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Indigenous Mixe women’s collective in Mexico prepares to reconnect their water supply and reclaim their right to water

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project accompanies Codigo DH and Educa Oaxaca, two organizations that took part in the Civil Observation mission that reported on the denial of the right to water for the Indigenous Mixe community of Ayutla, Oaxaca.

On May 18, PBI-Mexico posted on Facebook: “We express concern about the situation in the Ayutla community. Access to water is vital as a fundamental right, even more so in times of a health emergency.”

And on May 21, PBI-Mexico retweeted a Codigo DH tweet that says: “Three years without water, three years without justice in Ayutla, Mixe.”

That tweet highlighted: “We urge [the National Human Rights Commission] and [Human Rights Oaxaca] to comply with the precautionary measures issued in favor of Ayutla, Mixe to avoid further violence and criminalization of the fight of women defenders.”

Providing significant context, Samantha Demby explains in the following excerpt from her NACLA feature article:

“Several thousand Ayutla residents … have lacked access to running water since 2017. That summer, armed men from the neighboring town of Tamazulapam del Espíritu Santo took control of what they claimed was theirs: the Jënanyëëj spring, the source of potable tap water for Ayutla since the 1970s.

In the Mixe region, centuries of dispossession—from Spanish colonization to the modern expansion of organized crime—have sown the seeds for disagreements over vital resources like water. When water access is interrupted and the state fails in its obligation to provide this human right, women pick up the slack.

The lack of access to water has a disproportionate impact on women, according to Brenda Rodríguez Herrera, a specialist in water and gender equity at the Universidad Autónoma Nacional de México (National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM).

’It is women who, because of gender mandates and roles, are responsible for going to the tap or the well and carrying water,’ says Herrera.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, greater demand for water has lengthened women’s workdays and increased their stress levels.

In light of the public health emergency, Mexico’s Human Rights Commission ordered the state to guarantee water for Ayutla. But the governor of Oaxaca refused to do so, arguing that stalled lawsuits between the communities left his hands tied.

In response, Ayutla launched an international campaign demanding #AguaParaAyutlaYa—’Water for Ayutla now!’—with the participation of prominent artists. This year’s compounding crises have lent newfound urgency to the work of Ayutla’s women’s collective, which was formed in 2017 to support women impacted by violence in the region.

’Today our primary work is to reclaim our natural spring’, says Gloria Martínez, a collective member and former representative of Ayutla’s communal government. Without answers from the state, women are preparing to launch a new, non-violent strategy to reconnect the community’s water distribution system.

‘We’re aware there’s a risk’, says Martínez. ‘But as a collective of women we’re willing to carry out our proposal.’”

To read the full article by Samantha Demby, please see Pandemic Intensifies Women’s Struggle for Water in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Photo: Codigo DH.

PBI-Canada mourns the passing of former PBI-Colombia team member Mario Paciolla

By
Brent Patterson
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Peace Brigades International-Canada extends our love, sympathy and support to our friends and colleagues at the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project and the wider PBI family following the death of Mario Paciolla.

On July 16, PBI-Colombia posted:

Peace Brigades International greatly regrets the sad news of the death of our beloved friend and former colleague Mario Paciolla, originally from Naples, Italy. Mario passed away in the early morning of Wednesday 15 July in the city of San Vicente de Caguán, in the department of Caquetá.

Mario was a volunteer with PBI Colombia between March 2016 and August 2018 and since then he was a volunteer with the second United Nations Verification Mission in the department of Caquetá. While in PBI, Mario was part of our Bogotá field team and later coordinator of that same team.

His passing is a great loss to his family, friends and colleagues, to whom we send all our love and support. In PBI we remember Mario for his strong commitment to the defense of human rights and the protection of human rights defenders in Colombia and worldwide. We also remember him as an extraordinary friend and for his great passion for the work he carried out.

We urge that all the necessary investigations be carried out in order to establish the truth behind this painful event.

Once again, we express our sincere condolences and send all our solidarity to Mario’s family, friends and colleagues.

PBI laments the news of the death of our friend and former colleague Mario Paciolla. It is a great loss for his family and friends, to whom we send all our love and support. We urge that investigations are carried out to ensure clarification of this event.

PBI-Mexico accompanied Espacio_OSC tells the IACHR that 10 defenders have been killed since the start of the pandemic

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 17, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted about a meeting this week of the OSC Space, which it accompanies.

The Espacio_OSC for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists is a coordination platform of 18 civil society organizations from throughout Mexico. PBI provides accompaniment and technical support to the platform.

These organizations advocated jointly for the creation of the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists and they now monitor its implementation.

The Espacio_OSC statement about the meeting notes: “Yesterday, within the framework of the 176th Regular Session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, [numerous organizations] participated in a bilateral meeting [to] address the situation of the defence of human rights and free expression in Mexico after the pandemic by COVID19.”

“In the space, the organizations denounced that the risk situation faced by people who defend human rights in Mexico has worsened as a result of the pandemic.”

“In particular, they referred to the situation of women defenders and the LGBTIQ + population; as well as defenders of land and territory, criminalized and deprived of liberty defenders, who accompany the migrant population, to the risks faced by journalists and communicators; and to the situation of relatives of disappeared persons or victims of human rights violations.”

“According to information documented by the organizations, since the start of the contingency, at least 10 defenders have been killed (4 of them women and two journalists) and the criminalization of three defenders has been reported, among many other attacks such as stigmatization, repression and threats.”

“For their part, the organizations denounce that the intensification of extractivism in the face of the continuity of megaprojects, the restriction in the procedures for requesting public information; as well as the suspension and reduction of the work of the courts and prosecutors, limit access to justice, and have negative effects on defenders and journalists.”

Among the requests made to the IACHR: “Provide recommendations to federal and state authorities regarding the situation of defenders and journalists in Mexico in the context of the pandemic.”

To read the full report on the meeting, which includes concerns about increased levels of violence against women and the increasing militarization of public security, please see: Organizaciones de DDHH denuncian ante la CIDH agravamiento del riesgo para personas defensoras y periodistas en México.

PBI-Canada notes the criminalization of Indigenous peoples for defending land rights in Saskatchewan and Guatemala

By
Brent Patterson
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Peace Brigades International-Canada notes similar patterns of the criminalization of Indigenous peoples in Guatemala and the Northern Territories of Turtle Island/Abya Yala (Canada) and recently on Treaty 6 lands in Saskatchewan.

CBC News has reported: “Idle No More co-founder Sylvia McAdam and her brother Kurtis McAdam will go to trial in a Saskatchewan courtroom on [March 20, 2019] for building a cabin on ancestral territory they say was intended to be set aside as reserve land.”

The article continues: “They were issued a warning by [a provincial conservation officer] in 2017 for ‘unlawfully occupying park land’.”

“Sylvia McAdam said going to court is a culmination of failed meetings between her family and the province over the years over whose territory it is.” McAdam says: “The meetings fell apart because they didn’t agree with us when we told them that these are our lands and they have always been our lands.”

That article also noted: “She said she hopes the case brings attention to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission‘s Call to Action 45, which is to ‘repudiate concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples such as the Doctrine of Discovery and Terra Nullius.’”

As noted in this Conversation article, “At trial, the responsible conservation officer testified that treaty obligations were not considered when the charge was laid.”

It also highlights: “Shortly before the case was dismissed, McAdam’s aunt Rose Morin disclosed to her that conservation officers had established checkpoints surrounding Big River First Nation. They wanted to search vehicles for an alleged hunting violation.”

The article comments: “The move was seen as a reminder to the community that Canada’s laws were stacked against them.”

The criminalization of Indigenous peoples on their own lands is a pattern that Peace Brigades International has also seen in Guatemala.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the past United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, has stated: “The crime of aggravated usurpation is commonly brought against indigenous land rights defenders.”

She explains: “Disregard of indigenous rights of traditional lands ownership breeds tensions, subsequent violence and criminalization, as indigenous peoples become trespassers or illegal occupants of their own lands, subject to criminal charges such as ‘usurpation’ or illegal occupation, and liable to forced evictions and removal from the lands they rely upon for their livelihoods, social and cultural cohesion and spiritual traditions.”

Indigenous and peasant farmers were dispossessed of their land in the 18th century through colonization that drove Indigenous and peasant farmers to the less fertile highlands. The 2002 census estimates that 45 per cent of Guatemala’s population is Indigenous, but the figure may be closer to 60 per cent.

Peace Brigades International has accompanied numerous court hearings of Indigenous peoples accused of aggravated usurpation.

One example of this took place around the time of Sylvia’s trial in Saskatchewan. PBI accompanied the trial of Eduardo Bin Poou, a Mayan Q’eqchi defender, who was charged with trespassing on a state-designated protected area.

Eduardo had visited this ‘protected area’ inside an Indigenous community for a meeting about the environmental harms being done by the Fenix nickel mine that was first developed by Toronto-based Inco and is now operated by the Russian-owned Solway Group.

While Eduardo was eventually acquitted of that charge, he spent more than two years in jail as a result of the criminalization process against him.

PBI-Canada agrees with the PBI-Guatemala statement: “Indigenous leaders continue to be criminalized. We reaffirm that defending rights is not a crime.”

Canadian union NUPGE calls for end to repression and violence against trade unionists in Guatemala

By
Brent Patterson
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Larry Brown, the President of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), has sent a letter to the President of Guatemala calling for an end to repression and violence against workers and unions.

In that letter to President Alejandro Giammattei, Brown expresses “concern about a recent marked increase in violations of the right to freedom of association, collective bargaining, and human rights in general in Guatemala.”

This NUPGE statement highlights: “At least 5 trade unionists have been assassinated since January 2020, and there are reports of other assassination attempts.”

It then names José Guadalupe Hernández, an affiliated member of the Legislative Workers’ Union (STOL), who was murdered on June 2 in Guatemala City.

NUPGE notes: “This assassination took place in the context of intensifying repression against STOL, its leadership, and affiliated members. STOL has been actively campaigning against layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Brown says: “Repression and violence against workers and their unions must end. A full and independent investigation of the murder of Brother José Guadalupe Hernández and the other union leaders and activists who have been killed or suffered assassination attempts must be completed.”

Peace Brigades International was present in Guatemala from 1983 until the peace agreement in 1999 and then resumed our presence in 2003.

During our first 15 years in Guatemala, PBI protected hundreds of activists from state attack. We accompanied trade unions, farmers organizations, student activists and a powerful new network of Mayan organizations.

Notably PBI accompanied workers with the SITRALU (the Lunafil Thread Factory Workers Union) in the late 1980s.

The workers at that factory located just outside of Guatemala City were told that they would have to work additional twelve-hour weekend shifts without overtime pay. During the strike that ensued, PBI provided accompaniment to the workers 24 hours a day from June 1987 until July 1988 when the strike was settled in favour of the union.

Between 2004 and 2017, 87 labour leaders were murdered in Guatemala. Many more were harassed and threatened. As NUPGE’s letter notes, this unacceptable violence continues with the assassinations of 5 labour activists in 2020.

For more on the NUPGE letter, please see NUPGE calls on Guatemalan president to end repression of trade unionists.

Colombian court to consider lawsuit that says fracking pilot projects would violate the precautionary principle and human rights

By
Brent Patterson
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Colombia’s top administrative court, the Council of State, will consider a lawsuit that claims that Decree 328 that allows proposed fracking pilot projects violates the precautionary principle and other key rights including the right to free, prior and informed consent.

The precautionary principle is a concept that suggests an action whose ultimate effects are disputed or unknown should be resisted.

On July 15, El Tiempo reported: “The State Council announced that it will process a lawsuit that ‘seeks to annul the decree by means of which the National Government established the guidelines to carry out pilot projects for comprehensive research on unconventional hydrocarbon deposits, using the technique of hydraulic fracturing known as fracking’.”

The lawsuit filed on February 28 by three individuals against various government bodies claims that “the administrative act violates the precautionary principle, to the detriment of the State’s duties to prevent environmental damage; the right of people to enjoy a healthy environment, and the right to free and informed participation that they should have indigenous and tribal communities, through mandatory prior consultation.”

Reuters has previously reported that anti-fracking groups see the decree allowing the pilot projects as an act of contempt against the moratorium against fracking. That article highlights: “Activists campaigning against the projects say tests will not show the full potential effects of developing non-conventional deposits.”

Following the court’s decision, Óscar Sampayo, a member of the Alliance for a Colombia Free of Fracking, stated: “We hope that the high court will make a defining pronouncement that will prevent, once and for all, fracking in the region. We cannot allow the water resource, which is the most precious thing we have, to be affected.”

The Council of State approved a suspension of fracking in November 2018. It then upheld that temporary moratorium in September 2019 but later advised that does not impede the development of comprehensive investigative pilot projects.

Following the Council of State decision to consider this lawsuit, the Colombian government now has 30 days to respond to it.

It’s not clear from the media reports when the Council of State will hear or make a decision on the pilot projects, but it is expected that the Colombian government will award contracts in September/October to the companies seeking to conduct them.

Three Canadian companies are reportedly bidding for those contracts.

The Government of Canada has noted: “The government’s actions to protect the environment and health are guided by the precautionary principle, which states that ‘where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.’”

The Voices at Risk guidelines produced by Global Affairs Canada further notes: “While, in international law, the ‘right to a clean or healthy environment’ is not generally recognized, and while this right is not protected in Canada’s domestic law and constitution, Canada has recognised several rights related to the environment (for example, the right to safe drinking water and basic sanitation). All sections of Canadian missions abroad can advocate in support of human rights defenders working on land and environmental issues.”

In November 2019, Peace Brigades International facilitated an 8-day visit by the CCALCP legal collective and the CREDHOS human rights organization to meet with representatives from Global Affairs Canada, Members of Parliament, civil society and the public.

At those meetings, CCALCP and CREDHOS highlighted their opposition to fracking given human rights concerns and environmental harms.

For further background on the legal challenge, please see the El Tiempo article: Ambientalistas exigen suspender los proyectos piloto de ‘fracking’.

PBI-Canada welcomes four new Board members!

By
Brent Patterson
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We are pleased to welcome Sylvia McAdam, Meera Karunananthan, Ailish Morgan-Welden, and Marianna Tzabiras to our Board of Directors!

Sylvia McAdam (Saysewahum) is from Treaty 6 lands in what is now called Canada. She has a Juris Doctorate from the University of Saskatchewan and a Bachelor’s degree in Human Justice from the University of Regina. Sylvia is a co-founder of the global grassroots Indigenous-led movement Idle No More. She is the author of two books, Nationhood Interrupted: Revitalizing Nêhiyaw Legal Systems and First Nations Protocols and Methodologies. She has participated in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Meera Karunananthan is the director of the Blue Planet Project, an international water justice project aimed at supporting frontline struggles against the privatization and commodification of water. In 2009, she helped create the Blue Communities Project as the national water campaigner for the Council of Canadians. The Project was a winner of the FAD Barcelona City to City Award in 2018. In 2016, Meera received UNANIMA International’s Women of Courage award for her successful campaign to have the human right to water and sanitation included in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals Agenda. She is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Ottawa. Her research examines the struggles for water justice of urban racialized women in Cape Town from a feminist intersectional perspective

Ailish Morgan-Welden is the National Action Coordinator for Amnesty International Canada. She has been involved in community organizing for more than 10 years and is passionate about enabling and equipping activists to work for human rights. She has a Master’s Degree from Trinity College in Dublin, which has a cross-border campus in Belfast for students pursuing work in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation. She has also been involved in post-conflict community work in both Canada and Guatemala.

Marianna Tzabiras has been a volunteer with our field projects in Guatemala and North America. She has also been a member of our International Council as a representative for the Central America/Mexico Project. Marianna brings her experience working with the IFEX global network as a Content Management Specialist, Section Editor, and Alerts Coordinator defending freedom of expression as a human right. Previously, she was with the FCJ Refugee Centre and the Toronto Human Rights Film and Video Festival.

Sylvia, Meera, Ailish and Marianna join the PBI-Canada Board along with continuing members Ed Bianchi (chairperson), Peter Cross (treasurer), Heather Neun, Fiona Meyer Cook, Luis van Isschot, and Paul Bocking.

 

PBI-Guatemala hosts webinar with TZ’KAT Network of Ancestral Healers of Territorial Community Feminism

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 15, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project hosted a livestream presentation with two members of TZ’KAT.

The promotion for this online discussion noted: “We talk with Lorena Cabnal and Alex Vásquez, members of TZ’KAT Network of Ancestral Healers of Territorial Community Feminism from Iximulew, about the situation of the heirs of ancient wisdom Maya.”

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied Lorena Cabnal, a Mayan Q’eqchi’-xinka healer and feminist, since 2006, and TZ’KAT since February 2018.

A recording of the 2-hour livestream in Spanish can be watched here.

PBI-Guatemala also posted its monthly information package for June the same day.

That reported noted: “We have maintained constant contact with TZ’KAT – Network of Ancestral Healers from Community Feminism.”

“The members of the Network are continuing to support other women human rights defenders from different territories, assisting them in facing the difficulties they have encountered due to the measures to contain the pandemic and situations of patriarchal violence.”

“In addition, this month we have followed up on the security situation of one of the members of the Network during a ceremony held in Cobán, Alta Verapaz, in memory of the spiritual guide Domingo Choc Che, murdered earlier this month in Poptún (Petén).”

“Through this ceremony, the participants claimed the deep meaning of Mayan spirituality and denounced the criminalization and stigmatization of spiritual expressions, as well as the persecution of defenders of the Maya Q’eqchi territory.”

PBI-Guatemala monthly information packages can be accessed on their website here.

Just prior to the pandemic, PBI-Guatemala accompanied TZ’KAT on a tour of Q’eqchi’ communities in the departments of Alta Verapaz and Izabal.

You can read more about that accompaniment here.

PBI-Canada supports Voice of Women day of action on July 24 against the planned $19 billion purchase of fighter jets

By
Brent Patterson
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Peace Brigades International-Canada supports the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW) day of action this coming Friday July 24 against the Government of Canada’s plan to spend $19 billion on new fighter jets.

On that day, they are asking people to plan a short ‘Strike for Climate Peace: No New Fighter Jets’ action outside of the offices of MPs across the country. That can involve delivering a letter to the MP, holding a sign outside the MP’s office, and sharing a photo of the demonstration with VOW and on social media to build public awareness.

Their day of action comes just days before three transnational weapons companies – Lockheed Martin, Saab and Boeing – submit their bids on July 31 for the contract to build a fleet of 88 fighter jets for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

These new fighter jets will replace the current fleet of CF-18 fighter jets that have conducted 1,598 bombing missions over the past 30 years.

VOW states: “We believe that continuing to consider the expenditure of $19 billion during the COVID-19 crisis, when there are so many other health, humanitarian and environmental needs, should be put to a debate in the House of Commons.”

To date, the opposition parties have not challenged the Liberal government’s plan to purchase the new fighter jets – though it should be noted that in this unprecedented time of a global health pandemic that could change.

As a contribution to the public debate, PBI-Canada has offered various articles including: Boeing implies the job benefits of its fighter jets, but peaceful spending creates more jobs and Did the $10 billion Canada spent on CF-18s help to bring peace? and Canada’s two-year window to decide on climate justice or militarism.

As we prepare for this day we keep in mind:

Ray Acheson and Madeleine Rees from the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom statement that: “A feminist approach to peace and security is one that defines true human security not by stockpiling weapons or issuing threats, but by dismantling structures of oppression and injustice through negotiation, cooperation and redistribution of resources.”

And Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies commenting: “To fund the Green New Deal, with all of its component parts, we must transition away from the current war economy that pollutes the planet, distorts our society, enriches only the war profiteers.”

We are also working with World Beyond War and will be present at the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa in June 2021 when Lockheed Martin, Saab and Boeing market their fighter jets to government officials and military personnel.

The government has stated it will make its decision on which fighter jet they will buy in 2022. This makes the CANSEC arms show next year a key moment for the anti-militarism and climate justice movements to come together to say no to the fighter jets.

For more, please see the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace No Fighter Jets campaign webpage. We are honoured that one of our articles – Canada’s two-year window to decide on climate justice or militarism – is listed as a resource there.

29-year-old environmental defender Marvin Damian Castro killed in Honduras

By
Brent Patterson
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Agence France Presse reports: “Marvin Damian Castro, 29, was found dead on Monday [July 13] after he went missing, the Committee of Families of the Detained-Disappeared in Honduras [COFADEH] reported.”

That article adds: “His body was found in the Sacamil River in Perspire, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the capital Tegucigalpa.”

C-Libre notes that Marvin was a member of the Coordination of the South Social Environmentalist Movement for Life (MASSVIDA) and coordinator of the Revolutionary Youth Movement of Honduras (MOJUREH).

Deutsche Welle adds: “Castro, who was a member of youth networks for the defense of the environment in the southern departments of Choluteca and Valle, had expressed last week that he feared for his life before the National Protection System.”

That article also notes: “COFADEH did not identify the source of the threats against Castro.”

Global Affairs Canada has generally acknowledged in its Voices at Risk guidelines for embassies: “Land rights and environmental [human rights defenders] may face threats from multiple sources, including police, military, other government authorities, private security organizations and organized criminal organizations.”

Front Line Defenders has reported that 31 human rights defenders were killed in Honduras last year, while 8 defenders were killed in 2018 and 7 in 2017.

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