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Indigenous groups call on Canadian government to return Tomás Zerón to Mexico in Ayotzinapa case

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo by Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project.

CBC reports: “On June 29, three Indigenous groups in Canada — Idle No More, Defenders of the Land and the Truth Before Reconciliation Campaign — issued an open letter to Trudeau demanding he state publicly the Canadian government’s position on the case.”

Their letter states: “We as Indigenous Peoples of the Northern Territories of the Great Turtle Island Abya Yala [Canada] stand united with the families of Ayotzinapa in response to their international call for solidarity and justice.”

CBC further reports: “The father of one of the 43 Indigenous students disappeared in Mexico in September 2014, is asking the Canadian government to act on a request from Mexico to extradite Tomás Zerón, the country’s former head of criminal investigations, back to Mexico.”

That article adds: “Antonio Tizapa, whose son, Jorge Antonio Tizapa Legideño, 20, said he wants the Canadian government to act immediately on Mexico’s request.”

Peace Brigades International has previously noted: “The families of the 43 students, the current students of the School of Ayotzinapa and the organisations that accompany them – among them the Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre whose members receive PBI accompaniment – have suffered intimidation and threats.”

This 10-minute PBI video interview with Maria Luisa Aguilar of the Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre also tells of the calls the Centre received from some of the students on the day of the attack against them and highlights that the students were political activists.

And this 90-second PBI-Mexico video conveys the anguish of the families of the disappeared who will not give up their search for justice.

The students were en route to Mexico City to observe the anniversary of the Tlatelolco Massacre in which the Mexican Army had killed hundreds of people at a large demonstration protesting against the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

In terms of what happened to the students, NACLA reports that an independent body from the Inter-American Human Rights Commission found that, “the events of September 26 and 27 were coordinated actions between several government agencies, with the direct participation of at least the federal, state, and municipal police, and organized crime.”

That report also established the involvement of the Mexican Army.

PBI-Canada extends its solidarity to all those families who are seeking justice and the return of their disappeared loved ones.

For more, please see this April 2015 statement: Idle No More in Solidarity with Ayotzinapa.

PBI and ISHR respond to UN Special Rapporteur report on judges and lawyers in Honduras

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 13, the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) presented a joint statement at the United Nations developed in collaboration with the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project and Peace Brigades International-Switzerland.

The statement was part of an interactive dialogue with Diego García-Sayán, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.

The Special Rapporteur visited Honduras on August 16-22, 2019.

García-Sayán notes in his report an earlier visit by Michel Forst: “In the report on his visit to Honduras, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders noted with concern that, between 2010 and 2016, 117 law professionals – judges, prosecutors, lawyers and court staff – died violent deaths.”

In the recommendations section of his report, García-Sayán “urges national authorities to establish without further delay the protection units envisaged for judges and prosecutors at risk and to allocate appropriate human, financial and technical resources to protect judges, prosecutors and lawyers who face threats, harassment, intimidation and interference as a result of their professional activities.”

He also notes: “The modalities of protection should correspond to the nature and seriousness of the risk faced by the beneficiaries of the protection measures and should also extend to members of their families.”

PBI and ISHR welcomed his report and noted: “We observe with great concern the lack of protection of those who practice law and justice operators in the face of the great challenges facing the Honduran institutional framework.”

It concludes: “Justice operators are not immune to threats and attacks; with a cloak of impunity of 90% for murdered lawyers. We urge the government to establish the specialized mechanism for the protection of justice operators mentioned in the Protection Law for Human Rights Defenders, Journalists, Social Communicators and Justice Operators. More than five years have passed since the law was passed. It is time for Honduras to take action.”

The video of the PBI and ISHR intervention presented by Salma El Hosseiny, Programme manager (Human Rights Council) at ISHR, can be found at the 1:41:00 (item 53) here.

The 17-page by the Special Rapporteur can be read here.

Calgary-based Canacol Energy Ltd. in Colombian news articles on alleged funding of presidential campaign

By
Brent Patterson
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A Canadian company that was involved in shelved fracking projects in Colombia with ConocoPhillips and that is now reportedly seeking a contract for one of the fracking pilot projects to be awarded in September/October is in the news.

Calgary-based Canacol Energy Ltd., which owns Bogota-based CNE Oil and Gas, has been noted in these recent news reports:

– Empresa en que Cisneros es mayor accionista sí aportó al CD en campaña Duque (Company in which Cisneros is the largest shareholder did contribute to the CD in the Duque campaign); La Silla Vacía; July 9, 2020

– Empresa de fracking habría puesto dinero a la campaña de Duque (Fracking company would have put money into Duque’s campaign); Las2Orillas, July 9, 2020

– ¿Cómo llegaron $700 millones de la empresa Oil and Gas al Centro Democrático? (How did $ 700 million from the Oil and Gas company get to the Democratic Center?); La Republica Asuntos Legales, July 13, 2020

Las2Orillas reports: “An audio of Nubia Stella Martínez [the director of the political party Democratic Center] with María Claudia Daza [a former personal assistant of former President Alvaro Uribe] talking about the donation of $300,000 from a foreigner came to the hands of the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice.”

That article further notes: “At first Martínez had said that it was the Venezuelan businessman Oswaldo Cisneros and later he retracted it.”

La Silla Vacía further notes: “Cisneros has been a Canacol shareholder since 2015 when his company Cavengas Holdings, based in the Barbados tax haven, bought 19.9 percent (the cap allowed by Canadian legislation) of this natural gas producer.”

That article also notes: “Since then, he has served on the multinational’s board of directors as an independent member.”

Asuntos Legales adds: “Although the fracking projects located in Cesar and called Piranga and Plata were rejected the first time by ANLA, the company continues to await the decision of the Colombian authorities to receive permits and undertake with its pilots for the extraction of crude, impacting with hydraulic pressure…”

The Global Affairs Canada Voices at Risk guiding principles notes: “Canada recognizes the key role played by businesses in protecting and promoting human rights and strengthening the rule of law. …Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service also works to inform and support Canadian businesses with respect to their legal obligations under the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, and promote Canadian industry standards for responsible business…”

Peace Brigades International accompanies defenders concerned about the human rights and environmental implications of fracking in Colombia. Canacol Energy Ltd. and two other Canadian companies – Toronto-based Sintana Energy and Calgary-based Parex Resources – are reportedly bidding to conduct fracking pilot projects there. As noted above, those contracts are expected to be awarded later this year.

Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres, PBI and ISHR comment on UN Working Group’s report on visit to Honduras

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 10, Peace Brigades International, Bertha Isabel Zúniga Cáceres, the general coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), and the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) made a joint statement at the United Nations during the interactive dialogue with the Working Group on the question of human rights and transnational corporations and other companies.

Their statement was in response to the report from the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises on their August 19-28, 2019 visit to Honduras.

The 20-page report from the Working Group can be read here.

The Working Group notes in their report: “A root cause of most social conflicts is the systematic lack of transparency and meaningful participation of affected communities in decisions regarding development projects and the exploitation of natural resources, and in the energy and agribusiness sectors.”

The following statement was made by Cáceres in a pre-recorded video in Spanish:

“COPINH, PBI and ISHR welcome the report of the working group on business and human rights on their visit to Honduras.

Honduras is the country with the greatest number of deathly attacks against Indigenous and Afro-descendants in 2019 and a very high number of murders. We are particularly concerned about the unequal use of the judicial system with the aim of hampering the work of defenders.

While the intellectual authors continue to be unpunished the system does not enable human rights defenders to be free in a context of widespread contagion because of the COVID pandemic in the prisons of the country in spite of the recognition by the Honduras public prosecution of crimes and acts of corruption.

The concession of the Gualcarque River continues to be in force which is a threat for Lenca communities who continue to be attacked. Also, the San Alonso Rodríguez Foundation informs that the Los Pinares company continues to operate outside of the COVID restrictions.

It is difficult to talk about companies and human rights in Honduras without clarifying responsibilities in breaches to human rights and the environment and also to guarantee the process of free, prior and informed consent of affected communities.

There is a need to have conditions which give rise to the rule of law as well as binding instruments.”

You can hear her 90-second presentation in Spanish (as well as in English through the UN translation service) starting at 2:14 by clicking here.

Three transnational corporations to submit bids to Canada for $19 billion fighter jet contract by July 31

By
Brent Patterson
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The deadline for three transnationals – Lockheed Martin, Saab and Boeing – to submit their bids for a $19 billion fighter jet contract with the Canadian government is fast approaching. These companies have until July 31 to submit their proposals.

The Government of Canada’s Future Fighter Capability Project webpage notes: “The FFCP is acquiring 88 advanced jets, associated equipment and weapons, with set-up of training and sustainment services.” The government will “evaluate proposals and negotiate [an] agreement from 2020 to 2022.”

The webpage does not explain why the fighter jets are needed. The Office of the Auditor General of Canada, however, has laid out their logic: “In 2016, the Government of Canada directed National Defence to have enough fighter aircraft available every day to meet the highest NORAD alert level and Canada’s NATO commitment at the same time.”

And yet the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace campaign against the purchase of new fighter jets tests this logic. VOW states: “Canada’s multibillion-dollar investment begs the questions: Who is Canada fighting? Why do we need bomber jets or agents for chemical and biological warfare? Who do we need ‘protection’ from?”

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.

In October 2019, the Conservatives promised to protect “defence” spending, including the fighter jets, from the deficit battle. The NDP has also expressed their support for the competition to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 fighter jets.

The Green Party’s position is somewhat less clear. In September 2019, Green Party MP Elizabeth May stated: “I wouldn’t say no fighter jets. The F-35s are a completely inappropriate plane for our needs. We need to look at what kind of fighter jets…” At the same time, May has also stated: “This party has never called for more military spending.”

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.

PBI-Canada will also be working with World Beyond War and allies at #NoWar2021 when the CANSEC arms show plans to reconvene in Ottawa in June 2021. By that point, with about a year to go before the government intends to makes its decision on the contract, we can expect all three transnationals to have a visible presence to promote their fighter jets.

VOW is also now organizing a National Day of Action on Friday July 24 to demand that the federal government cancel the $19 billion competition for 88 new fighter jets and instead invest in a just recovery and a green new deal.

On that day, they are asking people to plan a short ‘Strike for Climate Peace: No New Fighter Jets’ outside of the offices of MPs across the country. That involves 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.

Peace Brigades mourns the murder of trans rights activist Escarleth Caceres in Honduras

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 10 at 8 pm, Escarleth Caceres, a member of the LGBT Rainbow Association, was shot in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. She died soon afterwards in hospital.

El Heraldo reports: “According to preliminary versions, Caceres was chatting with a group of friends near ‘El Arbolito’ when a car, a tourist type, was parked on the spot. Seconds later, several men got out of the car and approached the victim’s location to shoot her repeatedly, then fleeing from the immediate vicinity of the area.”

The LGBT Rainbow Association (Arcoiris) has posted: “Tragedy has struck our LGTB population again. Violence and hatred towards our trans sisters has claimed another victim.”

It adds: “It leaves us with a knot in our throat and helplessness to see how we are being killed and killed cruelly and the authorities of this country do nothing.”

Arcoiris has also posted: “Scarleth Cáceres was a victim of the hatred and violence that prevails in our country. We reject all acts of hatred, stigma and discrimination towards our LGTB population.”

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has posted: “We regret the murder of Scarleth Cambell, trans woman, activist of the Asociación LGTB Arcoiris de Honduras collective. We show our solidarity with the community and express our concern about the situation of grave danger facing these people day after day.”

PBI began accompanying Arcoíris in July 2015.

Earlier this year, PBI-Honduras noted: “Since the assassination of trans rights defender Bessy Ferrera and the attempted murder of Vicky Carvajal in July 2019, Arcoiris has reported at least 15 security incidents, including cases of intimidation, threats, surveillance, physical assaults, muggings, attempted kidnapping and attempted murder.”

From June 2015 to March 2016, six members of Arcoíris were killed.

Journalist Dina Meza has written that from the time of the 2009 coup in Honduras to July 2019, 325 people from the LGTBI community have been killed. Honduras also had the highest per capita number of transgender murders in the world between 2008 and 2014, according to a report by Transgender Europe.

Furthermore, of the 141 violent deaths reported between 2010 and 2014, less than one-quarter (30) of the cases have been prosecuted in the courts.

Arcoíris coordinator Donny Reyes has stated: “The biggest problem that we face is the violence of the state security forces towards the LGBT+ community: the armed forces, the police, the criminal investigation police, military police, municipal police.”

Reyes adds: “The research studies that Arcoiris and other organizations have done reflect the same pattern — more than 60 per cent of hate crimes have been committed against us by those forces who should be guaranteeing our safety.”

Peace Brigades International-Canada mourns the death of Escarleth Caceres and expresses our solidarity with the LGBTQI+ community in Honduras.

#JusticiaParaScarleth

A brief history of PBI expulsions from Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Guatemala and West Papua

By
Brent Patterson
-

On May 23, 2014, two Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project volunteers witnessed 300+ riot police carry out the violent eviction of the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya blockade of the El Tambor mine (developed by Vancouver-based Radius Gold). The two volunteers were expelled from the country on July 1, 2014.

Over the years, Peace Brigades International has been expelled from various countries due to our accompaniment of human rights defenders.

In this 1998 Democracy Now! interview, Liam Mahony talks about the “dramatic expulsions” of entire PBI teams from Sri Lanka, El Salvador and Guatemala.

Mahony comments (at 48:17 to 50:02): “The two ways we responded to that, that I think that are both effective for not encouraging governments to do this.”

“One is just mere persistence. You get thrown out, you go back in. You get thrown out, you go back in. You just keep going back in and a government will eventually realize that it’s not particularly worth the trouble to keep throwing out a group that isn’t going to leave. And then they have to decide whether they are going to up the ante and attack you in a worse way for instance physical attack or killing which we have not faced killing.”

“The other way is that we immediately when we get expelled is we get international pressure. We get Congress people and high-level people to contact a government and point out that this is not good for their image and it’s going to embarrass them. And governments don’t want that kind of pressure.”

Mahony concludes: “When this happened in Guatemala, we were able to respond very quickly and get a team back in almost immediately. And in El Salvador, it happened in 1989 during one of the worst moments of the war, and it took us five months to get back into the country.”

In the book Unarmed Bodyguards, Mahony and Luis Enrique Eguren note: “Between 1987 and 1991, no fewer than fourteen PBI volunteers were arrested and unofficially expelled [from El Salvador].”

Mahony and Eguren also write: “Between the first election in November 1985 and the runoff a month later, the Guatemalan government orchestrated a sequence of events culminating in the expulsion of most of the Peace Brigades’ volunteers from Guatemala.”

For further context, this UPI news article from November 28, 1985 reports on the expulsion of 7 PBI volunteers from Guatemala.

In March 2011, Open Democracy also reported on the expulsion of PBI from West Papua.

That article noted: “Prior to being forced out of West Papua, PBI was the only international human rights organisation with a permanent presence in Indonesia’s restive Pacific periphery. A group of long-term international volunteers based in Jayapura, the capital and in Wamena, in the troubled highlands, provided unarmed protection for Indonesian and Papuan human rights defenders and monitored the situation on the ground.”

Most recently, two volunteers from PBI-Guatemala had their temporary residence permits revoked and were expelled in July 2014. Both volunteers had witnessed the violent eviction by soldiers of a peaceful blockade at the El Tambor mine at La Puya.

PBI responded to those expulsions with this letter.

Guatemalan organizations also responded with this letter demanding that the PBI volunteers be allowed to stay in the country and complete their work.

Despite these challenges, our work perseveres. In 2019, 465 PBI volunteers from 28 countries accompanied 1,360 human rights defenders. PBI entities also produced 429 communications and organized 21 advocacy tours.

PBI-Guatemala visited the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya camp outside the El Tambor mine in February 2020. Even after their blockade was broken by the police in 2014, members of La Puya continue to maintain a 24-hour presence in moral opposition to the project. For more on this ongoing struggle, please click here.

Ecopetrol signs MOU with ExxonMobil for fracking pilot project that involves Toronto-based Sintana Energy

By
Brent Patterson
-

On July 9, Petroguia reported: “[Colombia’s majority state-owned oil company] Ecopetrol and the US company ExxonMobil signed a memorandum of understanding to work together on the development of one of the pilot fracking projects in the municipality of Puerto Wilches, department of Santander…”

The article adds: “…[This] will allow them to be ready for October 2020, the date on which the National Hydrocarbons Agency plans to open calls for pilot plans for the development of unconventional deposits.”

On May 1, Colombia Informa reported on the fracking pilot projects that are expected to begin in Colombia in 2021.

That article notes that a potential site is the VMM-37 block:

“In the VMM-37 block granted to the North American company ExxonMobil, in Puerto Wilches (Santander), it would contemplate the cutting of 109 hectares of forest, the capture of an average of more than six daily pools of water in the Magdalena and Sogamoso rivers, and a polygon area comparable to 21,655 soccer fields, which will impact five townships.”

The infographic (above) produced by la Corporación Podion indicates that a Canadian company holds a 30 per cent share in the VMM-37 block.

A May 2018 media release from Toronto-based Sintana Energy notes: “The Company’s private participation interests in Colombia, held by Patriot Energy Sucursal Colombia (‘Patriot’), wholly owned by Sintana include 100% of the conventional and 30% of the unconventional resource in the 43,158 acre VMM-37 Block which is located in the Middle Magdalena Basin.”

Fracking is a controversial issue in Colombia.

In February 2019, a poll found that more than 90 per cent of Colombians are opposed to fracking in their country. The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) has also stated its rejection of fracking. And the National Strike Committee, which includes the Central Union of Workers, has listed opposition to fracking as one of its demands.

Alexander Rustler, a researcher at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, has commented: “Fracking’s expansion risks aggravating tensions, potentially causing demonstrations against oil and gas drilling to metamorphose into violent clashes between communities and companies.”

Peace Brigades International accompanies several Colombian human rights organizations that are opposed to fracking.

In November 2019, PBI organized this 8-day advocacy tour in Canada with representatives from CREDHOS and the women’s legal collective CCALCP who presented their concerns about fracking at public forums and to government officials and Members of Parliament.

PBI continues to closely monitor this situation.

CCAJAR lawyer Yessika Hoyos comments on the UN Guiding Principles and the need for a Binding Treaty

By
Brent Patterson
-

On July 8, Colombian human rights lawyer Yessika Hoyos from the Jose Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective (CCAJAR) took part in the Peace Brigades International-United Kingdom webinar on ‘Protecting our future through corporate accountability’.

Yessika was asked about the utility and effectiveness of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

She responded:

“Unfortunately, our experience with the Guiding Principles from the UN is that companies do not comply with them. That’s why our collective together with other organizations have been supporting the real creation of a Binding Treaty from the UN. This has been delayed for many years. It has been discussed at the UN for many years. Many companies together with the states have been blocking this issue. They haven’t allowed for a Treaty to be created.”

PBI has also expressed concerns about the gap between the promise of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and their implementation.

In response, PBI-United Kingdom and the law firm Simmons & Simmons developed a Human Rights Defenders Toolbox that “seeks to address the fact that, despite the existence of these principles, gaps in their implementation mean that human rights defenders confronting corporate interests still face escalating violence.”

And PBI-Mexico has commented, “PBI believes that a Binding Treaty has the possibility to contribute to greater accountability for companies in relation to human rights abuses and could potentially lead to greater protection of human rights defenders working on business and human rights cases throughout the world.”

The United Nations Human Rights Council resolution (26/9) that launched the process for a Binding Treaty was adopted in July 2014, a Zero Draft (first draft) of the Treaty was released in July 2018, and a revised draft was released in July 2019.

That draft will serve as the basis for the 6th session of intergovernmental negotiations that is scheduled for October 26-30, 2020 in Geneva.

Oxfam Canada has commented: “Canadian government officials have been largely absent from the process so far.”

To watch a recording via Facebook of the 75-minute PBI-UK webinar on corporate accountability, please click here.

For further reading, please see the 12-page report co-authored by CCAJAR in July 2016 about Toronto-based Pacific E&P (since rebranded as Frontera Energy): Colombia: The human cost of oil: A Human Rights Impact Assessment on the activities of Pacific Exploration & Production Corp. in Puerto Gaitán.

Study finds high rates of criminalization of defenders, Canadian companies involved in environmental conflicts

By
Brent Patterson
-

This chart from the new report suggests that “climate and energy” (480) is the second largest category of environmental conflicts after “mining” (573).

Montreal-based ecological economist Leah Temper is a co-author of a new report titled Environmental conflicts and defenders: A global overview.

Radio Canada International reports: “Activists defending their communities and the surrounding environment against development of extractive industries and land grabs for agrarian use face high rates of criminalization, physical violence and murder around the world, according to a study published this month in the journal Global Environmental Change.”

Grist adds: “The researchers analyzed nearly 2,800 social conflicts related to the environment using the Environmental Justice Atlas database, which they created in 2011 to monitor environmental conflicts around the world.”

“The study found that 20 percent of environmental defenders faced criminal charges or were imprisoned, 18 percent were victims of physical violence, and 13 percent were killed between 2011 and 2019.”

That Grist article also notes: “The likelihood of these consequences increased significantly for indigenous environmental defenders: 27 percent faced criminalization, 25 percent were victims of physical violence, and 19 percent were murdered.”

Significantly, RCI.net highlights: “After the U.S., Canada is in second place when it comes to companies involved in environmental conflicts, Temper said.”

In February of this year, the environmental organization 350.org released this report that highlighted: “Some of the most severe corporate human rights abuses worldwide may be attributed directly or indirectly to the operations of fossil fuel companies.”

The following month a Business & Human Rights Resource Centre report further noted that the second largest number of attacks against defenders in Colombia between 2015 and 2019 was in the category of oil, gas and coal.

The full 12-page report co-authored by Leah Temper and ten others can be read at Environmental conflicts and defenders: A global overview.

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