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RCMP patrol cultural site with assault rifles on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory

By
Brent Patterson
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The Wet’suwet’en Access Point on Gidimt’en Territory has posted:

“Photographs taken on Wet’suwet’en territory show RCMP armed with assault weapons conducting foot patrols of a cultural site belonging to Hereditary Chief Woos of Cas Yikh (Grizzly House).”

“Security cameras belonging to the Gidimt’en clan recorded images of heavily armed police patrolling Chief Woos’ smokehouse on June 10 and June 18.”

“We are deeply concerned with excessively armed police conducting foot patrols through remote parts of Gidimt’en yintah which are subject to active cultural use. We have seen too frequently, on our own territories and across Canada, that police readily use lethal force against our people and seldom face any consequence.”

“On January 4, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs representing all five clans of our nation collectively evicted Coastal Gaslink from our territories. While the eviction is still in effect, Coastal Gaslink continues to trespass on our lands with RCMP acting as an auxiliary private security force.”

“The Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, joined by the United Nations’ Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, have repeatedly called upon the RCMP to withdraw from Wet’suwet’en territories, to prohibit the use of force and lethal weapons, and to cease the forced evictions of Wet’suwet’en people from our unceded homelands.”

“We call on all parties involved in this campaign against the Wet’suwet’en people to stand down.”

To read their full post, please click here.

We also draw your attention to the Unist’ot’en Camp website here.

To read the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination statement (from December 13, 2019) that called on Canada to prohibit the use of lethal weapons against Indigenous peoples opposed to mega-projects on their territories, to withdraw the RCMP from these traditional lands, and to halt construction on three mega-projects, including the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline on Wet’suwet’en territory, please click here.

PBI-Spanish State and Mundubat initiate the Voces defensoras (Defending Voices) solidarity network

By
Brent Patterson
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The Defending Voices Platform is a joint initiative of Peace Brigades International-Spanish State and Mundubat, “an NGO of men and women from various social realities committed to a change in the world order.”

The website explains: “Many of the people who defend fundamental rights, as well as their organizations and communities, are exposed to threats, stigmatization and violence. We are building a solidarity platform to generate critical awareness about their situation, as well as to be a speaker about their struggles and demands.”

Areas of work

-The work of human rights organizations in their fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in Honduras.

-The work carried out by the organizations that defend rights to incorporate ethnic demands (indigenous and Afro) in the current process of recovery of historical memory and peace process in Colombia.

-Power relations and the causes of violation of rights suffered by defense organizations in Guatemala for the defense of land and territory.

-The participation of the feminist movement in defense of the rights of Mexico.

-The threats and criminalization against human rights defenders organizations (right to defend) the context of the occupation of Palestine.

-The role of human rights organizations in Occupied Sahara (ASVDH) for defending international law for the Saharawi people.

Action

1- Join, as an organization or individually, the Defending Voices platform. You will receive information on the situation of human rights defenders, their struggles, their demands, their achievements and their concrete proposals for action.

2- Share the information. The more people who know it, the less impunity those who attack the defenders will have.

3- You can also join specific actions on issues that we promote from the platform to denounce and make visible the violations of rights suffered by human rights defenders.

Recent action

The Platform recently issued an “Alert for attacks on human rights defenders in Guatemala” that expressed “concern about the threats, intimidation and provocations that human rights defenders, journalists and social communicators are suffering in El Estor, Izabal” in relation to the Solway-CGN mine on Q’eqchi’ Maya territory.

That letter was signed by 252 organizations including: Amnesty International Canada; Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network; Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability; Catherine Nolin, Guatemala Research Group, University of Northern BC;  Comité pour les Droits Humains en Amérique Latine; Just Us Coffee Roasters Co-op; Mining Injustice Solidarity Network; Mining Justice Action Committee (MJAC); MiningWatch Canada; Projet Accompagnement Québec-Guatemala; Tatamagouche Centre; and United Steelworkers.

To learn more about the Defending Voices Platform, please click here.

Join! It’s our turn! They also defend me!

Canada’s support for the June 28, 2009 coup in Honduras and its implications for the environment and human rights

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: On October 17, 2019, PBI-Honduras accompanied CEHPRODEC at this march in defence of water against mining.

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has posted: “Since the coup d’état took place in Honduras on June 28, 2009, PBI has followed with growing concern the serious deterioration of space for the defence of human rights faced by organisations, communities and human rights defenders in the country.”

MiningWatch Canada explains that in late 2006 the Supreme Court of Honduras ruled that 16 articles of the 1998 mining code were unconstitutional, including the provision that gave mining companies unlimited access to water. Following that ruling, José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, who had been elected president earlier that year, placed a moratorium on new mining concessions and struck a commission to redraft the mining law.

MiningWatch Canada adds: “By May 2009, a new draft mining bill was complete. It would have imposed tax increases in the mining sector, prohibited open-pit mining and the use of toxic substances such as cyanide and mercury, and required prior community approval before mining concessions could be granted.”

Debate within congress was scheduled to begin August 16, 2009, but that did not happen because of the June 28, 2009 military coup.

On June 30, 2009, the United Nations condemned the coup and called for the restoration of the democratically-elected government. Canada hedged though on the question of Manuel Zelaya’s return to power.

Notably, on July 30, 2009, about a month after the coup, The Globe and Mail reported: “Canada is still providing training to members of the Honduran army, despite the military coup that sent the Central American country into turmoil late last month.”

Then by November 2009, a controversial election (in which the Organization of American States and the United Nations refused to send observers) brought Porfirio Pepe Lobo, a wealthy conservative landowner, to power.

Toronto-based York University Professor Todd Gordon has noted: “Soon after Lobo took power, Canadian officials and a mining executive discussed how to promote a new foreign investor-friendly mining law.”

By October 2010, Canada began bilateral negotiations towards a free trade agreement with Honduras that includes investment protection provisions (that favours mining companies). And by August 2011 Canada’s then prime minister Stephen Harper visited Honduras (the first foreign leader to do so after Honduras was readmitted to the Organization of American States).

Then in January 2013, the National Congress passed a new General Mining Law that invalidated the Supreme Court ruling from late 2006.

MiningWatch Canada has commented: “This law was developed and passed with strong diplomatic support from the Canadian embassy, and with contributions from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the former Canadian International Development Agency.”

PBI-Honduras has accompanied the Honduran Centre for the Promotion of Community Development (CEHPRODEC) since May 2014. That same month CEHPRODEC contributed to a report that noted: “The political and economic support Canada gives Canadian companies … is provided without adequate controls to prevent the violation of human rights in the countries where the companies that receive these benefits operate.”

PBI-Honduras recently observed: “The process of granting concessions in Honduran territories to national and international companies that began at the start of this decade, has led to 302 mining concessions covering 2.173 km².”

And on April 9 of this year, PBI-Honduras highlighted: “The National Coalition of Environmental Networks and Organizations of Honduras warns that the COVID crisis is being used to ‘continue the dispossession of the territories, since today employers can request and receive approval of environmental licenses for the virtual exploitation of natural assets’ and to ‘remove from circulation the social leaders who oppose’ these projects.”

Global Witness has reported: “Nowhere are you more likely to be killed for standing up to companies that grab land and trash the environment than in Honduras.”

In 2009, Canada provided $16.4 million in official assistance to Honduras. Between 2010 and 2016, Canada’s bilateral aid disbursements to Honduras totalled $175 million, with average disbursements of $29 million per year.

“Giving resources to the Government of Honduras is giving them tools so that they continue to violate the population. The focus of the international community is very important to curb all these human rights violations.” – Dina Meza, director of ASOPODEHU

Toronto Star reports on the Colombian Truth Commission and its processes in Canada

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Colombian lawyer Elsi Angulo sought asylum in Canada in 2004 after learning of an assassination plot against her. Angulo’s story is being documented through the Truth Commission process in Canada.

On June 5, Toronto Star immigration reporter Nicholas Keung published an article with the headline: Exiled Colombians tell their stories in hopes of ‘humanizing’ decades of armed conflicts and bringing peace.

To read that article in full, please click here.

It reports on the activities related to the Commission for the Clarification of the Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition (Truth Commission) in Canada.

It begins by telling the story of Elsi Angulo who sought asylum in Canada in 2004 after learning of a plan to assassinate her. She had worked in Colombia as a district attorney prosecuting corrupt politicians, guerrillas and paramilitaries.

“Since March, a small army of volunteers from the Colombian diaspora in Canada has fanned out — strictly virtually, due to COVID-19 — to document stories such as Angulo’s as part of their homeland’s peace-building and collective healing.”

“The volunteers represent the independent Truth Commission in its effort to reach out to the hundreds of thousands of exiled Colombians in 23 countries, including Canada. They had fled during five decades of armed conflicts, which ended, on paper, with the 2016 Peace Agreement.”

“The goal is to seek out accounts from those affected by the violence, recognize their experiences and foster understanding from all sides to make sure that history is not repeated, according to Martha Blandon, one of the volunteer co-ordinators of the Ontario team.”

“To date, the volunteers in Ontario have interviewed eight people, including victims, witnesses and those who played active roles in the conflicts.”

“Algoma University professor Sheila Gruner, who specializes in development and forced migration in Latin America, said individuals in exile are often overlooked in such efforts because they may find it hard to get involved from a distance.”

“Volunteers recruit participants through community organizations and personal networks, but some people were hesitant at first to share their stories, out of a concern for the safety of their families back home or a reluctance to revisit old traumas, said Gruner, who also helps co-ordinate Truth Commission’s Canadian efforts, including conducting interviews.”

The article concludes: “The Truth Commission is an extrajudicial entity and does not adjudicate or impose penalties against violent perpetrators. Community members in Ontario can call 647-410-8756 for more information. All interviews will be completed by June 30 and then submitted to the commission for a final report to be released next year.”

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has posted: “Many human rights organisations accompanied by PBI have come together to elaborate and present reports [as part of this process in Colombia].”

PBI-Colombia has previously accompanied Humanidad Vigente. In this video, Erika Gómez, who forms part of Humanidad Vigente, explains the importance of the Commission for the Clarification of the Truth.”

PBI-Colombia has also reported on the visit by two members of the Truth Commission to Bajo Atrato communities in March 2019.

PBI-Colombia notes: “For the communities of the Bajo Atrato once again there is hope that they will learn the truth about the violence that they suffered, why they were forcefully displaced after the aerial bombings and paramilitary incursions in their territories, why their loved ones were disappeared or assassinated, and why peace has yet to reach their territories.”

Photo: The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) arrived by helicopter in the Nueva Esperanza Humanitarian Zone in March 2019 accompanied by two members of the Truth Commission, and delegates from the UN Verification Mission and the Mission to Support the Peace Process in Colombia (MAPP/OAS).

PBI-Guatemala observes extractivist violence against the Maya C’horti’ people during the pandemic

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 26, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted an article in Spanish on their website that states: “In Iximulew, called Guatemala from colonial times, indigenous peoples have spent years claiming the right to decide on their economic, social and cultural development and on the territory they inhabit.”

That article continues: “This right is recognized internationally through two legal instruments ratified by the Republic of Guatemala: ILO Convention 169 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

“The Maya C’horti ‘people are located mainly in the department of Chiquimula, in the municipalities of Camotán, Jocotán and Olopa.”

“This eastern area of ​​the Dry Corridor is characterized by water scarcity and its negative effects on the harvest of basic foods, all of this in a population that basically lives on agriculture. The consequence of this reality is widespread acute and chronic malnutrition, which especially affects underage girls and boys.”

“The origin of this problem is found in the unequal distribution of land, as well as in the permanent drought caused by the increasingly irregular distribution of rainfall, the grabbing of rivers by extractive companies and increasing deforestation.”

“On March 6, 2020, the State of Calamity (EoC) entered into force in Guatemala. Among other measures, it includes the stop of public transport and the prohibition of assembly and free movement during the curfew. This has been an impediment for communities to exercise their right to resist against extractive projects.”

“However, companies have resources and permits to continue with their activities. This has increased the risks to which the defenders of the communities are exposed, who, for years, have claimed respect for their rights over ancestral territories.”

PBI-Guatemala then notes this worrying reality in Ch’orti ‘territory citing:

-the Cantera Los Manantiales mine in the municipality of Olopa (where machinery has been brought into the mine site during the pandemic);

-the assassination of defender Medardo Alonzo Lucero (who worked to defend the territory from extractive industries); and

-the Cantera El Porvenir mine (where the communal forest is being cut down without the permission of the community).

“Faced with this panorama, the Mayan, Xinka and Garifuna peoples have presented their concrete proposals and have asked … ‘not to use the State of Calamity to settle investment projects in our territories burdensome to our rights and respect in spirit and letter our right to free prior and informed consultation and the response of the peoples.’”

The PBI-Guatemala article concludes: “From Peace Brigades International we echo the urgent need to listen to the voice of the peoples.”

To read the full article, please click on Vulneración del derecho a la autodeterminación de los pueblos indígenas durante la pandemia. El caso del pueblo Maya C’horti’.

Did the $10 billion Canada spent on CF-18s help to bring peace?

By
Brent Patterson
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Canada’s current fleet of CF-18s cost $4 billion to purchase in 1982, $2.6 billion to upgrade in 2010, and $3.8 billion was budgeted in January 2020 to extend their lifespan. That adds up to at least $10 billion for these fighter jets with billions more likely spent over the past decades on fuel and maintenance costs.

As the Canadian government now prepares to spend $1 billion on Raytheon missiles and related equipment for these CF-18s and accept bids for a $19 billion contract for new fighter jets this coming July 31, it’s timely to ask if the billions Canada has spent on fighter jets have helped to avert war/bring peace.

Here’s a brief overview of the 1,598 bombing missions Canadian CF-18s have conducted over the past 30 years:

Gulf War/Iraq – 56 bombing missions

The CBC reports: “In 1991, the Canadian Forces deployed 24 CF-18s to aid the U.S. in Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield during the first Gulf War. These aircraft were based out of Qatar and flew over 5,700 hours, participating in 56 bombing missions.”

In January 2020, The Hill reported: “Iraq’s electricity woes can be traced to 1991, when the U.S.-led bombing campaign nearly destroyed Saddam Hussein’s electricity infrastructure. The campaign included 215 sorties aimed at Iraq’s grid. …Human Rights Watch condemned the bombing, saying that the destruction of Iraq’s grid ‘resulted in severe deprivation of clean water and sewage removal for the civilian population and paralyzed the country’s entire health care system’. …The lack of clean water led to a cholera outbreak. Water contamination and other health-related problems resulted in a surge in civilian deaths with credible estimates putting the number of Iraqis killed by disease at 70,000.”

Joshua Holland has critically written: “The first Gulf War was sold on a mountain of war propaganda. It took a campaign worthy of George Orwell to convince Americans that our erstwhile ally Saddam Hussein — whom the US had aided in his war with Iran as late as 1988 — had become an irrational monster by 1990.”

Yugoslavia – 558 bombing missions

The CBC has reported: “In June 1999, 18 CF-18s began participating in NATO air strikes against Serbian forces, conducting 10 per cent of all strikes, including 558 bombing missions.”

Jaume Castan Pinos has written: “The 78-day campaign, known as Operation Allied Force, was officially conducted to protect civilians [but] between 80% and 87.5% of the victims of the Kosovo conflict died during or in the aftermath of Operation Allied Force. The KLA took advantage of the power vacuum created by the NATO intervention to carry out revenge killings and abductions against Serbs, Bosniaks, Roma and other minorities.”

His assessment of this intervention concludes: “Decades on, it’s clear that reaching a political settlement after a military intervention can be a nightmare. Certainly much more difficult than launching a bombing campaign.”

Libya – 733 bombing missions

In March 2011, Canada joined the NATO mission in Libya. By November 4, 2011, the CF-18s had returned to Canada.

In August 2011, the National Post reported: “The six CF-18s — backed up by one spare — have logged 733 bombing sorties above the North African nation, while the Canadian refuelling and reconnaissance aircraft have added hundreds more flights.”

The Canadian Press adds: “They eventually flew 10 per cent of all NATO strike missions.”

Bianca Mugyenyi of the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute has written: “In 2011, a Canadian general led the bombing of Libya, which the African Union vigorously opposed. AU officials argued the NATO war would destabilize that country and the region. An upsurge in anti-Blackness, including slave markets, subsequently appeared in Libya and violence quickly spilled southward to Mali and across much of the Sahel.”

And Investigative journalist Nafeez Ahmed has written NATO “debilitated Libya’s water supply by targeting critical state-owned water installations.” That included bombing a state water utility in Sirte in April 2011 and the water-pipe factory in Brega in July 2011. Ahmed adds: “By September 2011, UNICEF reported that the disruption to the GMR [Great Man-Made River water supply system] had left 4 million Libyans without potable water.”

Iraq – 246 bombing missions

In October 2014, the Ottawa Citizen reported: “As the Conservative government contemplates sending CF-18 fighter jets into Iraq, Canadian pilots may soon be bombing some of the same gunmen their actions supported several years ago elsewhere. …The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, which has seized parts of Syria and Iraq, includes a large number of volunteers from Libya who fought in the 2011 uprising that overthrew dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi.”

By February 2016, the National Post reported: “Canada’s CF-18 fighter jets stopped their bombing in Iraq and Syria… The CF-18s flew their first mission on Oct. 30, 2014. They conducted 251 airstrikes [five on Syria], dropping 606 bombs…”

And then by July 2016, The Guardian reported: “Allegations that the [illegal] invasion of Iraq [in 2003] increased the terrorist threat to the UK and helped spawn the terror group Islamic State are supported by intelligence documents released as part of the Chilcot report.” In other words, one war helped to create the conditions for another war.

Syria – 5 bombing missions

By April 2015, the BBC reported: “Canada has carried out its first air strikes in Syria, as part of the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants.”

Prior to the start of that bombing, the CBC reported: “The move has raised difficult questions about whether the operation would violate international law. Similarly, it would mean Canada is joining a very small group of nations pushing the boundaries of international law in the name of self-defence, say legal experts.”

On March 11 of this year, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres tweeted: “The conflict in Syria is entering its tenth year. A decade of fighting has brought nothing but ruin and misery. And civilians are paying the gravest price. There is no military solution. Now it is the time to give diplomacy a chance to work.”

It should also be emphasized that CF-18 bombing missions have resulted in civilian casualties. The Globe and Mail has reported that this could include up to 40 civilians in Iraq, while CBC has reported Off-target airstrikes in Iraq buried behind wall of secrecy.

With the Canadian government now prepared to spend billions more on fighter jets and missiles, this is a critical moment to discuss alternatives to war and to mobilize around the need for peacebuilding.

Boeing implies the job benefits of its fighter jets, but peaceful spending creates more jobs

By
Brent Patterson
-

CBC News reports that Boeing executives made a public pitch on June 25th about its “history of delivering high-paying aerospace jobs” as it attempts to secure a $19 billion contract with the Canadian government for their F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter jet.

The article by Murray Brewster highlights: “In its presentation, the company estimates the value of its direct economic activity in Canada — both commercial and defence — at $2.3 billion, resulting in 11,000 jobs across the country. The independent report estimates that when indirect spending is taken into account, the U.S. multinational contributes $5.3 billion and 20,700 jobs to Canada’s economy.”

“Boeing’s decision to make its case publicly is significant in part because federal finances are reeling under the weight of an anticipated $252 billion deficit and staggering levels of unemployment brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Back in early 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.”

But while the Boeing pitch is that it contributes 20,700 jobs to the Canadian economy, Lockheed Martin has already highlighted: “According to the Statistics Canada model, approximately 50,000 jobs will be created in Canada through the selection of the F-35.”

Still, for the $19 billion purchase cost for the fighter jets, plus $300 million a year in maintenance costs, is this the best use of public funds after 3 million jobs were lost over March and April and 2.5 million more people had their hours reduced?

The Canadian Labour Congress has previously pointed out that a $17.6 billion investment in public transit could create 223,000 per job years.

In the U.S. context, Phyllis Bennis has written: “$1 billion in military spending creates approximately 11,200 jobs — but the same amount of money would create 26,700 jobs if invested in education, about two-and-a-half times as many. Or 16,800 jobs in clean energy, or 17,200 in health care.”

Similarly, research by the Costs of War Project based at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs found that while $1 million spent on “defence” creates 6.9 direct and indirect jobs, the same amount invested in solar power creates 9.5 jobs, in health care 14.3 jobs, and in elementary and secondary education 19.2 jobs.

The numbers would suggest that public spending on weapons is a poor allocation of finite public dollars when it comes to job creation.

The deadline for final submissions for the fighter jet contract is July 31, with a decision expected in 2022, and the first delivery of fighter jets to be in 2025.

#DefundTheMilitary

Chart: Costs of War Project.

On deepening our collective understanding of human rights, peace and right relations

By
Brent Patterson
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The United Nations defines human rights as: “Rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status.”

Key articulations of human rights can be found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1976), and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976).

There are also other significant statements on rights including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007).

It is generally understood that all humans possess human rights simply by existing and that these rights cannot be taken away from them.

Critiques of the human rights framework

From a progressive viewpoint, the human rights framework has been critiqued because it, to some degree at least, accepts an adversarial relationship to the state and/or private entities that people need to be protected from.

In this view, human rights do not fundamentally change the nature of the state or the economy, rather they provide protections for people from the violence of those structures.

That said, there are writings that suggest (both favourably and with concern) that human rights can be used as a tool to profoundly change the nature of the state and economic relations and to minimize or eliminate structural violence.

And there has been the ‘corporate capture’ critique that the primary forum on human rights – the United Nations – has been increasingly subjected to the growing influence of transnational corporations and corporate-friendly states.

It has also been argued that human rights are based in a European tradition of thought that individuals are separable from their society.

This Ontario Human Rights Commission discussion paper notes: “Centering ‘right relationships’ – with the earth and all orders of being – over merely human ‘rights’, [Aaron Mills, who is Anishnaabe and a member of the Bear Clan from Couchiching First Nation] explained what an Indigenous approach to justice might look like, starting from a place of gratitude and reciprocity, rather than expectation and entitlement.”

With this understanding, it may be that human rights do not adequately reflect a cosmovision that may center more on the earth-spirit grounded concepts articulated by Mayan Q’eqchi’-xinka healer/feminist Lorena Cabnal (who is accompanied by PBI-Guatemala) such as body-land territory, territorial femicide and ancestral memories.

PBI formulations on peace and human rights

When PBI was formed in September 1981 (on unceded Algonquin territory), its founding statement explained: “Peace brigades, fashioned to respond to specific needs and appeals, will undertake nonpartisan missions which may include peacemaking initiatives, peacekeeping under a discipline of nonviolence, and humanitarian service.”

As such, a key role seemingly was to intervene to stop violent conflict. It wasn’t until April 1985 that the practice of accompaniment was introduced into our work through PBI’s early experiences in Guatemala.

By 1992, PBI’s general principles stated: “PBI is convinced that enduring peace and lasting solutions of conflicts between and within nations cannot be achieved by violent means and therefore it rejects violence of any kind and from any source.”

At that time, PBI’s mandate was articulated as: “To create space for peace and to protect human rights.”

By 2000, PBI-Canada explained that formulation as follows: “Through protective accompaniment to organizations and communities, PBI seeks to reduce violence and open up political space for social change.”

And by 2007, PBI-Mexico further explained that theory of change as: “International accompaniment is used as a tool for conflict transformation, fulfilling the dual role of both protecting victims of human rights violations as well as encouraging human rights defenders to continue their activities in the face of threat.”

What does peace mean?

The concept of peace can be as complex as that of human rights.

Quaker peace activist Ursula Franklin has stated: “Peace is not the absence of war but the absence of fear and the presence of justice.”

Arundhati Roy has written: “What does it mean to the millions who are being uprooted from their lands by dams and development projects? What does peace mean to the poor who are being actively robbed of their resources? For them, peace is war.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “If peace means a willingness to be exploited economically, dominated politically, humiliated and segregated, I don’t want peace. In a passive non-violent manner, we must revolt against this peace.”

And Kazu Haga has written: “King was arrested 29 times in his short life. Many of those times, he was charged with ‘disturbing the peace’. Think about that for a moment. Let that sink in. This still happens today to many activists. When we use nonviolence to confront violence and injustice, we are not disturbing the peace, we are disturbing complacency. We are disturbing the normalization of violence. When we engage in the hard work of nonviolence and social change, we are not disturbing peace. We are fighting for it.”

Moving forward

When PBI was first formed almost 40 years ago, it sought to bring together: “all who work to preserve human life with dignity, to promote human rights, social justice and self-determination, and to create the conditions of peace.”

This inclusive vision, along with the non-hierarchical and consensus-based decision-making processes integral to the identity of PBI, enables the space for deepening and evolving understandings of peace and human rights.

Nepal Peace Monitor 2019 Annual Review reports on civilians shot by police during protests

By
Brent Patterson
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On May 24, the Nepal Peace Monitor Annual Review 2019 was posted here.

The Nepal Peace Monitoring Project (PMP) is a joint initiative by Collective Campaign for Peace (COCAP)/NepalMonitor.org.

The 35-page review notes: “In 2019, Nepal witnessed several notable incidents of human rights violations, a surge in both violent and nonviolent political incidents, outrage against legislations tabled by the government, and several governance related contestations in public service institutions. Politically, the PMP data reflects these turbulent times.”

The review also contains a 1-page section titled CIVILIANS SHOT BY POLICE DURING PROTESTS (page 17).

Among the three incidents it notes: “On June 30, police opened fire at a crowd of protestors in Sarlahi, killing a 27 year old man and injuring a dozen people including the policemen. The protesters had mobilised in response to the death of a 12 year old boy who fell 30 feet into a uncovered sand pit on the East-West Highway in Sarlahi a day before. According to the residents, the sand mine was being operated illegally, under the protection of local leaders and police personnel. The demonstrators shut down the highway at 12 noon. Tensions escalated as the police tried to clear the blockade and as the crowd started throwing stones at the police. Police responded by firing 13 rounds of tear gas into the crowd.”

In 2014, Peace Brigades International-Germany started the Nepal Monitor Project in partnership with the Collective Campaign for Peace. This followed the closure of the PBI accompaniment project in Nepal that operated from 2005 to 2014. In 2018, PBI-Germany began a 2.5 year process to handover the Nepal Monitor to COCAP.

To read the full Annual Review 2019, please click here (and scroll down to where it says Download Full Report).

Colombian government advances process for fracking pilot projects during COVID-19 quarantine

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 24, the Colombian news website La Silla Vacía posted this feature article (in Spanish) titled: Fracking advances in quarantine.

That article notes: “The norms that will regulate the operation of the pilot fracking projects are progressing at a good pace in the ministries of Mines and Environment and in the National Hydrocarbons Agency.”

It adds: “This month, these entities published for comment drafts of regulatory technical, contractual and environmental regulations to start with these pilots.”

“But both the content of the projects, as well as the fact that they have been published in the midst of the pandemic, when communities in the project’s areas of influence are quarantined and have difficulties accessing the internet to find out and send observations, have generated the rejection of the members of the antifracking movement who are preparing a legal and media strategy to slow the progress of this regulation.”

“According to what the member of the Alliance [for a Colombia Free of Fracking], Carlos Andrés Santiago, confirmed to us, although from the movement they have several objections against specific aspects of the regulation under discussion, they did not send comments to the resolutions that came out mainly because ‘we do not believe in good fracking with greater environmental or technical standards. Our proposal is to prohibit it, from there we do not move’.”

“In addition, Santiago told us that these spaces are not legitimate because they limit participation and exclude people from areas of influence that do not have the internet and that the arguments against the regulation will leave them for possible legal actions that they are studying.”

“And the antifracking movement has its main motivation to stop fracking, since they consider that the environmental risk does not justify even developing pilots.”

“According to Santiago, the objective is to stop the advance of the fracking pilots at least until the elections of 2022, with the expectation that an alternative president will win and finally stop this activity.”

The article also notes that the draft regulations state: “The projects will be carried out in the basins of the Middle Magdalena Valley (in the area of ​​influence of Barrancabermeja) and Cesar Ranchería (in the south of Cesar and in the vicinity of La Loma).”

Furthermore: “That companies that already have exploration contracts in unconventional fields (those exploited with fracking) would have priority if they want to propose pilot projects in the areas where they already exist. That would give Ecopetrol, Conoco Phillips, Drummond, Exxon and Parex an advantage (the oil companies that already have unconventional contracts provisionally suspended by the decision of the State Council).”

This suggests that three Canadian oil companies may be bidding for these pilot projects given Parex Resources is a Calgary-based company, while Toronto-based Sintana Energy has partnered with ExxonMobil and Calgary-based Canacol Energy Ltd. has partnered with ConocoPhillips.

Earlier this month, Armando Zamora, the head of national hydrocarbons regulator ANH, stated that the final rules for the fracking pilot projects would be released in July and that the contracts would be awarded in September or October.

Peace Brigades International in Colombia and Canada accompanies human rights defenders raising concerns with Canadian officials and the broader public about the impacts of Canadian oil and gas activities on communities and social leaders.

Photo: Orinoco Tribune.

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