human Rights Coordination Mexico, says: “The verdict will guide German export licensing practices.”

Human rights and Canadian arms exports

The Government of Canada has reported: “For the 2019 calendar year, the value of Canadian exports of controlled military goods and technology amounted to a record high of approximately $3.757 billion.”

In 2013, The Globe and Mail reported: “Though Canada’s arms trade is legal and regulated, analysts say the increases raise questions about the government’s foreign policy commitment to human rights, and its regulatory regime for arms exports.”

Open Canada has noted: “In March 2016, Textron’s subsidiary Bell Helicopter delivered the final Bell 407GXP helicopter from its factory in Montreal to the Mexican air force in a deal worth $37.5 million. …According to a 2014 Jane’s article, these helicopters will ‘operate in pairs, with one helicopter performing aerial spraying of marijuana or poppy plantations while covered by an armed escort.’”

In February 2017, L’actualité reported: “In total, Canada has sold $18.5 billion in military goods to 143 countries or territories over the past 25 years, excluding the United States [and that] military goods worth $4.3 billion, or a quarter of exports, landed in 77 countries where political repression (such as unlimited detention without trial for political opponents) was evident during the year of export.”

A ruling on the appeal in Germany is expected on March 11.

“Perpetrators do not self-isolate”: Front Line Defenders report documents 331 human rights defenders killed in 2020

By
Brent Patterson
-

Front Line Defenders has released its Global Analysis 2020 report. It notes: “At least 331 HRDs were killed for carrying out their peaceful human rights work in 2020; as more cases continue to be verified, it is expected that this number will ultimately increase.”

That number is up from 304 defenders killed in 2019, the 321 in 2018, 312 in 2017 and 156 in 2016 (putting the five year total at a grim 1,424 defenders killed).

Among some of the key points raised in the 2020 report:

Indigenous land defenders

“69% of those killed worked on land, environmental or indigenous peoples’ rights. 26% [were] working specifically on Indigenous peoples’ rights.”

By country

The report documents that human rights defenders were killed in 25 countries including: Colombia (177 – an increase of 71 from the previous year), Honduras (20), Mexico (19), Guatemala (15), Nicaragua (2), Indonesia (2) and Nepal (1).

“Colombia alone accounted for 177 or 53% of the murders.”

“2020 witnessed another rise in the level of violence directed against HRDs in Colombia, particularly those participating in the implementation of the peace process and engaging in voluntary drug crop substitution initiatives or those opposing the extraction of natural resources.”

“In Honduras, attacks against environmental and indigenous peoples’ rights defenders and communities, mainly by state forces, surged last year.”

The lockdown: greater risk, less protection

“The killing of HRDs continued unabated and, in some countries, murderers took advantage of lockdowns to target defenders whose security strategies would have previously involved frequent changes in location.”

“The killings of HRDs in Colombia did not stop during periods of lockdown, with at least 14 killings recorded in March, 13 in April and 15 in May, testament to the common refrain from HRDs during the year that ‘perpetrators do not self-isolate’. At the same time, the number of defenders receiving protection from the National Protection Unit was reduced.”

“In Mexico, the Federal Congress approved the dissolution of several federal trust funds, including the main source of income to the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, leaving more than 1,300 beneficiaries of protection measures in a state of uncertainty.”

Due diligence, Guiding Principles

“The defenders working on land, indigenous peoples’ and environmental rights being killed while opposing business related human rights abuses once again highlights the urgent need for legislation on mandatory human rights due diligence for business enterprises to be implemented.”

“The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights make it clear that companies have a responsibility to respect human rights and yet the many cases of reprisals against defenders linked to business enterprises and their activities highlight that binding obligations on business to undertake human rights due diligence are crucial.”

Escazu Agreement

“It was the work and struggle of HRDs that led to the groundbreaking Escazu Agreement in Latin America, which will enter into force in April.”

“By recognising in law the role of public participation in addressing environmental challenges – and recognising the importance of HRDs in this context – the Treaty emphasizes the interlinkages between protection of the environment and human rights and that one cannot be achieved without the other.”

“That being said, many of the countries where it is most dangerous to be a HRD in the region, including Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and Peru, have yet to ratify the treaty.”

COP26

“With COP 26 scheduled for November 2021, states have the opportunity to integrate land, indigenous peoples and environmental defenders into their climate change mitigation strategies as they commit to reductions in greenhouse gases under the ratchet mechanism.”

“There is, however, the risk that progress in tackling the causes of climate change will lead to a greater backlash against defenders who are highlighting these issues.”

The full 62-page report can be read here.

Peace Brigades International-Canada thanks Front Line Defenders for this report.

PBI-Canada encourages Foreign Minister Marc Garneau to read US civil society letter to Antony Blinken on human rights defenders

By
Brent Patterson
-

On February 9, Peace Brigades International-USA signed this open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing concern about “the unabated rise in reprisals against human rights defenders, both globally and within the United States.”

Along with PBI-USA, the letter was signed by Amnesty International, Oxfam, Greenpeace, Global Witness, Front Line Defenders and many others.

The letter calls on Blinken “to elevate the protection of human rights defenders as a U.S. foreign policy priority and commit to play a global leadership role on this issue.”

It also expresses the concern: “We have seen situations where embassies are reluctant to support defenders in politically sensitive countries where the U.S. government has significant national security, economic, or geopolitical interests.”

Among its recommendations:

– “Public designation of a human rights officer at every post whose portfolio includes activities to support human rights defenders. As part of the EU guidelines, for example, EU embassy websites are supposed to identify a human rights defenders liaison officer with contact information.”

– “We also encourage the U.S. government to engage in the first conference of parties of the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean (Escazú Agreement), with a particular focus on sharing information with member countries on the protection of environmental defenders.”

– “Elevating the need for protection of environmental and land defenders, and ensuring justice for attacks against them, as a core part of the Biden Administration’s overall climate strategy, including in its engagement at the UN Climate Change Conference.”

The U.S. civil society letter also recommends “a more robust and public-facing policy for supporting human rights defenders at risk” and notes that Canada has guidelines “that inform policy and instruct practical work.”

Canadian organizations have also acknowledged the Voices at Risk guidelines while at the same time highlighting: “For Canada’s new guidelines to be effective in helping to protect and support human rights defenders, they will need to be accompanied by a comprehensive implementation plan and increased Canadian funding going directly to human rights defenders and the movements they represent.”

Blinken became the US Secretary of State on January 26. Just prior to that, on January 12, Marc Garneau was appointed Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Garneau spoke with Blinken on his first day as Secretary of State and while Garneau regrettably used the opportunity to express disappointment about the cancellation of the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, he also welcomed the United States reengaging in the Paris climate agreement and “the two agreed to remain in close touch.”

We encourage Minister Garneau and Secretary Blinken to discuss implementing the recommendations in this letter at their next meeting.

PBI-Colombia accompanied CCAJAR highlights concerns about Cerrejón mine that exports coal from Colombia to Canada

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Cerrejón mine is a large open-pit coal mine located in the southeast department of La Guajira, Colombia owned by the Cerrejón Coal Company, a subsidiary of BHP (Australia), Anglo American (United Kingdom) and Glencore (Switzerland).

On February 5, Colombia Reports reported that Glencore plans to return its title for the Cerrejón mine, but maintain its interests in the Puerto Nuevo coal export port near Santa Maria (that has an export capacity of 21 million tonnes of coal a year).

The article notes: “The announcement comes amid indigenous protests in La Guajira and weeks after human rights organizations asked the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to investigate environmental concerns.”

“[Glencore subsidiary] Prodeco was already facing possible legal consequences over its role in paramilitary violence and land theft.”

That article adds: “The United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, David Boyd, urged the Colombian government to order Prodeco, AngloGold Ashanti and BHP to suspend operations in the Cerrejon mine.”

Last year, the PBI-Colombia accompanied José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR) had called on Boyd and other Special Rapporteurs to call for “an immediate suspension of the mining operations of Cerrejón” and “in accordance with its Paris Agreement obligations, relevant in order to guarantee the human rights of the Wayuu people, the Colombian State should gradually eradicate coal mining.”

CCAJAR further highlighted the impacts of the mine on the human right to water and noted: “The impact of the mining operation in the dramatic transformations of the water system of [Wayuu] territory in the last 30 years is undeniable.”

Numerous groups in Canada including the Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network and MiningWatch Canada have drawn attention to the fact that NB Power has been buying approximately 500,000 tonnes of coal from Cerrejón since the mid 1990s. Nova Scotia Power also imports coal from Cerrejón.

In November 2015, Tracy Glynn from NB Media Co-op reported: “The world’s largest open-pit coal mine is linked to the murders of union and community leaders and violent forced displacements of communities.”

“José Julio Perez from Tabaco, a community that was displaced by the Cerrejón mine, told a Fredericton audience in 2006 that 500 soldiers and 200 police officers forcibly evicted the residents of his Afro-Colombian community before bulldozing their homes in 2001. Indigenous Wayúu, one of the most endangered indigenous communities in the world, have also been displaced for the mine.”

That article also notes: “Exxon-Mobil and the National Colombian Mining Company started the Cerrejón mine in 1982.”

ExxonMobil in partnership with Toronto-based Sintana Energy Inc. is now reportedly seeking a contract to conduct a fracking pilot project near Puerto Wilches, Santander. Drummond, one of the largest coal producers in Colombia, has also prequalified for a fracking pilot project to be awarded next month.

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has accompanied the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR) since 1995.

PBI-Colombia accompanied CCALCP has challenged Toronto-based Brookfield’s “clean power” investments in Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
-

On February 10, Bloomberg reported: “Brookfield Asset Management Inc. plans to raise at least $7.5 billion (all figures U.S.) for a new climate-focused fund, as the Canadian investment firm builds out an ESG [environmental, social and governance] business led by former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor Mark Carney.”

“[Carney] joined Toronto-based Brookfield last year as vice-chairman and head of ESG and Impact Fund Investing. …The Brookfield Global Transition Fund [would] be one of the largest — if not the largest — funds in a sector that’s attracting a flood of new capital.”

The news report further notes: “There’s no path to net zero without large capital investments in clean power, said Carney [who also says] getting the carbon out of energy systems means replacing fossil fuels with solar and other renewable sources and will require $3 trillion or more a year in capital investment for decades…”

When Colombian human rights defenders Julia Figueroa and Andrea Nocove from the Luis Carlos Perez Lawyers’ Collective (CCALCP) and Ivan Madero of the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) visited Toronto in November 2019 during a Peace Brigades International advocacy tour they stopped at the office of Brookfield Assets Management on Bay Street.

In 2016 Brookfield bought a majority share (57.6 per cent) in the Colombian power generation and distribution company Isagen.

Sogamoso Dam

One of the dams Brookfield bought through its majority share in Isagen is the Sogamoso Hydroelectric Dam which is located 30 kilometres west of Bucaramanga.

Between 2009 and 2014, six activists were killed and many more were disappeared in relation to their opposition to the Sogamoso dam.

In March 2020, El Espectador published this article titled Community denounces fish and bird deaths in Barrancabermeja.

That article notes: “The fishermen of the San Silvestre spout, in Santander, denounce that since the middle of February there is a fish mortality in the place. According to them, this emergency is due to the fact that Isagen, a company in charge of the Sogamoso dam, opened the floodgates to feed the river that bears the same name.”

Piedra del Sol Dam

In 2016, CCALCP filed a challenge against the proposed Piedra del Sol hydroelectric project, which would have been situated about 100 kilometres south of Bucaramanga.

On April 20, 2018, Renewable Energy World reported: “ANLA has upheld its decision to reject the permit request for the 152-MW Piedra del Sol hydro project in Colombia, citing deficiencies in information related to the project’s impact on water supply and fragile ecosystems in northern Santander department, among other factors.”

At COP24 in Poland in 2018, then UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz stated: “I’ve seen how renewable projects like wind farms and hydropower electric dams have been done without consultation with indigenous peoples. And in the process, indigenous peoples are expelled or worse yet, killed.”

As COP26 approaches this coming November 1-12, PBI-Canada is highlighting that while the transition to renewable energy is necessary, climate financing and “clean power” projects can lead to human rights violations and the criminalization of defenders if human rights guarantees are not included in the operative provisions of UN climate agreements.

The Bloomberg article by Jason Kelly about The Brookfield Global Transition Fund was also published in the Toronto Star.

1...354355356...475Page 355 of 475