Home Blog Page 389

Court hearing for Colombian social leaders criminalized for opposing Toronto-based Frontera Energy set for September 23-25

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo from Casanare Noticias.

A preliminary court appearance for the social leaders criminalized in November 2018 for their opposition to Toronto-based Frontera Energy in San Luis de Palenque has now been set for September 23-25, almost two years after they were arrested.

Frontera’s operations in their community are said to have resulted in dust pollution from heavy trucks on the road; post-production water being sprayed on the road to contain the dust; the dumping of post-production water into the Pauto River; water-takings from the river; and the burning of gases associated with the extraction of these barrels of oil.

Michel Forst, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, noted this case in his report to the UN Human Rights Council last year.

Forst’s report stated (on page 9, points 29 and 30): “Social protests [took place] between 2016 and 2018 in response to the failure of Canadian public company Frontera Energy to fulfil its obligation to compensate communities affected by environmental damage and to repair damaged roads.”

Violeta Stereo FM Casanare adds: “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.”

Significantly, Forst highlighted in his report that Frontera then signed two agreements on November 16 and 19, 2018 with the Colombian Ministry of Defence totalling US$1.3 million to provide protection for the company.

Then shortly afterwards, on November 27, 2018, the army and police launched a massive operation and arrested eight community activists.

They were charged with criminal conspiracy, violence against a public servant, and obstruction of a public road among other crimes. Three of those activists were sent to prison and five were placed under house arrest.

On August 10, the Social Corporation for Community Advisory and Training Services (COSPACC) tweeted: “The 2nd Municipal Criminal Court [has] revoked the custodial arrest measure imposed on 2 of the 8 leaders prosecuted in the case of #SanLuisdePalenque. We demand the freedom of social leaders.”

The following day, Prensa Libre Casanare reported: “After 20 months of being deprived of liberty, with the measure of house for jail, the judicial decision favored the engineer Miguel Ángel Rincón Santiesteban and Carmen Iraida Salcedo Gutiérrez.”

“The appeal was presented by criminal lawyer Juan Álvarez who at the end of the hearing reported that the revocation of the security measure was requested based on three elements used by the Prosecutor’s Office to carry out the criminal process, such as an intelligence report from the Army , some telephone calls and a confidential testimonial source, whose probative basis did not have sufficient support, since, for example, the Prosecutor’s Office waived the evidence of an alleged undercover agent.”

That article adds that Ferney Salcedo continues to be held in the La Picota prison, and that conditions remain on community activists Yulibe Leal, Jesús Leal Salcedo, Teresa Rincón Leal, Eliecer Rincón and Jerónimo Betancourt.

The Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP) and COSPACC recently submitted a letter to the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) requesting an investigation of this situation.

PBI-Colombia accompanies both COSPACC and the CSPP.

PBI-Canada has been supporting this accompaniment by organizing Zoom meetings in Canada with Member of Parliament Paul Manly, civil society allies, and representatives from Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian Embassy in Colombia.

In that May 14 call with Global Affairs Canada and embassy staff, Alexandra González Zapata representing the CSPP highlighted that 10 companies backed by Canadian capital have signed cooperation agreements with state security services.

Fabian Laverde of COSPACC then noted that cooperation agreements with companies essentially mean that state security forces are acting as private security for oil companies against the rights and interests of community members.

Peace Brigades International continues to monitor this situation closely.

Photos: 1) A November 12, 2018 protest in San Luis de Palenque against Frontera Energy, about two weeks prior to the arrest of community leaders, published by the newspaper Las Chivas. 2) A December 14, 2018 protest in San Luis de Palenque demanding the release of the eight social leaders arrested on November 27, 2018.

Urgent Action: Call on the Canadian government not to spend $19 billion on new warplanes

By
Brent Patterson
-

Peace Brigades International-Canada has joined with World Beyond War, the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, and Just Peace Advocates in an online petition that says: “Canada should not buy fighter jets because they harm people and the climate.”

By clicking here, you can send an email to the Prime Minister, your Member of Parliament and key cabinet ministers on this crucial issue.

The email highlights: “In the midst of a public health crisis when millions of Canadians are relying on financial assistance, the government cannot afford to be spending billions on new costly, carbon-intensive fighter jets.”

It concludes: “Our public funding must support healthcare, vulnerable populations, a Just Recovery and a Green New Deal and must help implement the UN global ceasefire.”

The three corporations bidding for the $19 billion contract to build 88 new fighter jets submitted their proposals to the federal government on July 31.

The timeline is now short. The government is evaluating these proposals now, is likely to begin negotiating an agreement with one of the corporations in 2021, and then award the $19 billion contract as soon as early 2022.

To sign the petition, please click here.

September 26 deadline approaches to sign world’s first treaty that protects environmental defenders

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: Fridays for Future Colombia.

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).

Escazú needs to be ratified by at least 11 (of the 33) countries in Latin American and the Caribbean to come into effect, but to date none of the countries where PBI accompanies at-risk human rights defenders have ratified the treaty.

Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico have signed the deal (but not ratified it), while Honduras has not signed.

Countries can sign and ascend to the agreement afterwards, but the text does notably include a signatory deadline of September 26, 2020.

Beyond this, there is an immense urgency to implementing the deal.

In 2019, 304 human rights defenders were killed worldwide including 106 in Colombia, 31 in Honduras, 23 in Mexico and 15 in Guatemala. Overall, 40 per cent of those killed worked on land, Indigenous peoples and environmental rights.

Article 9 (page 29) of the agreement states:

  1. Each Party shall guarantee a safe and enabling environment for persons, groups and organizations that promote and defend human rights in environmental matters, so that they are able to act free from threat, restriction and insecurity.
  2. Each Party shall take adequate and effective measures to recognize, protect and promote all the rights of human rights defenders in environmental matters, including their right to life, personal integrity, freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, and free movement, as well as their ability to exercise their access rights, taking into account its international obligations in the field of human rights, its constitutional principles and the basic concepts of its legal system.
  3. Each Party shall also take appropriate, effective and timely measures to prevent, investigate and punish attacks, threats or intimidations that human rights defenders in environmental matters may suffer while exercising the rights set out in the present Agreement.

    In September 2018, Peace Brigades International 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.”

    Additionally, PBI-Colombia has tweeted its support for the agreement, while PBI-Mexico has signed this public statement in support of Escazú.

    PBI-Canada calls on the Canadian government to use its missions and diplomatic channels to encourage the ratification of the Escazú Agreement.

    A second meeting of the signatory countries to the Escazú Agreement has now been scheduled for this coming December 9-10.

    PBI-Colombia welcomes court ruling in favour of journalist Claudia Julieta Duque

    By
    Brent Patterson
    -

    This week the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project highlighted the case of journalist Claudia Julieta Duque in their Quarterly Human Rights Update.

    They note: “PBI Colombia welcomes the historic ruling made public on 16 August in the case of journalist Claudia Julieta Duque, accompanied by PBI since 2003.”

    “The Administrative Court of Cundinamarca sentenced the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of the Interior, and the successor of the former Department of Administrative Security (DAS) to pay economic redress for the threats, kidnapping, and systematic psychological torture she suffered at the hands of the former DAS between 2001 and 2010; as well as a lack of governmental protection and delays in the judicial proceedings.”

    “The ruling resulted from a lawsuit filed by the journalist in 2012 based on the illegal actions perpetrated against her in response to journalistic work investigating the state’s responsibility in humorist Jaime Garzón’s murder.”

    In June 2019, Time magazine named Claudia one of the 10 journalists in the world facing the most urgent threats to press freedom.

    That article noted: “Duque has endured kidnapping, illegal surveillance, psychological torture and repeated exiles as a result of her work.”

    And in April of this year, the One Free Press Coalition listed Claudia in their top ten list of the “most pressing cases of journalists under attack for pursuing the truth.”

    It noted: “Journalist fears for her life, amid government-orchestrated threats. After 19 years of persecution and legal censorship, award-winning journalist Claudia Julieta Duque told IWMF [the International Women’s Media Foundation] that she learned on February 29 about an ongoing criminal threat against her life. According to Duque, agents of the state institution in charge of protecting human rights defenders and at-risk journalists, called the National Protection Unit (UNP), were reportedly ordered to carry out intelligence activities to infiltrate Duque’s security scheme and threaten her welfare.”

    On accompaniment by Peace Brigades International, Claudia has stated: “I feel very safe when I’m with PBI, they are like my guardian angels. I really feel that daily accompaniment enables me to keep doing my job, I feel much calmer.”

    She has also commented: “They are indispensable people who not only support you but accompany with respect and dedication for your struggles and with their company give you the strength to continue. Many of the things I do could not be done without PBI.”

    A fuller update from PBI-Colombia’s Bogota Field Team can be read here.

    PBI-Honduras amplifies Amnesty International urgent action about Guapinol water defenders at risk of pre-trial detention

    By
    Brent Patterson
    -

    Photo: The Guapinol Camp in Defence of Water and Life.

    On August 29, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted on their Facebook page this Amnesty International urgent action.

    That urgent action notes: “On 13 August a Court of Appeals revoked dismissals of [five] defenders belonging to the Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Assets, facing trial for defending the rivers in Tocoa (North). Eight other defenders from the Committee have been in pretrial detention for almost a year.”

    The urgent action highlights: “We call on the authorities to free the 13 defenders and allow them to face trial in liberty.”

    Background

    In August 2018, area residents set up a ‘Guapinol Camp in Defence of Water and Life’ in opposition to the Inversiones Los Pinares mine.

    The Nation reports: “It lasted 88 days, from August 1 to October 27 of 2018.”

    “The water in the Guapinol River was filling with sediment from a hydroelectric project upstream, part of the growing infrastructure for the forthcoming mine, making the prospect of using the water for drinking, cleaning, or agricultural purposes impossible.”

    “[On October 27, 2018, an estimated 1,500] security forces fired volleys of tear gas before opening fire with live ammunition. In the ensuing blitz of bullets, eight civilians were injured and one activist, Levin Alexander Bonilla, was killed.”

    In February 2019, twelve water defenders (criminalized for their participation in the protest in defence of the river and environment) presented themselves in court. By March 4, 2019, the charges were dropped against these defenders.

    The Nation notes: “It was in August of 2019 that the charges against [another] seven of the protesters finally landed them in prison.”

    Now, on August 13 of this year, a Court of Appeals revoked the dismissal ordered in March 2019 for five of the twelve defenders. This means they could face a new trial and be sent to pre-trial detention as they previously experienced.

    PBI accompaniment of this struggle in photos

    On February 20, 2019, PBI-Honduras was present at an information event about the impacts of mining on the Guapinol River. PBI-Honduras then accompanied community members to a government office where they filed a complaint about the lack of transparency around the mining concession granted to Inversiones Los Pinares.

    On March 5, 2019, PBI-Honduras was present when the twelve water defenders received a dismissal of the charges against them.

    On August 26, 2019, PBI-Honduras was present at a court hearing for the seven defenders.

    On September 5, 2019, PBI-Honduras was present at the Constitutional Chamber when papers where an appeal in favour of the seven defenders was filed.

    And from Canada…

    PBI-Mexico supports the work of CEMDA smeared by the Mexican president for their opposition to the Mayan Train megaproject

    By
    Brent Patterson
    -

    On August 28, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project tweeted: “We support the legitimate work of @CEMDA and it seems to us essential that the Mexican authorities recognize the fundamental work of human rights defenders.”

    The Associated Press reports: “Mexico’s president launched a blistering attack on several environmentalist groups Friday, suggesting they were being paid by foreign foundations to oppose his controversial train project in the Yucatan peninsula.”

    President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stated: “I have received information that all of these supposedly independent non-governmental, so-called civic groups are getting money, sometimes from abroad, to oppose the construction of the Maya Train.”

    López Obrador added: “[They are] disguising themselves for money as environmentalists, disguising themselves as human rights defenders for money as well, when in the end it is a struggle for political and economic power.”

    The Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA) has tweeted in response: “We regret once again that the Mexican State criminalizes the work of civil society organizations.”

    It adds: “We demand a public apology for the attacks and defamation we have been subjected to by the president.”

    The Mayan Train (Tren Maya) refers to a megaproject that would link Mayan archaeological sites in five states (Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and the Yucatán) by rail. The multibillion-dollar project would involve the building of 1,500 kilometres of railroad track, with nearly one-third of it through tropical forests.

    Significantly, the megaproject does not have the free, prior and informed consent of impacted Indigenous communities.

    Lopez Obrador became the President of Mexico in December 2018.

    In January 2019, PBI-Mexico commented: “The organizations that we accompany continue to be concerned about AMLO’s position on the rights of indigenous populations, given that his public discourse seems to respect their autonomy, but he continues to propose initiatives of megaprojects such as the Mayan Train or new mining investments.”

    When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and AMLO met last month, the statement on their meeting noted: “The Prime Minister and the President agreed that the recent entry into force of the new NAFTA [on July 1, 2020] would strengthen the deep economic ties and longstanding friendship between Canada and Mexico, and advance social as well as economic development in both countries.”

    With respect to Indigenous rights, the text of NAFTA states: “The Parties recognize that the environment plays an important role in the economic, social and cultural well-being of Indigenous peoples and local communities, and acknowledge the importance of engaging with such groups in the long-term conservation of our environment.”

    This, unfortunately, is not a recognition of the right to free, prior and informed consent as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

    It has also previously been reported that Montreal-based manufacturer Bombardier Inc., the Quebec City-based pension plan La Caisse dé depot et placement du Québec, and the Toronto-based bank Scotiabank had expressed interest in the Mayan Train.

    Earlier this month, it was reported that a Canadian company was interested in the development and construction of a light railway network in the state of Quintana Roo that would feed passengers to the Mayan Train line.

    Green MEP Tilly Metz calls on President of Honduras to put an end to the criminalization of Guapinol water defenders

    By
    Brent Patterson
    -

    On August 31, Tilly Metz, a Member of the European Parliament from Luxembourg representing The Greens, tweeted:

    “Defending the right to water and land against mining companies should not be a crime. President of Honduras, @JuanOrlandoH, it’s time to put an end to the criminalization of the water defenders of #Guapinol and ensure their right to a due process.”

    Her tweet links to an article on the World Organization Against Torture website titled: Honduras: Continuation of the criminalization against the defenders of Guapinol.

    In turn, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has amplified Metz’s tweet by posting it on their Facebook page.

    This past April, Metz and several other Green Party Members of the European Parliament were among the 20 MEPs who sent this letter to the President of Honduras “to express our deepest concerns over prolonged pre-trial detention of human rights defenders in Honduras, and in particular of members of the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa [criminalized for defending the Guapinol River].”

    PBI-Canada encourages Green Party of Canada Members of Parliament to amplify the call made by Metz and other Green Party MEPs.

    Background

    In August 2018, area residents set up a ‘Guapinol Camp in Defence of Water and Life’ in opposition to the Inversiones Los Pinares mine.

    The Nation reports: “It lasted 88 days, from August 1 to October 27 of 2018.”

    “The water in the Guapinol River was filling with sediment from a hydroelectric project upstream, part of the growing infrastructure for the forthcoming mine, making the prospect of using the water for drinking, cleaning, or agricultural purposes impossible.”

    “[On October 27, 2018, an estimated 1,500] security forces fired volleys of tear gas before opening fire with live ammunition. In the ensuing blitz of bullets, eight civilians were injured and one activist, Levin Alexander Bonilla, was killed.”

    In February 2019, twelve water defenders (criminalized for their participation in the protest in defence of the river and environment) presented themselves in court. By March 4, 2019, the charges were dropped against these defenders.

    The Nation notes: “It was in August of 2019 that the charges against [another] seven of the protesters finally landed them in prison.”

    Now, on August 13 of this year, a Court of Appeals revoked the dismissal ordered in March 2019 for five of the twelve defenders. This means they could face a new trial and be sent to pre-trial detention as they previously experienced.

    For more, please see this recently posted Amnesty International Urgent Action: WATER DEFENDERS AT RISK OF DETENTION.

    PBI-Mexico accompanied Comité Cerezo report documents 1,659 acts of state violence against human rights defenders

    By
    Brent Patterson
    -

    The image reads: Defend human rights in Mexico: Impunity does not end. June 2019 to May 2020 Report. Free political prisoners.

    On August 24, Urgent Action for Human Rights Defenders AC (ACCUDEDH), the Cerezo Mexico Committee and the National Campaign against Forced Disappearance released this report on human rights violations against human rights defenders in Mexico.

    The introduction to that report notes: “This report reflects, by figures, the human rights violations that were committed by the Mexican State against human rights defenders during the period from June 1, 2019 to May 31, 2020.”

    “This means that it accounts for the numbers of people, organizations and communities that, for exercising or defending one or more human rights, were attacked, arbitrarily detained, imprisoned, extrajudicially executed or forcibly disappeared.”

    The report documents:

    – 1,659 violations through 107 events

    – 25 communities, 17 organizations, 47 people, 34 family members and 502 people belonging to communities or organizations were impacted

    – 249 acts of arbitrary detention

    – 9 extrajudicial murders

    – 4 forced disappearances

    – 1,477 of these acts of violence were committed by state police, while 136 cases were attributed to municipal police and 46 to federal authorities.

    The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has posted on Facebook the article from the Mexican news magazine Proceso titled In one year, 1,659 attacks against human rights defenders: Cerezo Committee.

    PBI-Mexico has previously noted: “The Cerezo Committee was established after the arrests, torture and detentions of the brothers Alejandro, Héctor and Antonio Cerezo Contreras in maximum-security penitentiaries in Mexico.”

    PBI started accompanying the Committee in 2002.

    To read the full 124-page report in Spanish, please click on Defend human rights in Mexico: Impunity does not end.

    Why does the Hamilton Spectator use quotation marks for the term land defenders?

    By
    Brent Patterson
    -

    In a recent article about 1492 Land Back Lane, the Hamilton Spectator reported:

    Several protestors are arrested for failing to comply with the court injunction. In response protestors, who refer to themselves as “land defenders,” blockade Argyle Street leading south of Caledonia, the Highway 6 bypass and Sixth Line.

    Quotation marks were also used in this article, specifically:

    Following the game, the self-described “land defenders” held a potluck dinner around a campfire, with teenagers and elders sitting and talking together.

    It’s not clear why the Hamilton Spectator is doing this when land defenders is a term commonly used by a wide variety of sources.

    The Government of Canada says: “A land rights defender takes peaceful action to protect the land of a group of people.” Using a broader commonly accepted variant of the term, the United Nations says: “Many indigenous peoples are also human rights defenders, struggling to protect their lands, environment and rights.”

    A similar term is also used by human rights organizations such as Global Witness that released a report last month that documented that 212 land and environmental defenders were murdered last year as a result of their activism.

    And one sees land defender (and land rights defenders) used without quotation marks in news articles by Reuters, the BBC, Al Jazeera and NBC News.

    It’s also notable that the Hamilton Spectator article refers to those at 1492 Land Back Lane as protestors without quotation marks, despite it being reported that the term may be viewed as negative in contrast to a word like protectors.

    Writer and editor Hans Rollmann has noted:

    “Not only does [the use of the term protester] minimize and trivialize the land defense actions, but it doesn’t adequately reflect what’s going on. Insofar as Indigenous rights are constitutionally protected and acknowledged by Treaties, …they’re people taking action to defend land that by rights belongs to them…”

    And University of British Columbia School of Journalism Professor Candis Callison has commented:

    “I think that by calling Indigenous people mere protesters, it really erases the long relationship that they’ve been in with lands and waters, but it also erases the long resistance they’ve had to all kinds of moves by governments and corporations to dispossess Indigenous people of their land, and to limit their ability to give consent.”

    Land defenders is an internationally accepted term used by governments, organizations and the media to describe those who protect the land.

    Perhaps to further illustrate the point, the language now used appears as out of step as reporting: Protestor Martin Luther King, Jr., who refers to himself as “a civil rights activist”, marched from Selma, Alabama…

    While Hamilton Spectator Editor-in-Chief Paul Berton has commented on this use of language, a further reflection on this issue is warranted.

    Given the criminalization land defenders experience, 1492 Land Back Lane has established this legal fund “to support Land Defenders facing current charges and any future charges that may result from the numerous injunctions against us in this particular issue.”

    The founding meeting for Peace Brigades International began 39 years ago this evening

    By
    Brent Patterson
    -

    Photo: Hans Sinn and Brent Patterson, Perth, Ontario, September 2019.

    The founding meeting of Peace Brigades International began 39 years ago this evening on Grindstone Island, which is situated about 100 kilometres southwest of Ottawa, Canada on unceded Algonquin, Anishinabek territory.

    Ironically, the lodge on Big Rideau Lake where that meeting took place had been built as a summer home for Admiral Sir Charles Edmund Kingsmill, who had played a prominent role in founding the Royal Canadian Navy. It was his daughter, Diana, who made the home available after his passing to the Quakers as a retreat for peace studies.

    In his overview of the founding meeting, Daniel N. Clark notes that Hans Sinn chaired the first session of the consultation on the evening of Monday August 31, 1981.

    By Tuesday September 1, the discussion turned to the possible deployment of peace brigades in Guatemala and Mexico. And by Friday September 4, the founding declaration of Peace Brigades International was adopted.

    That declaration stated: “We are forming an organization with the capability to mobilize and provide trained units of volunteers. These units may be assigned to areas of high tension to avert violent outbreaks.”

    Clark also recalls: “In Canada, Hans Sinn sent out a mailing [in 1982] funded by Murray Thomson’s Operation Ploughshares to over 1000 people, including Canadian organizations and peace churches, asking for volunteers and money. To assist in the effort, Hans had also been working on the formation of PBI-Canada, which was to become PBI’s first country group [incorporated as a non-profit organization in January 1984].”

    As the vision of the organization continued to take shape, the concept of unarmed accompaniment came into being in April 1985 in Guatemala.

    As told in the book Unarmed Bodyguards and recounted here, Liam Mahony and Luis Enrique Eguren write that the need for personal accompaniment became clear after the murder of Mutual Support Group for Families of the Disappeared and the Detained (GAM) founder Maria Rosario Godoy de Cuevas.

    Mahony and Eguren highlight: “This was the beginning of PBI ‘escorting’: providing the surviving GAM leadership with around the clock unarmed bodyguards.”

    Fast forward all these years and our most recent annual review notes that 465 PBI volunteers from 28 countries accompanied 1,360 human rights defenders in 2019.

    For more on the ongoing work of Peace Brigades International, our annual reviews from 1990 to present can be found here.

    The photo below is the home on Grindstone Island where PBI was founded at a meeting that took place from August 31 to September 4, 1981.

    1...388389390...475Page 389 of 475