Home Blog Page 385

Colombian social leader Ferney Salcedo released from prison after 500 days for protesting Toronto-based Frontera Energy

By
Brent Patterson
-

Ferney Salcedo was recently released from prison after 500 days of incarceration without a trial in relation to protests he took part in against the operations of Toronto-based Frontera Energy in the community of San Luis de Palenque, Casanare, Colombia.

El Nuevo Oriente reports that Salcedo was first held in a prison in Yopal (about 100 kilometres west of San Luis de Palenque) then transferred to La Picota (almost 500 kilometres away) after he demanded more dignified conditions for the prisoners.

It also notes that his wife Yulivel Leal was held under house arrest in Yopal for the past 500 days with their children, now 12 and 14 years of age.

A judge ordered his release (and the release of the other defenders criminalized in this case) on September 16 given 500 days had elapsed without a trial.

After his release from prison, the article notes: “He made special reference to the lawyers from COSPACC and the Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP), two NGOs who have given him vital legal support.”

El Nuevo Oriente also reports: “The trial as such, even after almost two years of their arrests, have not yet begun, and after all this time in jail only as of tomorrow, September 23, new court hearings will come.”

Salcedo says: “I want the trial to start now. To detract everything that has been said about us and so that they really look to see if they can prove all those accusations against us.”

Violeta Stereo adds: “The accusing body has maintained the version that these peasants were part of an organized criminal group, that is, of a (GDO) that used social protest to commit criminal acts. …[But] according to the peasants and social leaders, the protests at the time sought to make visible the breach of the environmental license and the other agreements signed between the multinational and the community.”

Michel Forst, when he was the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, raised the case of Salcedo, Leal, and the six others arrested in relation to protests against Frontera Energy in San Luis de Palenque.

Forst wrote:

“The Special Rapporteur is concerned at the apparent connection between Frontera Energy, the army’s 16th brigade and the Attorney General’s Support Office in this criminalization and the possible impact of the agreement between Ecopetrol S.A. and the Attorney General’s Office on the situation.

In November 2018, Frontera Energy signed two agreements with the Ministry of Defence for a total of US$ 1,343,106 to secure army protection for its activities.

On 4 December 2018, the army and the police accused the aforementioned leaders of being members of ‘Los Jinetes con Careta’, an illegal armed group whose existence has yet to be recognized by the competent authorities.

Furthermore, since 2015, Ecopetrol, the main Colombian hydrocarbon exploitation company, has signed five cooperation agreements with the Attorney General’s Office for a total of US$ 24,698,485 to strengthen the investigative and prosecutorial capacity of the Attorney General’s Support Office to deal – inter alia – with crimes of obstruction of public roads during social protests that affect the functioning of Ecopetrol and/or its associated companies, such as Frontera Energy.”

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project accompanies COSPACC and the CSPP, the two organizations Salcedo thanks in the El Nuevo Oriente article.

PBI-Canada has supported this accompaniment by arranging advocacy meetings for COSPACC and the CSPP with Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian Embassy in Colombia (on May 7), civil society allies Above Ground, the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, Amnesty International Canada, WWF-Canada, le Projet Accompagnement Solidarité Colombie, and el Comité por los Derechos Humanos en América Latina (on June 2), and Canadian Member of Parliament Paul Manly (on July 2).

PBI-Colombia and PBI-Canada continue to follow this case closely.

PBI-Mexico accompanies organizations in search of justice in the murder of Indigenous Nahua lawyer Arnulfo Cerón Soriano

By
Brent Patterson
-

On September 24, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted on their Facebook page: “Yesterday we accompanied Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre, Red TDT and Fundar México in their displacement to the 10th District Court in the city of Chilpancingo, in pursuit of the case of the disappeared and later murdered defender, Arnulfo Cerón Soriano. The organizations could not be received by the judge.”

PBI-Mexico adds: “PBI continues to monitor the case of the defender Arnulfo Cerón Soriano and the security situation of his family members and the defenders linked to the case. We recall the duty of the authorities to ensure the protection of human rights defenders, including the due investigation of their cases as part of the fight against impunity.”

They also posted on Twitter: “Yesterday we accompanied @Tlachinollan @RedTDT and @FundarMexico, to the 10th district court in the city of Chilpancingo, following up on the case of the disappeared and later murdered defender, Arnulfo Cerón Soriano. The organizations could not be received by the judge.”

Arnulfo Cerón Soriano was a 47-year-old Mexican human rights lawyer and social activist with the Popular Mountain Front 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 the state of Guerrero. Forty days later, on November 20, his body was found in a clandestine grave.

During the search for Arnulfo, his wife Gabriela Pablo described his work in this petition: “Arnulfo for several years accompanied social movements, such as the families of the 43 missing students of Ayotzinapa. Recently he was supporting street merchants in the city of Tlapa, who were abused by the municipal president of this town.”

Last year, the Associated Press reported: “Guerrero Attorney General Jorge Zuriel de los Santos Barrila [says] two people detained in recent weeks have been charged, and four others under arrest are being investigated as suspects.”

Amnesty International has posted: “Following the arrest of suspects in Arnulfo´s disappearance, family members began receiving threatening messages, MOPLEG members noted strange persons outside their residences, and the Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre observed unknown subjects watching their offices.”

PBI-Mexico has accompanied Tlachinollan since 2003.

Please also see: Indigenous groups call on Canadian government to return Tomás Zerón to Mexico in Ayotzinapa case.

PBI-Mexico: “The Escazú Agreement, a necessary tool for the fight against climate change”

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has posted this article in support of the Escazú Agreement.

The Escazú Agreement has been described as the first treaty in history to include specific provisions to protect environmental defenders. The legally binding treaty was negotiated under the supervision of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

PBI-Mexico notes:

“This work to combat climate change has gradually increased in danger, making 2019 the year in which there were the highest number of murders of land defenders, indigenous peoples and the environment.

It is worth noting that these are the people on the front line of the climate crisis, the ones trying to protect climate-critical areas and reverse the most devastating practices.

In Mexico, as well as throughout Latin America, communities that confront extractive industries and expose unsustainable business practices that wreak havoc on ecosystems and the climate face a series of risks and attacks that show the contradictions to overcome to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations.

That is why the implementation of the Escazú Agreement will bring multiple benefits in the consolidation of environmental democracy and the strengthening of governance in decision-making, key to sustainable economic development.

In September 2018, PBI endorsed the Escazú Agreement as ‘a means to guarantee a safe environment in which individuals, groups and organizations that promote and defend human rights related to the environment can act without facing threats, restrictions, attacks or danger’.

PBI Mexico also signed, along with other civil society organizations, a public statement on the occasion of the murder of defender Julián Carrillo, in which it urged the Mexican authorities to take all the necessary steps to sign this Agreement.”

To read the full article by PBI-Mexico, please click here.

It is also available in Spanish here.

For additional context, please see the PBI-Canada article: September 26 deadline approaches to sign world’s first treaty that protects environmental defenders.

PBI-Colombia accompanies the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission to La Balsita humanitarian zone

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has posted this article:

After a five-month quarantine, PBI Colombia returned to the field accompanying the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission.

The accompaniment was a 15-day journey following the footprints of memory and opening space for peasant, Afro-descendant, and indigenous communities of Urabá to meet with Truth Commissioner Patricia Tobón.

On 15 August, after weeks on adapting biosafety protocols and waiting for the specific permits to be authorized, a caravan of six vehicles reached the rural community of Caracolón, just a few kilometers from Dabeiba, Antioquia.

These cars transported Truth Commissioner Patricia Tobón, human rights defender and the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission national coordinator, Danilo Rueda, and a multidisciplinary team from the same NGO.

“It hurts to remember but it hurts even more to forget.” This phrase welcomed the delegation as it gathered in the community meeting space, giving testimony to this communities’ unshakable will to tell their story. The commissioner listened to the stories, the pain, and the hope that these brave women and men placed in her hands.

Between the 24th and 28th of November, 1997, [the Self-defense Forces of Córdoba and Urabá – ACCU], with the complicity of the Colombian National Army’s 9th Brigade, murdered and disappeared more than 143 people and displaced another 400 in the rural communities of La Balsita and Antazales.

After several months in temporary shelters, the 22 families who make up the Community of Life and Work La Balsita decided to create a Humanitarian Zone in the rural area called Caracolón, five kilometeres from the county seat of Dabeiba.

Since then, they have never tired of demanding truth, justice, and reparation.

The full PBI-Colombia article with additional photos from their recent accompaniment can be found here.

PBI-Kenya discusses digital security with human rights defenders at monthly mandazi meeting

By
Brent Patterson
-

On September 21, the Peace Brigades International-Kenya Project posted: “In our #MonthlyMandaziMeeting we discussed digital security for human rights defenders, including safe communication platforms and social media presence.”

A mandazi is a fried snack, like a doughnut, only triangular and far less sweet. Mandazis are always had with tea and these monthly meetings are a time for defenders to gather in solidarity and share stories, initiatives, problems, and successes.

Digital security is increasingly an issue of concern for PBI.

This past February, PBI-Spanish State co-organized a workshop on digital privacy and security for activists in Valencia with Perifèries (Peripherals) and Komun, an autonomous cooperative of experts in different technical fields.

The PBI-supported Nepal Monitor also supported a two-day digital security training this past February for professionals working/involved in different human rights organizations.

And PBI-Netherlands has supported digital security training through the Shelter City Network in partnership with Justice and Peace Netherlands.

Shelter City recently noted: “Online threats and surveillance are a reality for most #HumanRightsDefenders. Such risks to the security of defenders have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, as most of their work is done remotely and digitally. This is why it is crucial for HRDs to know how to use digital tools and devices in a more confident, secure and privacy friendly manner.”

Our friends at Front Line Defenders have also compiled information on various Digital Security Resources that can be read here.

PBI established the Kenya Project in December 2012.

You can follow their work on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Sipekne’katik face violence in struggle over the Mi’kmaq right to fish for a moderate livelihood

By
Brent Patterson
-

Facebook photo by Saqmaw Leroy Jown Denny of a gathering in Saulnierville, Nova Scotia on September 17 in support of Indigenous fishing rights.

There are tensions right now on Sipekne’katik territory in Nova Scotia on the Atlantic coast of eastern Canada in relation to the Mi’kmaq right to fish for a moderate livelihood that was affirmed in a Supreme Court ruling 21 years ago.

On September 15, Ku’ku’kwes News reported that Chief Michael Sack of the Sipekne’katik First Nation had called on authorities “to uphold the rule of law amid ongoing violence, threats, human rights discrimination and ongoing failure to uphold the 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision in R. v. Marshall, recognizing the Mi’kmaq right to fish and trade.”

In that article, Chief Sack highlighted: “Our fisher people are facing harassment, vehicles have been damaged, boats have been damaged. Their fishing gear has been stolen, their lines have been cut. Boats have been burned.”

Then on September 17, CBC reported Sipekne’katik boats launched that day on St. Marys Bay were met on the water by non-Indigenous fishers.

Sakura Saunders describes the situation: “Over 60 commercial fishery boats (including trawlers) rallied to intimidate 5 Mi’kmaq fishing boats with 50 traps each attempting to practice their treaty rights on the 21st anniversary of the Marshall Decision.”

The CBC article also notes: “On [September 15], hundreds of non-Indigenous commercial fishermen set up lobster-trap blockades in Saulnierville and later in Weymouth in the province’s southwest to protest what they said were illegal fisheries in St. Marys Bay.”

Saulnierville and Weymouth are about 250 kilometres west of Halifax (K’jipuktuk).

The CBC further notes: “In a statement, Colin Sproul of the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association said the First Nation issuing its own fishing licences is ‘not based in Canadian law’. He would not confirm whether any vandalism took place, but said: ‘In the absence of law and order good people can be forced to take the law into their own hands and the responsibility for that falls squarely on [federal Fisheries] Minister [Bernadette] Jordan and her predecessors who have not enforced the rules.’”

Saunders has also called on Sproul to retract this statement that appears to encourage vigilantism. She has posted: “Tensions are high and he should be de-escalating the violence, not justifying or encouraging it.”

The Supreme Court of Canada issued its decision on the case of Donald Marshall, Jr. on September 17, 1999.

It ruled that Marshall’s fishing activities fell within the Peace and Friendship Treaties of 1760–61 that created an ongoing treaty right “to obtain necessaries through hunting and fishing by trading the products of…traditional activities.”

Significantly, it found that Marshall was selling the eel he was catching in limited quantities to “obtain necessaries” as a “moderate livelihood”.

The Sipekne’katik say: “No responsible person can legitimately argue that the Mi’kmaq right to fish for a moderate livelihood or that the right to sell that catch commercially does not exist. The Supreme Court of Canada said they do.”

They add: “Since Marshall was decided, [the federal Fisheries Department] has done nothing to recognize the treaty right to harvest and sell for a moderate livelihood. This breach of Mi’kmaq constitutional rights and can no longer continue.”

The Toronto Star further explains: “Bruce Wildsmith, the lawyer who represented Marshall in 1999, said while it’s true Ottawa retains the right to regulate, the Marshall decision also says the fisheries minister must propose regulations and then consult with the Mi’kmaq about those rules [which has not been done over the past two decades].”

The Burnt Church Crisis that followed the Supreme Court ruling in September 1999 is told in a feature-length National Film Board documentary by Alanis Obomsawin that can be watched online at: Is the Crown at war with us?

On October 3, 1999, about 150 fishing boats headed out into Miramachi Bay and destroyed lobster traps set up by Indigenous fishers. CBC reports: “Mi’kmaq warriors [in New Brunswick then] set up an armed encampment on the wharf in Burnt Church [Esgenoopetitj] to protect native people continuing to catch lobster in the bay.”

Look for updates on the current situation from various sources, including the In Solidarity with all Land Defenders Facebook page.

PBI highlights Colombia in statements at UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva

By
Brent Patterson
-

Peace Brigades International-Switzerland Advocacy Coordinator Kim-Mai Vu recently made two presentations about the human rights situation in Colombia at the United Nations Human Rights Council session in Geneva.

On September 17, at the Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of non-recurrence, Kim-Mai noted:

“The threats of September 7 to Yeisson Salamanca, associated with the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation, after delivering a report to the Truth Commission on forced disappearances of relatives and hundreds of other victims, and the responsibility not investigated by the Army and paramilitary groups in Casanare, as well as the continuous threats and harassment against the CREDHOS organization in Barrancabermeja that provided information to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace. Likewise, we express concern regarding smear campaigns, threats, and illegal state intelligence operations against organizations of lawyers and representatives of victims who actively participate in processes of memory and truth: among them the CCAJAR, the Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners and the Justice and Peace Commission.”

And on September 21, at the Interactive dialogue with the Working Group on enforced disappearances, she highlighted:

“The case of Buenaventura, one of the cities hardest hit by this phenomenon, where today the families of victims of missing persons draw the attention of the international community in front of the port expansion works that include the dredging of the Estero de San Antonio, where there are indications of the presence of mass graves where bodies lie of missing persons. The continuity of the works, without previously an action of serious and coordinated search, would mean the definitive loss of all right to the truth, impossibility of finding the remains and cessation of uncertainty.”

The video of the September 17 presentation can be seen here (#48, starting at 1:47:08) and the September 21 presentation can be seen here (#24, starting at 43:23).

Peace Brigades International-Switzerland regularly presents statements to the Human Rights Council in collaboration with PBI field projects and has had consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 2014.

PBI-Honduras observes with COFADEH the exhumation of Rinel Argueta Oliva who was killed by the police this past June

By
Brent Patterson
-

On September 23, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted on their Facebook page: “Yesterday we observed, together with the Committee of Relatives of Detained Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH), the exhumation of the body of Rinel Argueta Oliva, who lost his life at the hands of police agents on June 21. So far, the Public Ministry has charged four agents for this crime. The objective of the exhumation is to obtain new evidence to aid in the investigation of the case.”

Defensores en Línea adds: “Argueta Oliva lost his life after his vehicle was shot at by police officers, who carried out an operation near the community of Corral Viejo, jurisdiction of the municipality of San Esteban.”

“Seven police officers assigned to the National Police and the elite squad of the Intelligence Troop and Special Security Response Group (Tigres) participated in the operation.”

“For the crime of Argueta Oliva, the Public Ministry only accused four agents… COFADEH, on behalf of the victim’s family, asked the Public Prosecutor’s Office to broaden the prosecution requirement against the other three agents who participated in the operation, because they are also responsible for the death of Argueta Oliva.”

In another article, Defensores en Línea notes: “According to the circumstances of the fact it can be proven that [Argueta Oliva’s] car had already passed [the police operation] when the police officers began to shoot.”

Karol Cárdenas, the legal representative of COFADEH, says: “This is a clear fact of the human rights violations that are produced by police agents, in a clear position of power and advantage, and in an arbitrary manner when shooting Rinel Argueta, causing his death.”

Rinel Eclicerio Argueta Oliva

Canada’s fighter jet purchase faces turbulence as pandemic fallout could mean cuts to military spending

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo by the Canadian Press.

What does the pandemic driven increase in unemployment and the deficit mean for the planned $19-billion-plus fighter jet purchase in 2022? Will the $37,521 an hour operating cost of a F-35 fighter jet seem steep in comparison to the needs of low-wage workers (those earning less than $16.03 an hour) hit the hardest by the pandemic?

The Canadian Press reports: “Fears have been rising in defence circles that the Liberals will look to the military’s budget to rein in what is now projected to be a $343-billion deficit this year alone as the government keeps spending to help Canadians with the pandemic.”

That article adds: “Those fears are based on past experience as the Canadian Armed Forces was hit by deep cuts when Ottawa struggled to balance the books during the 1990s and again in the early 2010s after the last economic downturn.”

While Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan says that the $553 billion promised to the military over the next 20 years is “secure”, the Ottawa Citizen recently reported: “Behind the scenes, however, there is significant concern within some quarters in the military about the cuts expected in the coming years.”

That article by Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese adds: “Some organizations within National Defence headquarters have already told staff to prepare for a rocky road in the future.”

Pugliese further notes: “The Canadian Armed Forces and Department of National Defence, with the largest source of discretionary funds in the federal government, is a ripe target for cost-cutting. DND’s current budget is listed as $21.9 billion.”

Various analysts agree.

As early as this past April, Elliot Hughes, a senior advisor at the Ottawa-based Summa Strategies, observed: “The soaring deficits [associated with COVID-19 relief and stimulus spending] will place tremendous pressure on government to reduce its spending in non-COVID-19 areas in favour of healthcare and related priorities.”

Then in July, David Perry, a defence analyst with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, commented: “When the government’s deficit is eye-wateringly large and its revenue hole is astoundingly high [a finance minister might] hesitate [to approve a military contract worth many billions of dollars].”

By September, Perry noted: “If the government writ large turns its mind to budget cutting and deficit reduction, then National Defence is very, very unlikely to survive that for a number of different reasons. The biggest one is just the straight arithmetic of it being the largest share of federal budget share.”

And University of British Columbia defence expert Michael Byers has said he thinks the most likely outcome for the acquisition program in the current fiscal climate is the Canadian government opting to buy fewer fighter jets (perhaps 65 rather than 88).

Many are saying that no fighter jets should be purchased.

In an attempt to counter this, the Defence Minister has argued that military spending means jobs. Lockheed Martin and Boeing – two contenders for the fighter jet contract – have also tried spinning the jobs argument.

But research by the Costs of War Project based at Brown’s University in Providence, Rhode Island found that $1 million spent on “defence” creates 6.9 direct and indirect jobs, while the same amount invested in solar power creates 9.5 jobs, in health care 14.3 jobs, and in education 19.2 jobs.

With 1.1 million more people unemployed than prior to the pandemic, dollar for dollar the $19 billion allocated for fighter jets would mean more jobs if spent elsewhere. The imperative of jobs suggests the fighter jet purchase should be jettisoned.

This coming Friday October 2 people across the country will be mobilizing to call on their Member of Parliament to say no new fighter jets. You can also add your name to this petition co-sponsored by Peace Brigades International-Canada that calls on the Prime Minister to choose people and peace, not weapons and war.

Opponents of Canada spending billions on fighter jets draw inspiration from Swiss campaign for September 27th vote

By
Brent Patterson
-

Twitter photo by @Anna_Leissing.

Opponents of the Canadian government spending $19 billion on new fighter jets are looking to the Swiss campaign opposed to a similar acquisition plan.

On Sunday September 27, Swiss citizens will be voting in a binding referendum on whether their federal government can spend CHF 6 billion (CAD$8.7 billion) on new fighter jets.

Le News reports: “Those behind this vote argue that the purchase is unnecessary and wasteful of public money. They would prefer to see the money spent on health, protection against natural disasters and climate change.”

Reuters adds: “Many oppose the idea, saying the neutral country neither can afford nor needs cutting-edge warplanes to defend Alpine territory which a supersonic jet can cross in 10 minutes.”

And Swissinfo.ch has noted: “[Opponents] argue it makes more sense to use the funds for disaster relief, health, climate projects, public transport, old age pensions or education. They argue that Switzerland can police its airspace with cheaper jets which would also cause less damage to the environment.”

“Campaigners have also warned that the government is downplaying the real costs for the new aircraft. When maintenance and other costs are accounted for, the bill will amount to CHF24 billion [CAD$34.8 billion] rather than CHF6, opponents say.”

That article also highlights: “The opposition camp includes the two main left-wing parties (Social Democrats and Greens), the environmental Greenpeace organisation as well as pacifist groups.”

In 2014, 53.4% of Swiss voters said no to spending CHF10 billion on 22 Gripen fighter jets. Some suggested at the time that voters saw that money better spent on education and social security rather than on warplanes.

A poll conducted in August suggests that 39% of voters are now opposed to the purchase of fighter jets and campaigners have been working hard over the past month to increase that number over the needed threshold.

If voters approve the acquisition of new fighter jets, the government will decide among various aircraft including the Lockheed Martin F-35 and the Boeing F/A-18 (which are also currently being considered by the Canadian government).

The Canadian government accepted bids from three transnational corporations on July 31 and has stated that it will award a $19 billion contract to one of them in 2022 to manufacture 88 new fighter jets for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

This petition has been launched calling on the Canadian government to change its mind and to choose people and peace, not weapons and war.

For the latest on the Swiss campaign, please see the Twitter page of Nein zu den Kampfjet-Milliarden (No to the fighter jets billions) and the Facebook page of GSoA – Gruppe für eine Schweiz ohne Armee (Group for a Switzerland without an army).

1...384385386...475Page 385 of 475