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PBI-Mexico expresses concern about the murder of Fidel Heras Cruz, a defender of the Verde River in Oaxaca

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 25, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted: “From PBI Mexico we express concern about the murder of Fidel Heras Cruz, community defender of Paso de la Reina and the risk situation of people defending land and territory.”

PBI-Mexico adds: “We urge the authorities to clarify the facts and ensure that this unfortunately loss does not remain in impunity. We express our full support to the defender’s family, organizations and individuals with whom he worked.”

Heras Cruz was killed on Saturday January 23 in Santiago Jamiltepec, Oaxaca.

He was the president of Ejidal Commissariat de Paso de la Reyna and a member of the Council of United Nations for the Defense of the Green River (COPUDEVER).

This article in Excelsior reported that COPUDEVER is opposed to the construction of the Paso hydroelectric dam, that Heras Cruz was active in the defence of territory, against the exploitation of natural resources, and that just days prior to his death had given a report on the exploitation of stone material from the Verde River by a family of cattle ranchers that lacked an environmental impact permit.

El Universal further noted that COPUDEVER “maintains an active resistance against the Paso de la Reina and Río Verde hydroelectric projects, which the federal government intends to build in the area.”

That article adds: “Since 2019, the Council of United Peoples for the Defense of the Verde River has maintained the defence of this body of water against the claims of the mayor of Santiago Jamiltepec, Celia Rivas Márquez (PRI) to extract stone material.”

“Despite the resistance of the community, an extraction agreement was reached that in August was breached by the municipality, which sought to increase the volume of extraction, without environmental permits or the corresponding payments, according to the ejidal authorities.”

It also notes: “After the crime against the defender, organizations such as the Red de Defensoras y Defensores Comunitarios de los Pueblos de Oaxaca (Redecom), Servicios para una Educación Alternativa (Educa), Ecosta Yutu Cuii and the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus (Ucizoni ) condemned the attack and demanded a thorough investigation and that the crime not go unpunished.”

Sin Embargo has reported: “Due to the murder of Heras Cruz, the Governor of the entity, Alejandro Murat, was requested to intervene ‘to follow up until the facts are clarified and provide attention to those who make this complaint.’”

“They also requested that the Oaxaca State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) have an investigation folder, and that they not rule out any of the causes mentioned by COPUDEVER.”

And La Jornada reported: “For its part, the Ombudsman for Human Rights of the People of Oaxaca (DDHPO) condemned the crime of the community defender and member of the United Nations Council for the Defense of the Verde River (COPUDEVER) and requested precautionary measures. The autonomous body initiated the file DDHPO / CA / 022 / (09) / OAX / 2021, and asked the FGE to dictate the necessary protection measures to the people who are direct and indirect victims, to guarantee their integrity.”

PBI-Canada joins with PBI-Mexico in extending its support to the family, friends and all those who worked with Heras Cruz to defend territory and nature.

PBI-Colombia accompanied CSPP & CCAJAR promote launch of Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal hearings in Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 25, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project amplified this tweet from the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP).

PBI-Colombia tweeted: “Tomorrow: Launch of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal-Colombia 2021 in the face of persistent impunity in Colombia. Hearings from March 25-27 with jurors from Italy, France, Mexico, Spain and other countries.”

That launch on January 26 starting at 8 am EST can be seen on Facebook here.

The PBI-Colombia accompanied José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR) has also tweeted: “The Permanent Peoples’ Court will judge the Colombian State for political genocide, impunity and crimes against peace.”

The Tribunal’s website further explains: “The TPP promotes universal and effective respect for fundamental human rights and peoples, examining cases of serious and systematic violations of human rights committed by States, non-State authorities and private groups or organizations.”

The TPP is based at the Lelio and Lisli Basso Foundation in Italy. Notably, one its vice-presidents is Javier Giraldo SJ.

PBI-Colombia has previously explained: “Father Javier Giraldo was the person who made the formal request for PBI to open a project in Colombia [in 1994].”

It adds: “He learned about PBI in Central America in the 1980s and thought it could be an adequate protection model for human rights defenders in Colombia.”

#YaVieneElTPP #TheTPPisComing

PBI-Canada following the appeals process this week for the criminalized Guapinol water defenders in Honduras

By
Brent Patterson
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The Guapinol water defenders were to have a day in court on January 25.

On January 24, Bufete Justicia para los Pueblos tweeted: “Starting tomorrow, Monday, January 25, the La Ceiba Court of Appeals has 3 days to decide on the freedom of the Guapinol defenders. We hope that these magistrates will finally demonstrate judicial independence and release the water defenders.”

But now Tilly Metz, a Member of the European Parliament, has tweeted: “Still no progress in #Guapinol case. Today’s preliminary hearing for the environmental defenders has been cancelled. We only know that the court of appeal now has 3 days to resolve the file. The defenders must be released urgently!”

On December 18, 2020, eight Guapinol water defenders were in court regarding the pre-trial detention measures against them (seven have been held in jail since September 1, 2019, an eighth since December 8, 2018).

On December 19, 2020 the judge ruled that they would remain in jail.

It is that ruling that is now being appealed.

Guapinol Resiste explains: “National and international law clearly establishes that preventative detention should only be used in extreme circumstances when the Public Prosecutor’s Office has proven that the requirements for a custodial measure have been met, which has not happened in this case.”

It adds: “The appeal was filed immediately after Judge Guifarro’s December ruling, but was not transferred by the Tocoa Court to La Ceiba until last Friday, January 22. According to the Honduran Criminal Procedural Code, the Court of Appeals has three days to review the appeal and issue a ruling based on legal merit, not political and economic pressure.”

The Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) has also highlighted that the detention of these human rights defenders constitutes an “arbitrary measure contrary to international human rights standards and due process guarantees.”

Bufete Justicia para los Pueblos has further tweeted: “The appeal against Zoé Guifarro’s ruling to maintain preventive detention is in the hands of La Ceiba magistrates. They must resolve by Wednesday [January 27].”

The water defenders are being held for their peaceful participation in a protest camp to protect the water sources that originate in the Carlos Escaleras Mountain National Park from the Inversiones Los Pinares iron oxide mine.

PBI-Honduras has been accompanying various processes in relation to the defenders of the Guapinol River for the past 23 months.

PBI-Canada continues to watch with great concern.

Indigenous land defenders call for stop to Line 3 as Biden and Trudeau prepare to meet again

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo by MN350 of rally against the Line 3 pipeline on January 9, 2021.

On January 20, US President Joe Biden revoked the permit for the construction of the 830,000 barrel per day Keystone XL tar sands pipeline from Canada.

Welcoming that decision, the Indigenous Environmental Network highlighted: “We must not forget about our relatives fighting Line 3, the Dakota Access Pipeline and other fossil fuel projects poisoning our communities and fueling the climate emergency.”

The Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. 760,000 barrel per day Line 3 tar sands pipeline would run from Hardisty, Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin. It would be 1,659 kilometres in length, of which about 585 kilometres would be in the United States.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved the construction of the Line 3 pipeline in Canada in November 2016 on the same day he approved the construction of the now Canadian government owned 890,000 barrel per day Trans Mountain pipeline.

About half of the 1,150 kilometre-long Trans Mountain pipeline is set to cross unceded Secwepemc territory without their free, prior and informed consent.

The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) runs from North Dakota to Illinois where it connects with the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline that continues through several states including Louisiana to Texas. Thousands of land defenders and allies gathered at Standing Rock in 2016-17 to oppose this pipeline.

While DAPL is entirely within the United States, many in Canada have called on the Toronto-based TD Bank, a key investor in the pipeline, to divest from it.

Indigenous land defenders have repeatedly highlighted that none of these pipelines have the free, prior and informed consent of those whose territories they cross.

That may be why Faith Spotted Eagle, a member of the Ihanktonwan Dakota nation, described the cancellation of the KXL pipeline as “an act of courage and restorative justice by the Biden administration.”

On the January 22 call between Biden and Trudeau, they pledged to work “in partnership with Indigenous peoples” and to meet again in February.

In the meantime, Indigenous land defenders continue to be criminalized and arrested for upholding their rights in opposition to these megaprojects.

That includes the 8 land defenders arrested on January 9 in northern Minnesota, seven of whom were charged for trespassing on critical infrastructure as they peacefully attempted to stop construction on the Line 3 pipeline.

We call on President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau to respect the right to free, prior and informed consent, to stop the criminalization of land defenders, and to listen to the demands coming from the Indigenous Environmental Network, Honor the Earth and many others to stop these megaprojects on Indigenous territories.

Line 3 pipeline route.

PBI-Mexico accompanies Tlachinollan to virtual meeting with embassies, including the Embassy of Canada

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 21, Peace Brigades International-Mexico accompanied the Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre and others at a virtual meeting with representatives from seven embassies, including the Embassy of Canada in Mexico.

The meeting was focused on informing the embassies about the human rights situation in the state of Guerrero, specifically the deepening crisis of forced disappearances.

Just three of the cases raised include:

Arnulfo Cerón Soriano

Juan Sánchez Gaspar spoke on behalf of the Popular Front of the Mountain he demanded justice in the murder of Arnulfo Cerón Soriano.

Arnulfo Cerón Soriano was a 47-year-old Indigenous Nahua lawyer and social activist with the Popular Front of the Mountain and Movement for the Freedom of Political Prisoners of the State of Guerrero (MOLPEG). He had previously worked as a lawyer with Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre in the mid-1990s.

On October 11, 2019, he was disappeared in the city of Tlapa in Guerrero. Forty days later, on November 20, his body was found in a clandestine grave.

The “Ayotzinapa 43”

Doña Cristina Bautista demanded an investigation of all the members of the army involved in the disappearance of her 19-year-old son Benjamin in 2014.

The “Ayotzinapa 43” were students from a politically radical, poor, mostly Indigenous teachers’ college in the town of Ayotzinapa in Guerrero. In September 2014 they were forcibly disappeared from a bus in the city of Iguala (about 200 kilometres north-west of the school) while they were en route to Mexico City to commemorate the anniversary of the Tlatelolco massacre (in which the Mexican Armed Forces had killed hundreds of people who were protesting against the Olympics on October 2, 1968).

Rosendo Radilla Pacheco

And Tita Radilla expressed outrage that the Mexican State has not complied with an Inter-American Court judgment related to the disappearance of her father Rosendo at a military checkpoint near Atoyac de Álvarez in Guerrero.

The November 23, 2009 IACHR judgement has been summarized as follows: “On August 25, 1974, Mr. Rosendo Radilla Pacheco, a 60 year-old musician and political and social activist, was arrested by members of the Mexican Army in the State of Guerrero and eventually disappeared. The State failed to establish the whereabouts of Mr. Radilla Pacheco. The Court found that the State violated the American Convention on Human Rights and the American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons.”

More than 79,000 people disappeared

In December 2020, The Washington Post reported: “More than 79,000 people have disappeared in Mexico, most of them since 2006.”

NBC News has further noted: “The majority of disappearances have been reported since 2006 and 40 percent were recorded since December 2018, since the start of the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.”

The culprits in the disappearances are often named in media reports and studies as members of the armed forces, criminal gangs, and the police.

The Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre works to defend and protect the collective rights of the Indigenous Na savi, Me’phaa, Nauas, Nn´anncue and Mestizo peoples of the Montaña and Costa Chica regions of Guerrero.

PBI-Mexico has accompanied the Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre since 2003.

To read the full report on the meeting with embassy staff written by the Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre and PBI-Mexico in Spanish, please click here. For an English translation of their article, click here.

Relatives of missing victims in Guerrero meet with diplomatic corps

By
Brent Patterson
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The following is a translation of an article jointly produced by the “Tlachinollan” Human Rights Centre and Peace Brigades International-Mexico.

Relatives of victims of disappearance, human rights defenders and human rights organizations met virtually and members of the diplomatic corps. The meeting held yesterday, January 21, 2021, had the objective: to inform international actors about the human rights situation in the state of Guerrero, and in particular about the deepening of the disappearance crisis that the entity is experiencing, through the direct testimonies of their relatives and the accompanying organizations.

The virtual private meeting with the diplomatic corps was held because as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the visit to the state of Guerrero, planned at the beginning of 2020, was postponed indefinitely.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the embassies of the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Austria, as well as the Delegation of the European Union in Mexico.

At first, defenders from the state of Guerrero made the embassies aware of the serious situation in which human rights defenders, as well as journalists, find themselves, given the context of macro-criminality that prevails in the state of Guerrero. Juan Sánchez Gaspar, on behalf of the Popular Front of the Mountain, demanded justice for the disappearance and murder of Arnulfo Cerón Soriano; Sergio Ocampo, correspondent for the Jornada in Guerrero, explained how the exercise of journalism in the entity has become in many places impossible due to the collusion between organized crime and authorities at different levels; Teodomira Rosales Sierra, director of the “José Morelos y Pavón” Human Rights Center, explained how her organization’s accompaniment of the victims of forced displacement in the Chilapa de Álvarez region led her to receive threats from different actors, forcing her to several members of the Center to leave the entity forcibly.

In a second moment, testimonies and experiences of relatives of victims of disappearance were made known, who have formed groups to search together for their loved ones. Gema Antúnez Flores, from the Collective of Relatives in Search María Herrera, from Chilpancingo, told the diplomatic corps the situation of abandonment in which the groups of relatives of disappeared persons are found in the state of Guerrero, both in the null access to the truth and to justice, as to survive on a day-to-day basis in the midst of the pandemic. Members of the Colectivo Luciérnaga, un luz en la Oscuridad, from Tlapa, recounted how they have collectively learned to arm themselves with courage to undertake the search for their relatives, in a region increasingly controlled by organized crime.

Finally, relatives of emblematic cases of forced disappearance took the floor, to relate their demand for justice at the international level in the face of impunity in crimes committed by state actors. Tita Radilla, daughter of the defender Rosendo Radilla Pacheco disappeared by the Army in the midst of the so-called “Dirty War” in 1974, expressed her outrage at the lack of compliance by the Mexican State, 12 years after the Inter-American Court’s judgment was issued. of Human Rights. Norma González, wife of the indigenous teacher Gregorio López Alvarado who disappeared in 1996, demanded that the Mexican authorities investigate the CISEN agents who disappeared him. Doña Cristina Bautista, mother of one of the Ayotzinapa students who disappeared on the night of September 26 to 27, 2014 in Iguala, recounted the 6 years of walking by the parents of the students in search of their children and demanded the investigation of all the members of the army involved in his disappearance.

At the end of the meeting, the representatives of the embassies thanked the victims for their strong testimonies that allowed them to understand the reality that exists in the country, outside of Mexico City, and showed their concern about the difficult situation of the victims. From the Human Rights Center of the Mountain “Tlachinollan” and Peace Brigades International-Mexico, we express our gratitude to all the people who participated in this meeting and we will continue to inform various international actors about the crisis of disappearance of people that Guerrero is going through, until the security and guarantee of human rights is a reality in the state.

This article was published in Spanish on the Tlachinollan website and the PBI-Mexico website.

PBI-Guatemala interviews Feliciana Macario of the National Coordination of Widows of Guatemala (CONAVIGUA)

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 20, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted: “We talked with Feliciana Macario (CONAVIGUA) about the closure of peace institutions and what it means for the organizations of victims of internal armed conflict.”

CONAVIGUA is the National Coordination of Widows of Guatemala (CONAVIGUA).

The Cantabrian digital newspaper El Faradio reported on this webinar.

It notes: “CONAVIGUA was founded in 1988, bringing together representatives of widows from different villages, cantons, farmhouses and villages in different municipalities and departments, with the vivid memory of the struggle of women to maintain their communities, both in houses and in work, in general, and especially by becoming widowed in the face of the situation of violence or illness of their husbands for their harsh working conditions , in addition to the cases of repression they suffer on their activist side.”

“Thus, in the face of their demands to locate their missing husbands, they received threats from military commissions, patrol chiefs, soldiers and their collaborators.”

“The work of this group focuses on alleviating the most immediate and urgent needs of food, medicine, housing and clothing for their children and family, as well as the demand for a dignified education for them, together with the fight against military abuses and the failure of their children to participate in civilian patrols and military reserves.”

“They work, in short, ‘because the woman, Guatemalan, mainly the indigenous woman of the countryside, has a comprehensive development, that awakens, approaches and fights for the well-being of their community, giving their contribution in search of solutions to the great problems of our country.’”

“The defence of the human rights they pursue extends to aspects such as the rescue of the remains of their relatives, killed in ravines and mass graves.”

“CONAVIGUA includes women widows for repression or illness; without distinction of origins or religions, and in close work with popular, trade union, peasant or student organizations.”

That article further notes: “In Guatemala, several institutions, created to comply with the Peace Agreements, were recently closed.”

“In particular, it is the Secretariat of Peace (Sepaz), the Secretariat of Agricultural Affairs (SAA) the Presidential Commission coordinating the Executive’s Human Rights Policy (Copredeh), the National Resarciation Programme, to replace them with a commission that human rights activists see as a ‘farce’ contrary to the agreements and the Constitution itself, in addition, without a budget for its operation.”

To watch the 30-minute webinar, please click here.

PBI-Colombia accompanied CREDHOS concerned by attack against water defender Yuli Velazques

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo by CREDHOS.

On January 21, CREDHOS tweeted: “CREDHOS accompanies environmental organizations and the leader Yuli Velazques of the Federation of Environmental and Tourist Artisanal Fishermen of the Department of Santander – Fedepesan- in the face of events that threatened her life and integrity in Barrancabermeja.”

El Tiempo has 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.”

“The leader told EL TIEMPO that two men approached her home at night. They covered their faces with motorcycle helmets, making it suspicious.”

“’My husband told me: let’s stop, let’s go inside and close the door. At the moment we stop and close the door. But they (the men with helmets) run towards us and start firing shots. I grabbed my children and we threw ourselves on the floor’, said Yuli.”

“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 swamps, unclog the pipes and make an environmental recovery of all the swamps of Barrancabermeja, especially that of San Silvestre. Since, according to her complaints, these resources are not reflected in the recovery of these ecosystems. She has also denounced the contamination of the San Silvestre swamp and the El Llanito swamp.”

Caracol Radio adds: “Yuli assured that she fears for her life and that of her family and she believes that what happened was due to several cases of complaints that she is handling about contamination in the San Silvestre swamp and the use of oil in some sectors.”

“Days before what happened, another leader with whom she works received intimidation for the investigations carried out with the Barrancabermeja water, Ecopetrol and the denunciations of the San Silvestre channel.”

And Infobae notes: “[Yuli has] warned the authorities to offer her security guarantees calling for sanity and investigating who may have attempted against her life.”

Semana Sostenible has previously explained that the San Silvestre swamp, a wetland area that supplies drinking water to Barrancabermeja, has been contaminated for years by agriculture and livestock (notably thousands of hectares of African palm and large herds of cattle and buffalo), the Ecopetrol oil refinery, and the Esmeralda, Anchicayá and Yerbabuena garbage dumps (the latter two landfills were authorized in 2013-14).

In July 2019, PBI-Colombia accompanied CREDHOS on a boat tour (along with Oscar Sampayo of CRY-GEAM) that included the San Silvestre swamp.

In response to the attack, CRY-GEAM tweeted: “We reject the risk situation experienced by environmentalists from Magdalena Medio and the Port of Barrancabermeja due to the constant attacks, threats and stigmatization they suffer. We reject the attack suffered by the environmental and fishermen leader Yuli Velázquez.”

Dr. Yesid Blanco (a vocal defender of the swamp) tweeted: “They are killing us HELP!!! In the land of fracking, they are exterminating environmental leaders with the complicity of the National Government.”

And the Alliance for a Colombia Free of Fracking tweeted: “We reject the attack against the environmental leader of Barrancabermeja, Yuli Velásquez, who has fought for the protection and care of the Llanito and San Silvestre swamps. That defending water does not continue to cost us our lives.”

PBI-Canada & PBI-USA webinars on how to be a frontline field volunteer coming soon!

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Canada and PBI-USA are working together to offer four webinars this year for individuals interested in becoming a frontline volunteer with PBI.

Field brigadistas play a crucial role in fulfilling the mission of Peace Brigades International to physically accompany threatened human rights defenders.

PBI field projects post for new volunteers on a regular basis.

We anticipate that PBI-Mexico and PBI-Colombia will put a call out for volunteers in the coming weeks and that PBI-Honduras and PBI-Guatemala will also do so later in the year.

The webinars can be for those who are interested in applying to be a volunteer this year or even a few years down the road.

The webinars might also be of interest to donors, allies and others interested in finding out more about what accompaniment involves.

We envision the webinars including a PBI field project staffperson (who can answer all your questions about the application process and more), a defender we accompany (who can give another perspective of the importance of accompaniment) and a past volunteer (to provide a first hand account of what it is like to be a PBI field volunteer).

This past year, PBI-Canada helped to amplify the calls by PBI-Colombia in October, PBI-Guatemala in May, PBI-Honduras in April, and PBI-Mexico in January.

We did so through articles on our website, and with our weekly e-newsletter, social media posts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and by word of mouth.

But we want to do more.

These webinars organized in collaboration with our friends at PBI-USA will be one additional way to get the word out about the opportunity to volunteer in Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico.

We are also looking at how to reach (virtually) into different communities across the country, including university and community college students, faith communities and activist movements.

We see it as a crucial task to increase our outreach efforts so that we can continue to directly contribute to the frontline physical accompaniment of defenders.

To help equip us with the resources needed to reach these communities in innovative ways, please consider making an online donation to PBI-Canada.

Watch for an update about the first volunteer webinar (planned for February) in an upcoming newsletter, as well as on our Twitter and Facebook pages.

Peace Brigades International statements affirming the human right to migration

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Democracy Now!

On January 19, Democracy Now! reported on Honduran migrants experiencing military and police violence in Guatemala and then on the separation of migrant families in Mexico due to the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

That can be found starting at the 15:20 mark of that day’s broadcast (at the 16:36 mark there is footage of the PBI-Mexico accompanied Saltillo Migrant Shelter).

There are currently several thousand Honduran migrants trying to make their way through Guatemala on their way to Mexico and then the United States.

This week, PBI-Honduras posted: “Migration is a global issue, which increases year after year. Migrants are people who must be given guarantees of their human rights.”

Their post links to this United Nations statement that notes: “Between 2000 and 2020, the number of people displaced across international borders while fleeing conflict, persecution, violence or human rights violations doubled from 17 million to 34 million.”

PBI-Guatemala also just posted this article from Prensa Libre and highlighted the quote from Guatemalan Human Rights Ombudsperson Jordan Rodas who has stated: “[Migrants] flee social inequality, poverty and violence, and cannot be subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment on Guatemalan territory.”

And last year PBI-Mexico highlighted: “While migration is a right enshrined in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it continues to be violated by a variety of actors. Attacks against human rights defenders of migrants show the criminalization of migration in Mexico and the region, as well as the constant violation of the right to defend human rights, despite being an obligation of the Mexican State.”

And PBI-Canada has posted several articles including this one that highlight the human rights implications of the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement.

That agreement means that Canadian officials can return a migrant seeking asylum at a border checkpoint (given the US is considered a safe third country).

In contrast, the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees means that asylum seekers entering Canada between border checkpoints are not automatically deported and may make asylum claims.

On July 22, 2020, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that the Safe Third Country Agreement violated the human rights of asylum seekers and was thus unconstitutional. Unfortunately, by August the Government of Canada had filed an appeal of the ruling (that would have effectively voided the agreement this month).

Significantly, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has now also ruled: “The effects of climate change in receiving states may expose individuals to a violation of their rights … thereby triggering the non-refoulement obligations of sending states.”

In response, Mitchell Goldberg, a volunteer with PBI-Guatemala in 1989-90 who later co-founded the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, has stated the Canadian government will need to take urgent policy and legislative action to account for the “very threatening new reality” of forced migration due to climate change.

For more, please see The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights statement: Migration and Human Rights.

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