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PBI-Colombia accompanies Peace Community of San José de Apartadó on a day of collective work

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 17, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project posted on Instagram: “Last week, volunteer brigade members from our field team in Urabá accompanied the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó on a day of collective work.”

The Peace Community is located more than 700 kilometres northwest of Bogota in the mountainous northern region in the department of Antioquia.

PBI-Colombia adds: “During the pandemic, the Community has increased its production of crops such as corn, cocoa, rice and beans. They are aware that food security helps protect them from the economic and human effects of the pandemic that are greater for historically marginalized populations such as the peasant population.”

Notably, in a relationship that dates back to 2009, the Peace Community sells about 50 tonnes of organic cacao each year to Lush that Lush UK says has been used in products like Charity Pot body lotion. The Chocolate of Peace website also notes that the Peace Massage Bar produced by Lush using fair trade cacao from the Peace Community is sold in 900 Lush stores in over 50 countries.

On March 23, 1997, the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado was formed. The farming community declared itself neutral in the armed conflict and rejected the presence of all the armed groups in its territory.

In 1999, PBI-Colombia began accompanying the Peace Community.

On April 4, 1999, just hours after PBI-Colombia volunteers Steve Law and Evelyn Jones (from Kennetcook, Nova Scotia) said their goodbyes to the Peace Community, a peace leader and two residents there were killed in a paramilitary attack.

In 2000, the Peace Community was attacked again when PBI-Colombia volunteer Scott Pearce (from Toronto, Ontario) was present.

On the twentieth anniversary of its resistance in 2017, the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó counted 326 of its members murdered, and more than 4,000 human rights violations committed against the community.

Earlier this year, Yes! magazine reported: “The Peace Community, in addition to suffering [a] new wave of violence [after the peace agreement in 2016], is also under the threat of losing their communal land from a state project of agrarian reform, according to Germán Romero, a lawyer with dhColombia, a nonprofit organization in charge of representing the community in court to seek justice for the violence they have experienced.”

PBI-Colombia also notes that to learn more about the importance of cocoa production or the Community, you can read Cacao is sowing life.

Canadian government ignores call from Indigenous land defenders, presses Biden to support Keystone XL pipeline

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo by NBC News.

Update: On January 20, US President Joe Biden revoked the permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be speaking with President Biden on January 22. On this call we ask the Prime Minister to accept the KXL decision, uphold free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), and support Indigenous land defenders now asking for President Biden act on the Line 3 pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).

On January 19, Indigenous Climate Action tweeted: “News came today that the incoming Biden administration is planning to cancel the #KeystoneXL tar sands pipeline on its first day in office. @JustinTrudeau it’s time for you and your government to take a similar step for Indigenous land rights and the fight for climate justice.”

And yet Bloomberg reports: “Canadian Energy Minister Seamus O’Regan said the federal government continues to support Keystone XL and will make the case for the project to the Biden administration.”

Reuters adds: “Trudeau’s government has previously urged the president-elect not to halt construction.” The CBC notes that Trudeau raised this issue in his first telephone conversation with the president-elect on November 9, 2020.

The day before the call, then-Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said protecting Keystone XL is a top priority for the Canadian government.

Canadian ambassador to the US, Kirsten Hillman, is also making the case for Biden to allow construction of the pipeline to continue.

Construction of Keystone XL in Canada was approved by the National Energy Board in March 2010. The pipeline route runs for 529 kilometres in Canada through Alberta (Treaty 6 territory) and Saskatchewan (Treaty 4) where it would cross the border at Montana, then proceed through South Dakota and Nebraska.

The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) has highlighted: “For over a decade, Indigenous nations and communities have continuously denied consent to the KXL pipeline from crossing their territories, citing environmental concerns, the desecration of sacred sites, treaty rights violations, and the risks of sexual violence connected with man camps.”

Faith Spotted Eagle, a Yankton Sioux Elder, has noted: “We are worried about man camps that are coming to our territory. We have seen our women suffer. One out of three women in our nation have been sexually assaulted by non-native people.”

Now the IEN along with numerous others have stated that an executive action the Biden Administration can take on Day One is: “Reject all federal permits for fossil fuel and other climate-damaging infrastructure, including, but not limited to, the Keystone XL, Dakota Access, Line 3, and Mountain Valley Pipelines.”

PBI-Canada calls on the Canadian government to listen to Indigenous land defenders, respect the right to free, prior and informed consent, and further recognize the human rights catastrophe of climate change that KXL would hasten.

PBI-Guatemala highlights Human Rights Ombudsperson’s concern about state violence against Honduran migrants

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 18, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted this article from Prensa Libre and highlighted the concerns expressed by the Human Rights Ombudsperson (PDH) about the use of the army and police against migrants.

The Office of the Humans Rights Ombudsperson (Procurador de los Derechos Humanos – PDH) is a state entity commissioned by the Congress of Guatemala to guarantee compliance with human rights obligations established in the Guatemalan Constitution, the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other conventions.

In this statement, the Human Rights Ombudsperson reminds Guatemalan authorities that: “Migrants flee social inequality, poverty and violence, and cannot be subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment in Guatemalan territory.”

He further notes: “The Migration Code states that ‘the State of Guatemala recognizes the right of every person to emigrate or immigrate, so that the migrant may enter to remain, transit, leave and return to the national territory in accordance with national law’.”

He also tweeted the full statement and further commented: “The brutal use of force by the Guatemalan Army against migrants from Honduras is deplorable. The migration is caused because in our countries there are no minimum conditions for a dignified life. It is necessary to have empathy and solidarity.”

The Guardian has reported: “Thousands of mostly Honduran migrants began crossing the Guatemalan border on Friday night, having set off on foot from the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula in the early hours of Thursday. On Sunday, as they trekked west across Guatemala towards its border with Mexico, part of the group was intercepted by members of Guatemala’s army and police near the village of Vado Hondo.”

That article highlights: “Troops used teargas, riot shields and sticks to repel the weary, backpack-carrying travellers as they tried to push past.”

Andres Gomez, a Guatemalan in the caravan, told Reuters: “This isn’t a war. It’s a caravan with women and children. The soldiers have no right to beat anyone. There are women who’ve been beaten, it’s an act of violence.”

Guatemala’s top immigration official has stated that since Friday, 7,000 to 8,000 Hondurans have crossed into Guatemala. As of late Monday, officials say that about 1,800 of those migrants have been sent back to Honduras.

In response to the events of the last several days, PBI-Honduras has also posted: “Migration is a global issue, which increases year after year. Migrants are people who must be given guarantees of their human rights.”

There are many migrants still seeking to transit through Mexico to the United States.

The Casa del Migrante was established in Saltillo, Mexico (near the US border) to support migrants (many of whom are from Honduras). PBI-Mexico, through its accompaniment of the Casa, attempts to open political space at the local, national and international level to enable it to carry out its work in defence for human rights.

Colombian court rules against Calgary-based Parex Resources injunction application

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: A still from the December 21, 2020 with Iván Madero Vergel (CREHDOS president), Leidy Irreño (CREDHOS lawyer), Oscar Sampayo (CRY-GEAM spokesperson) and Raúl Barba (environmental leader).

Calgary-based Parex Resources Inc. operates the Aguas Blancas oil field in the municipality of Simacota, Santander in northeastern Colombia.

The Parex operation in Simacota is located in the Magdalena Medio region which also encompasses the municipalities of Barrancabermeja, Puerto Wilches and San Martin. The region is spread over seven departments, notably Santander (where Simacota is located), Antioquia and Cesar. It is a focal point for oil extraction and refining, as well as for threats against environmental human rights defenders.

Court rulings

On September 29, 2020, Parex launched a tutela action against Yolanda Pico and Segundo Adolfo Salinas, leaders of the Community Action Board of the la vereda El divisó La Colorada in the lower area of the municipality of Simacota.

By October 13, the Municipal Court of Simacota had dismissed this challenge.

A tutela is an injunction that aims to protect constitutional rights when they are violated or threatened by the action or omission of any public authority.

The mechanism is incorporated in Article 86 of the Constitution and a tutela can proceed under several circumstances including when the actor (plaintiff) is in a situation of defenselessness in relation to the individual (defendant) against whom the tutela is brought.

Parex claimed that between March 4 and March 18 of 2020, its operations at the Aguas Blancas project were affected in unjustified ways by some members of the community including by Mrs. Pico and Mr. Salinas. That reportedly included a blockade at the entrance to the main production plant that prevented workers from entering the site.

The ruling notes that on March 17, Parex presented a right of petition to the defendants to answer their assertions against the company. On March 27, the defendants replied that they were not obligated to reply to that right of petition.

In a letter dated September 23, Parex outlined in a letter their argument to have their good name and honour protected from the assertions of Pico and Salinas.

On October 13, the Municipal Court of Simacota declared the inadmissibility of the protection action. It further ruled that the defendants (Pico and Salinas) exercised their right to free expression and that at no time did they violate the rights of the plaintiff (Parex).

The ruling also found that there was no dependence or subordination of one with respect to the other (as required in a tutela action) and that the peaceful protest by the defendants did not violate the rights of the plaintiff.

Media conference

On December 21, CREDHOS president Ivan Madero Vergel, CREDOS lawyer Leidy Irreño, CRY-GEAM spokesperson Oscar Sampayo and environmental leader Raúl Barba. spoke about this case at a press conference.

The 22-minute video of that press conference can be seen here.

The press conference denounced the criminalization of social leaders by Parex. Putting this in a broader context, the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP) has noted that “between 2012 and 2019, 249 social leaders have been judicialized and 74% of them were environmental and land defenders.”

The speakers also highlighted this recent threat made against eighteen environmental leaders (including Sampayo) by the Black Eagles (Águilas Negras).

The threats against environmental and community leaders exemplify the intensification of the armed conflict in the region. CREDHOS has highlighted this in their October 2020 report: The Armed Silence: Pacts and Disputes in Magdalena Medio.

Environmental concerns

Various environmental concerns have been raised about the Parex Aguas Blancas operation over the past four years.

The oil field has been opposed by local communities and environmentalists, notably over the irregular acquisition of the land and the environmental impact of the operations. In September 2015, when Parex signed an agreement with Ecopetrol, the expectation was the deal could allow the Aguas Blancas field to increase to 10,000 barrels a day by 2020.

CRY-GEAM (the Yariguíes Regional Corporation Group of Extractive, Environmental and Social Studies of Magdalena Medio) began to note concerns shortly after Parex had completed the drilling of its first four wells at Aguas Blancas.

CRY-GEAM posted to Facebook this video in January 2017 with concerns about the absence of needed environmental documents and these photos in April 2017 expressing concern about a flipped truck and runoff into the Colorada River.

In April 2017, CRY-GEAM also posted this video on Twitter with the text: “Parex in Simacota, Campo Aguas Blancas, without archaeological management plan, without environmental permit, above the law and communities. Who responds?”

Despite this, Export Development Canada, the Government of Canada’s export credit agency, has provided financing and support to Parex including: $50-100 million (27-05-2019): $50-100 million (22-02-2019); and $25-50 million (07-05-2018).

Keeping watch

Peace Brigades International continues to closely follow the situation at Aguas Blancas and affirms the fundamental right of the local community to express their concerns about the environmental impacts of this Canadian oil and gas corporation.

On MLK Day we remember his influence on the formation of Peace Brigades International

By
Brent Patterson
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As Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is observed, we remember that his writings served as an inspiration at the founding meeting of Peace Brigades International in 1981 on Grindstone Island, just south of Ottawa on unceded Algonquin territory.

The holiday is observed in the U.S. on the third Monday of January each year. King was born on January 15, 1929 and killed on April 4, 1968 when he was 39 years old.

Daniel N. Clark, who was at the founding meeting for Peace Brigades International, has written: “On Tuesday [September 1], with [Colombian priest] Jaime Diaz chairing, [civil rights activist] Charlie Walker read from Martin Luther King and the session was devoted to statements of the concerns and approach of each participant.”

Throughout the 1960s, Walker helped recruit and train participants for nonviolent actions targeting racial injustice, including Freedom Rides, sit-ins, the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, and the 1963 March on Washington. During the Montgomery bus boycott (from 1955-56), he met and corresponded with Dr. King.

Letters from Dr. King note: “Mr. Walker has been close to developments in the struggle for racial justice ever since I first met him in Montgomery, in early 1956” and call him a man of “skill and understanding.”

Dr. King had said in a sermon in March 1956, “Peace is not merely to absence of tension, but the presence of justice.”

Notably, the founding statement of PBI highlights: “We are building on a rich and extensive heritage of nonviolent action, which no longer can be ignored. This heritage tells us that peace is more than the absence of war.”

Dr. King was arrested 29 times challenging, as he described in May 1967, “the triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism.”

In November 1967, less than six months before his death, Dr. King recorded a series of Massey Lectures for Canadian radio.

The CBC has reported: “King used the Massey Lectures to elaborate on his understanding of the connections between racism, militarism and poverty. He also spoke of his emerging vision of American civil rights movement as part of an international freedom struggle against the economic exploitation of the poor.”

On this day, we recall the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the influence of his vision on the formation of Peace Brigades International.

PBI co-founder Charles Walker, who first met Martin Luther King, Jr. in early 1956, read from King’s writings at the founding meeting of PBI in September 1981.

PBI-Mexico accompanied People’s Front organizes the ‘Caravan for life and water’ to protest the PIM megaproject

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo by Emmanuel Ruiz/El Sol de Cuautla of the mass at the Cuautla River.

On January 18, El Sol de Cuernavaca reported: “About 15 vehicles and a group of cyclists from Mexico City departed this Sunday morning from the community of Huexca, in the municipality of Yecapixtla, as part of the Caravan for life and water.”

“The mobilization was convened by the Peoples Front in Defense of the Land and Water of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala (FPDTA-MPT) against the operation of the Integral Morelos Project (PIM) and its thermoelectric plant in this town of Yecapixtla.”

The Morelos Integral Project (PIM) consists of a 171-kilometre gas pipeline that would cross the states of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala, the Huexca plant  and a 12-kilometre aqueduct that would divert water from the Cuautla River.

That article adds that the caravan included a protest outside the thermoelectric plant, a religious service on shore of the Cuautla River in the community of San Pedro Apatlaco, and a last stop in the community of Tenextepango.

Noting the first stop, La Jornada adds: “Some activists got out of their vehicles and deployed a blanket with the faces of General Emiliano Zapata and Samir Flores Soberanes, an opponent of the PIM killed in February 2019, at the entrance of the CFE complex.”

On the second stop, Teresa Castellanos Ruiz of the FPDTA-MPT explained: “It is a mass because the spirit of the water is alive and we have to defend water and life. It is very important that this blessing of the Cuautla River, so that the authorities can learn to value the water, to defend it, not to allow it to be taken away because then they will not survive.”

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

Toronto-based Alamos Gold has reactivated work on their Esperanza open-pit gold mine near the community of Tetlama (60 kilometres west of Huexca). Their statement suggests that this mine could draw energy from the plant.

PBI-Mexico began to accompany the FPDTA-MPT in 2020.

Photo by Rubicela Morelos/La Jornada of the first stop of the January 17 caravan.

PBI-Colombia notes kidnapping of now-released Indigenous Embera environmental guard Jesús Bailarín by AGC paramilitary

By
Brent Patterson
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Image: Contagio Radio.

On January 17, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project tweeted: “[The Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace/CIPJ] reports that Embera leader Jesús Bailarín of Jiguamiandó has been detained by paramilitaries tonight.” 

The CIPJ subsequently reported that after an hour and forty minutes of being held by the Gaitanista Self-Defenses of Colombia (AGC) and falsely accused as being a member of the National Liberation Army (ELN), Bailarín was released.

Bailarín is a member of the environmental guard of the Indigenous Embera Nuevo Cañaveral reserve located in the collective territory of Jiguamiandó in the Bajo (lower) Atrato region of the department of Chocó.

Mongabay has explained: “Chocó has been the site of heavy clashes between armed groups looking to secure control of the region’s lucrative coca trade, trafficking routes, and artisanal gold mining industry.”

Contagio Radio adds: “Indigenous communities have always opposed illegal and extractive operations that seek to develop in the region.”

That article also notes: “Since September 2020, AGC paramilitaries have threatened indigenous communities after [the communities] eradicated more than 150 hectares of foreign-sown coca on their lands.”

AlCarajo.org further reports that the CIPJ says the paramilitary has plans “to assassinate indigenous leaders for going against illegal agribusinesses such as coca, mining, the preamble to the business operations of two multinationals.”

That article also suggests that Colombian military forces have been aware of the presence of the AGC paramilitary in the area.

The CIPJ has stated that cattle ranchers and palm oil and banana growers have counted on the support of the AGC to intimidate, threaten and kill community leaders who are defending their land from agribusiness and commercial logging interests.

A land defender in the region has further noted: “It doesn’t seem like the military sees campesinos as worthy of their protection even though they used to protect the palm growers when they needed it.”

Following the kidnapping of Bailarín, PBI-Colombia has further expressed with deep concern that: “Multiple alerts to threats against indigenous leaders in the area have not resulted in greater protection.”

PBI-Canada continues to follow this situation.

PBI-Guatemala visits the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya camp in opposition to mine once owned by Canadian company

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo of previous visit by PBI-Guatemala to the La Puya camp in October 2019.

On January 18, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project released its monthly information package for December 2020.

PBI-Guatemala notes: “As with previous months, we have maintained telephone contact with the members of the Peaceful Resistance La Puya, who continue their sit-in and are monitoring the arbitration process between the company and the state. On December 4, we visited the camp and were able to get an update on their experiences during this pandemic year and their expectations for the coming months.”

In March 2012 residents from San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc – an area known as La Puya, just north of Guatemala City – set up a 24-hour a day blockade at the entrance of the Vancouver-based Radius Gold Inc. El Tambor mine.

By August 2012, the Canadian company sold El Tambor to US-based Kappes, Cassiday & Associates, but retained an economic interest in the mine (including quarterly royalty payments on the gold production from the mine).

On May 23, 2014, after two years of peaceful struggle, the communities in resistance to the mine were violently evicted; at least 20 people were injured and 7 were taken to the hospital. PBI-Guatemala was present and witnessed that assault.

Even after that eviction and machinery was escorted onto the mine site, members of La Puya have continued a 24-hour presence in opposition to the project.

By February 2016, the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya won a Guatemalan Supreme Court ruling that provisionally suspended the mining licence because there had not been prior consultation with affected communities, as is required under Guatemalan and international law, in particular the International Labour Organization’s Convention 169.

In response, Kappes, Cassiday & Associates filed a claim with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a World Bank arbitration mechanism, claiming its investor rights under the Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement (that includes the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic) had been violated.

As the Peaceful Resistance approaches the 9th anniversary of their camp outside the mine site, the arbitration process at the World Bank continues.

The monthly information packages from PBI-Guatemala can be found here.

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya since November 2012. On the day of the eviction in May 2014, Peaceful Resistance member Yolanda Oquelí appealed to the police as a PBI-Guatemala volunteer observed the exchange.

PBI-Guatemala notes attack on Xinca defender Julio David González who opposes Canadian Escobal mine

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 16, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted this article from Prensa Comunitaria about the attack on Julio David González.

The Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network had also tweeted: “Xinka leader & human rights defender Julio David Gonzalez Arango was just attacked in his home. We stand in solidarity w/ the Xinka People & echo [the Xinka Parliament]’s calls for an investigation + an end to criminalization & violence.”

Guatemalan journalist Jody Garcia adds: “The Xinka Parliament denounces that this morning one of its leaders, Julio David González, suffered an attack. According to information from [the Xinka Parliament], a man arrived at González’s premises, pretended to be a client, and shot him. He is stable, but the community is alert.”

The Escobal mine is located about 75 kilometres southeast of Guatemala City in the rural municipality of San Rafael Las Flores in Santa Rosa Department.

The mine went into operation in early 2014, but after community protests a Constitutional Court ruling stopped production at the mine in 2017.

MiningWatch Canada has explained: “Operations at the mine have been suspended since June 2017 as a result of direct community action and court decisions finding that the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) discriminated against the Xinka and violated their Indigenous rights when it failed to consult with them.”

Al Jazeera has noted: “The language of the [Constitutional Court ruling in 2017] suggests that the mine may resume operation following the consultation regardless of the outcome. Xinka residents are pushing for a free and fair consultation process but have no plans to consent to the mine or allow production to resume.”

In November 2018, Vancouver-based Pan American Silver announced it was purchasing Tahoe Resources for $1.07 billion in cash and stock.

MiningWatch Canada has noted: “Since Escobal was acquired by Pan American Silver in early 2019, criminalization of Xinka leaders and defamation of members of the peaceful resistance has risen, as have organizing efforts of parallel groups determined to undermine the Xinka Parliament and the broader movement organized in two resistance camps.”

In July 2019, NISGUA reported on threatening incidents against Julio David Gonzalez.

MiningWatch Canada has also reported on this breakthrough: “On October 15, 2020, the Xinka Parliament announced that Guatemalan authorities have finally recognized their representatives elected to participate in a consultation on the Escobal silver mine.”

That article adds: “Along with other agreements, this breakthrough could allow the court-ordered process over the future of the mine to advance after being stalled for over two years.”

Now comes the news of the attack against Julio David Gonzalez.

PBI-Canada joins with the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network and many others in expressing concern about this attack.

PBI-Colombia notes due diligence is on the EU’s agenda in 2021; progress not yet seen in Canada

By
Brent Patterson
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“Sin olvido (we will not forget you) Hernán Bedoya.” PBI-Colombia accompanies the Bedoya family through the Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace. Hernan Bedoya was murdered in December 2017.

On January 15, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project posted: “The European Commission has confirmed a 2021 legislative initiative on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence.”

Global Witness has previously noted: “In April 2020, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders announced to the European Parliament Responsible Business Conduct Working Group that he will introduce European Union rules on corporate accountability and corporate due diligence in early 2021.”

Global Witness has further highlighted: “Businesses must engage and consult with all relevant stakeholders, including human rights defenders and indigenous peoples, as part of their Responsible Business Conduct due diligence.”

In January of this year, Global Witness drew attention to the murder of Afro-Colombian land rights activist Hernán Bedoya on December 5, 2017, the expansion of the palm oil industry, and the need for due diligence protections.

The Guardian has reported: “A year before he died, Hernán warned the palm oil companies planned to plant another 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres), which would be impossible unless he and more than a dozen other campesinos were dispossessed.”

At present, this chart shows that the Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Italy are among the largest European importers of Colombian palm oil.

In 2009, Inter Pares noted: “In 2007 Canada imported almost $30 million worth of palm oil from Colombia and four other nations—a dramatic 150 percent increase from two years earlier. Canada’s free trade agreement will only further promote the expansion of Colombia’s oil palm production, both directly and indirectly.”

In this interview with PBI-Colombia, Danilo Rueda of the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission stated: “Palm oil means death because of the violence it brings with it and because of the environmental damage it causes. Because big business, hand in hand with Colombian and international policy, is destroying water sources and flora and fauna by depleting the forests. This is capitalist logic, which favours the accumulation of capital, and in the long term, the effects are highly negative.”

Last year, University College London law professor Barnali Choudhury argued that Canada should adopt due diligence legislation.

Choudhury noted: “A better approach [that the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise, that has been branded by critics as toothless] would be for the government to develop due diligence legislation that creates specific standards of conduct expected of Canadian companies.”

 The Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability has called on the Canadian government “to learn from these experiences abroad and enact comprehensive and mandatory human rights due diligence legislation [with] meaningful consequences for non-compliance, including liability for harm and effective enforcement mechanisms.”

In response to a CNCA questionnaire, the NDP and to some degree the Green Party appear supportive of mandatory due diligence legislation that would also prevent Canadian embassies and Export Development Canada from supporting Canadian corporations linked to human rights abuses in other countries.

Unfortunately, the governing Liberal Party did not respond to the questionnaire.

PBI-Canada will follow progress on due diligence legislation in the European Union and continue to support the call from the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability for the Canadian government to move forward in this respect too.

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