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Canadian government loses $2.3 million bid for United Nations Security Council seat

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 17, the Canadian government lost a secret ballot vote among the 192 member states of the United Nations General Assembly for a two-year seat on the UN Security Council that would have begun next year.

Norway secured 130 votes and Ireland won 128 votes for the two available seats, but Canada fell short with 108 votes.

The Canadian government campaign for the seat cost more than $2.3 million.

A grassroots campaign in Canada opposed the Canadian government’s bid for the seat on the basis of numerous issues. Their petition states:

-“Canada ranks among the twelve largest arms exporters and its weapons have fueled conflicts across the globe, including the devastating war in Yemen.

-Canada refused to join 122 countries represented at the 2017 UN Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading Towards their Total Elimination.

-Canada propping up repressive, corrupt and illegitimate governments, including Honduras.

-Canadian mining companies are responsible for countless ecological and human rights abuses around the globe. Still, Ottawa defends the most controversial mining firms and refuses to restrict public support for companies responsible for abuses.

-Violating the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Trudeau government sent militarized police into unceded Wet’suwet’en Nation territory to push through a pipeline [in January 2019 and February 2020].”

On that last point, Peace Brigades International-Canada launched this petition that pleaded with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to abide by this UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination resolution prior to the vote.

That resolution calls on Canada to withdraw the RCMP from Wet’suwet’en territory and to stop construction on the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline until free, prior and informed consent had been obtained from the Wet’suwet’en peoples as required by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

PBI-Canada also highlighted that while Canada spent millions to win the Security Council seat, it spent millions more violating UNDRIP. The RCMP has stated that its actions on Wet’suwet’en territory between January and March 2019 cost $3.6 million.

In his statement on the outcome of the vote, Prime Minister Trudeau commented: “As we move forward, we remain committed to the goals and principles that we laid out during this campaign, and we will continue to play a vital role in advancing global cooperation and building a more peaceful, inclusive, and sustainable world.”

It is our hope that the Canadian government will work to comply with its UN human rights obligations and reassess its policies on arms exports and nuclear weapons. 

PBI-UK webinar on resilience, hope and solidarity notes impact of Canadian mining company in Honduras

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 17, Peace Brigades International-United Kingdom hosted a webinar titled: Stories of Resilience, Hope and Solidarity.

It featured actors Juliet Stevenson and Christopher Colquhoun reading the words of a series of human rights defenders.

To watch a 58-minute video of the webinar, please click here.

Both Stevenson and Colquhoun read the words of Kevin Ramirez Vasquez, an environmental activist from Honduras, that included:

“Human rights lawyer Donald Hernandez points out that since the 2009 coup Honduras has declared itself open to business and encouraged foreign companies to take up mining concessions. Powerful Honduran families who supported the coup have also been granted to concessions to rivers for hydroelectric developments for periods of 50 years. A Canadian company that has been operating in the region for ten years has brought environmental devastation. More than 60 families have been diagnosed with metal contamination in their bodies.”

While the mine wasn’t specified in the reading, this could refer to the Vancouver-based Goldcorp’s open-pit San Martin gold mine in Valle de Siria.

In December 2009, The Guardian reported: “Goldcorp is shutting the decade-old San Martin mine after extracting nearly 12,000 tonnes of ore from its forested slopes.” And Source International has reported: “In 2006, 21 out of the 26 streams dried out. The five remaining streams were heavily polluted with cyanide and heavy metals.”

It should also be noted that in April 2014, MiningWatch Canada’s then Latin America program coordinator Jennifer Moore expressed concern about the Honduran mining law that was passed in post-coup Honduras in January 2013.

Moore stated: “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.”

Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams has also commented: “In creating this new law, the Honduran government has bent over backwards to meet the needs of Canadian and other mining companies, but has carried out almost no consultations with Honduran civil society and community organizations.”

Ramirez is a cofounder of the Association of Defenders of Common Goods in Quimistán (ASODEBICOQ). PBI-Honduras has been monitoring the security situation of Ramirez since April 2017 and began to provide accompaniment to ASODEBICOQ in May 2018.

Ramirez has stated: “The support PBI offers us gives us strength, encouragement, so we can keep going.”

Again, to watch the PBI-UK webinar, please click here.

PBI-Guatemala hosts webinar on chronic malnutrition and the pandemic with Norma Sancir and Lesbia Artola

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 17, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project hosted a webinar discussing the situation of chronic malnutrition in Guatemala.

To watch the 80-minute webinar in Spanish, please click here.

PBI-Guatemala communications coordinator Silvia Weber facilitated the conversation with Norma Sancir and Lesbia Artola.

Norma Sancir is a communicator who was formerly with the Nuevo Día Ch’orti’ Indigenous Association (CCCND) in Chiquimula and Lesbia Artola is a member of the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) in Cobán, Alta Verapaz.

The Guardian has reported: “More than 60% of the population of Guatemala lives in poverty, and the country has one of the highest rates of childhood malnutrition in the world.”

ABC adds: “Impoverished rural indigenous communities with some of the world’s highest chronic malnutrition rates have been hit particularly hard by coronavirus restrictions, say grassroots NGOs.”

And on the same day as the PBI-Guatemala webinar, Action Against Hunger highlighted: “The COVID-19 pandemic has affected food security for hundreds of thousands of Guatemala’s most vulnerable people.”

It adds: “Right now, 1.2 million people are currently in need of emergency food aid – an increase of 570,000 from the beginning of the year – as a result of the loss of livelihoods related to the pandemic. More than 15,000 cases of acute malnutrition among children were reported at the end of May 2020, exceeding the total number of cases reported for all of 2019.”

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) of the Verapaces since July 2018 and the ‘New Day’ Ch’orti’ Campesino Central Coordinator (CCCND) since 2009.

For additional context, please see PBI-Guatemala accompanies Nuevo Dia talk on a landmark court ruling on the right to food (November 2019).

Canada to spend more than $1 billion on Raytheon missiles and equipment for CF-18 fighter jets

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 17, Ottawa Citizen journalist David Pugliese reported: “The U.S. government has cleared the way for Canada to buy more than $1 billion worth of new missiles and related equipment for the Royal Canadian Air Force’s CF-18 fighter jet fleet.”

“The U.S. State Department approved the proposed sale to Canada for the 50 Sidewinder AIM-9X Block II Tactical missiles, radars and other various equipment for an estimated cost of $862.3 million U.S. ($1.1 billion Canadian). …Besides the 50 Sidewinder missiles, the deal will include training missiles, guidance systems, 38 specialized radar units, 20 Joint Standoff Weapons as well as support equipment.”

The article notes: “The companies involved in the sale are U.S. firms, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing and Collins Aerospace.”

Specifically, the AIM-9X Sidewinder Missile is manufactured by Raytheon. The missile itself carries a 20-pound (9-kg) WDU-17/B annular blast fragmentation warhead. The explosive force of the missile sends nearly 200 titanium fragmentation rods outward in all directions in an annular (ring-shaped) pattern.

Military spending continues despite pandemic debt

Last week, the Canadian Press reported that Defence Department deputy minister Jody Thomas says she has received no indication from the federal government that it intends to cut military spending despite the soaring federal deficit.

This despite the warning from the Parliamentary Budget Officer that it is “not unthinkable” the deficit could reach $1 trillion due to the pandemic.

Spending on fighter jets

Last month, the Canadian Press also reported: “The federal government has made another multimillion-dollar investment into the development of the [Lockheed Martin] F-35 stealth fighter jet, even as it weighs a new extension to the $19-billion competition to replace Canada’s aging CF-18s [that it recently spent $3.8 billion on].”

The article adds that this US$70.1 million payment brings Canada’s total investment in the F-35 to US$541.3 million ($762.16 million Canadian) since 1997. .

The Canadian government also continues with its plan to purchase of 88 fighter jets that would cost $19 billion plus up to $300 million a year to service. The deadline for the three transnational corporations bidding on the jet fighter contract is July 31, 2020. The government will announce its decision in 2022.

Defund the military?

Overall, the Canadian government has previously committed to increase spending on the military from $18.9 billion in 2016-17 to $32.7 billion in 2026-27, with total spending over a 20-year period of $553 billion on a cash basis.

Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, has commented: “Wars and the military render impossible the aspirations contained in the Green New Deal. And slashing the out-of-control military budget is crucial to provide the billions of dollars we need to create a sustainable and egalitarian economy.”

As the federal deficit soars, and as dollars continue to be needed for social and income support as well as for a just and green recovery, a reassessment of this military spending – including the $1 billion on missiles – should be questioned.

UN and IACHR Special Rapporteurs send letter of concern to Colombian government about illegal military surveillance of defenders

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 17, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project tweeted: “Four Special Rapporteurs of #ONU and #CIDH send official communication to the Government of Colombia for illegal military surveillance against defenders and journalists, NGOs accompanied by PBI @Justiciaypazcol and @ccajar have been victims.”

In that tweet, PBI-Colombia shared this tweet from the IAHCR Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Edison Lanza that states: “In conjunction with rapporteurs from @UN_SPExperts @davidakaye @AgnesCallamard #FabianSalvioli and #MaryLawlor we sent a letter to #Colombia on the illegal surveillance of journalists, defenders and legislators.”

A quick guide to some of these acronyms and names:

ONU = The United Nations.

CIDH/IACHR = The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States.

@Justiciaypazcol = The Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission, a human rights organization in Colombia accompanied by PBI since 1994.

@ccajar = The José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective Corporation (CCAJAR), a non-governmental organization accompanied by PBI since 1995.

@UN_SPExperts = The Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council are human rights experts independent from any government or organization.

@davidakaye = The UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

@AgnesCallamard = The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

#FabianSalvioli = The UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence.

#MaryLawlor = The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.

Context

On May 1, the Colombian weekly newsmagazine Semana reported: “Between February and the first days of December last year, the activities of more than 130 citizens were the target of what the military called ‘profiles’ and ‘special jobs.”

“In these missions, using computer tools and software, they carried out searches and massively and indiscriminately collected as much information as possible about their objectives to prepare military intelligence reports.”

“Phones, residence and work addresses, emails, friends, family, children, colleagues, contacts, traffic violations and even polling places are part of these profiles.”

Peace Brigades International entities around the world, including in Canada, continue to follow this situation very closely.

UN Rapporteur Agnès Callamard seeks to visit US in 2021 to conduct fact-finding mission on arbitrary killings by the police

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 17, The Guardian reported: “The killing of African Americans like George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks by police officers is a systemic problem in the US which requires profound changes that go way beyond prosecutions and police reforms, according to the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.”

Agnès Callamard says the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 “was an arbitrary killing in which the state and police officers must be held accountable.”

Callamard says of the death of Rayshard Brooks on June 12 in Atlanta: “It’s another arbitrary killing for which the state and police officer is responsible, which reveals yet again the systemic nature of the problem.”

The article notes: “Callamard has requested authorization to conduct a fact-finding mission to the US, which she hopes will take place in early 2021, that would focus on unpacking the root causes and systematic forces in the death penalty and police killings.”

“If authorized, it would be the first visit since 2008 and the UN team will seek testimonies from the families of victims like Floyd, Brooks and Breonna Taylor, and also visit towns and cities where meaningful reforms have been attempted.”

As explained by the United Nations: “The Special Rapporteur is mandated to conduct official visits to States. For that purpose, 114 States have issued standing invitations to all Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. For others, the Special Rapporteur requests the Government to extend an invitation for a country visit.”

While Canada has had a standing invitation to Special Rapporteurs since April 1999, the United States has not extended the same standing offer.

The Guardian further reports: “Black people are three times more likely to be killed than whites by police in the US, despite being 1.3 times less likely to be armed. In addition, only 1% of police killings between 2013 and 2019 resulted in officers being charged with a crime.”

Disproportionate killings of Black and Indigenous people by the police and impunity are also profound issues of concern Canada.

In 2018 an Ontario Human Rights Commission report found that a Black person in Toronto, the largest city in Canada, is nearly 20 times more likely to be shot dead by the police than a white person. It has also been noted that in 2014-15, 94.9 per cent of the police officers investigated by the Special Investigations Unit, which investigates the police after a shooting or serious incident, were cleared.

Additionally, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) fatally shot 61 people across Canada between 2007 and 2017. 36 per cent of those killed were Indigenous despite Indigenous people making up about 5 per cent of the population.

Callamard was appointed as a Special Rapporteur in August 2016 with an extensive background in human rights including teaching at the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University in Toronto, Canada.

In February 2020, Callamard visited Kenya to learn more about the serious issue of extra-judicial killings by the police in that country.

While there, she highlighted: “As the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions I take the issue police killing extremely seriously. And I take the issue of impunity attached to police killing even more seriously.”

During that visit, Callamard met with representatives from the Peace Brigades International-Kenya Project and Peace Brigades International-United Kingdom.

The full article in The Guardian can be read at: Top UN official condemns ‘systemic’ US police killings and urges radical changes.

To read the Peace Brigades International-USA statement in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, please click here.

PBI-Mexico expresses concern for security situation of Consorcio Oaxaca and defender Soledad Jarquín Edgar

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 15, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted: “PBI Mexico expresses concern about the events that occurred today in the offices of Consorcio Oaxaca, an organization that we accompany.”

PBI-Mexico adds: “We join the call to ensure the safety and integrity of the human rights defenders who make up the organization and the beneficiary persons who accompany them.”

On Monday June 15, at around 8:40 am in the morning, unknown individuals left a package at the front door of Consorcio Oaxaca with the remains of what appears to be an animal, reportedly the head of an animal, and a threatening message.

Soledad Jarquín Edgar is promoting a campaign to demand justice and the investigation of the murder of her daughter Maria in June 2018.

Consorcio Oaxaca explains: “During the last weeks, we have accompanied with great commitment the campaign ‘Until Justice Arrives’ demanding justice for the femicide of María del Sol Cruz Jarquín, a young photojournalist murdered on June 2, 2018 in Juchitán de Zaragoza.”

It adds: “This campaign has been promoted by Soledad Jarquín Edgar, feminist journalist, mother of María del Sol and supported by countless civil organizations, national and international human rights organizations and embassies. The process of demanding justice for María del Sol has been marked by constant attacks against Soledad Jarquín and who have supported her demand.”

Pagina 3 reports: “[Consorcio Oaxaca] attribute that the threat could be related to the questions they have made to [Oaxaca Governor Alejandro Murat Hinojosa] about femicides, the disappearances of women and the attacks on human rights defenders.”

That article adds: “In addition to evidencing the negligence, omission and complicity of the authorities in femicides, they have requested the resignation of the attorney general, whom they have exhibited for their inability to deliver justice.”

From 1985 to 2014, 47,178 women were killed in Mexico due to their gender, according to data compiled by RFK Human Rights and Center for Women’s Holistic Development (CEDIMAC) for a 2018 report. From 2015 to June 2019, at least 3,080 women were murdered.

In 2019, 1,006 of 3,825 murders in Mexico were officially classified as femicides. In 2015, when authorities began counting these crimes, the number was 426.

Consorcio Oaxaca states: “We demand guarantees for those of us who defend human rights, in particular the right to justice, truth and reparation. We call on the international community to be attentive to what comes after our denunciation, in relation to our work, our life and our security.”

The National Institute for Women (Inmujeres) has also called on authorities to grant the necessary preventive measures, precautionary measures of protection that guarantee the life, integrity, and safety of the members of the Oaxaca Consortium.

Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity Oaxaca (Consorcio Oaxaca), is a feminist organization dedicated for 17 years to the promotion of women’s rights as well as the protection of human rights defenders in Oaxaca, Mexico and the Mesoamerican region.

The risks faced by Consorcio Oaxaca members are high because of the cases it accompanies and its work promoting and defending women’s rights. PBI-Mexico has provided Consorcio Oaxaca with accompaniment since March 2016.

PBI-Honduras shares quote from Dina Meza expressing concern about giving resources to the Government of Honduras

By
Brent Patterson
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“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

This might prompt the question: What resources does Canada give to Honduras?

On July 30, 2009, 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.”

“This year [2009], three Honduran soldiers are receiving English-language training at bases in Kingston, Ont., and St. Jean, Que., and two others are attending Canada-funded peacekeeping courses in Chile and Argentina. The cost is estimated at $70,000 annually.”

“[Peter Kent, at that time the minister of state for foreign affairs] added Canada is not cutting the $16.4-million in development aid it provides each year to Honduras.”

By 2012, Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams was raising serious concerns about the influence of Canada in the writing of the mining law in Honduras.

She wrote: “In creating this new [mining] law, the Honduran government has bent over backwards to meet the needs of Canadian and other mining companies, but has carried out almost no consultations with Honduran civil society and community organizations.”

In April 2014, MiningWatch Canada’s then Latin America program coordinator Jennifer Moore also expressed concern to a Canadian parliamentary committee about the Canadian-backed mining law that was passed in Honduras in January 2013.

Moore stated: “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.”

Then on October 1, 2014, the Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement and parallel agreements on labour and environmental cooperation entered into force.

From 2015 to 2016, Canada gave $35.73 million in official development assistance to Honduras (a substantial increase from the $16.4-million it gave in 2009).

On June 22, 2019, Honduras Solidarity tweeted: “Vehicles w/ Canadian flag that were ‘donated’ to Min. of Health, carry Military Police to repress protesters defending public education & healthcare. Pics are circulating on social media in Honduras.”

Within days Proceso reported: “The publication provoked a reaction from the Canadian ambassador in Honduras, James K. Hill, who issued a statement in which he stated that his government ‘is deeply concerned about the recent images circulating in Honduras showing vehicles with the Canadian logo, transporting military personnel’.”

PBI-Honduras has provided protective accompaniment to Meza since May 2014.

PBI-Kenya draws attention to police violence in Kenya in the wake of global protests against the killing of George Floyd

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 15, the Peace Brigades International-Kenya Project shared an opinion piece from the Kenyan newspaper The Star titled Police must stop killing, maiming the poor.

Joseph Kariuki writes: “The world’s attention amid COVID-19 shifted overnight to police brutality with #ICantBreath hashtag trending for days after the horrific killing of George Floyd [in the United States]. …As I saw the anger start boiling all over the world, I was instantly reminded of our experiences of police brutality in Kenya.”

“The stark difference between Floyd’s case and ours is how fast the world came to know about his death, and the lighting speed global outrage that followed.”

Samantha Pendo

“As I write this piece, police officers accused of killing [of 6-month old] Baby Pendo in Kisumu at the height of 2017 elections are yet to be charged despite a recommendation by an inquest into the killing to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to charge five senior police officers with her murder.”

Duncan Githinji

“In September 2019, our hearts were broken by the story of Baby Duncan Githinji who was only two years old when police cut his life shot in a slum in Kahawa West. …The media did a good job of covering this story and within days the officers involved were arrested. They were later released without being charged.”

Yassin Moyo

“[Thirteen-year-old] Yassin was playing with his sister on his parents’ balcony in Kiamaiko in Mathare on March 30 when he was felled by a police bullet at the safety of his parent’s home. …The police officer is yet to be arrested and charged, it will likely take years for Yassin’s family to find justice, at best by when he would have celebrated his 18th birthday.”

Kariuki adds: “Missing Voices has recorded a total of 94 incidences of deaths and enforced disappearances in the hands of police since January 2020 Only in 2 incidents out of the 16 curfew deaths have so far resulted with suspects being recommended for prosecution.”

This follows the Missing Voices 2019 Annual Report on the State of Police Killings and Enforced Disappearances in Kenya that found Kenyan police had killed 107 people in 2019, most of whom were young men living in the informal settlements.

And it follows the Mathare Social Justice Centre report that found police had killed more than 50 people in Mathare and a total of 803 people in Kenya between 2013 and 2015.

PBI-Kenya is part of the Missing Voices network and the Police Reforms Working Group network. It also works with the Mathare Social Justice Centre and Dandora Community Justice Centre as well as other social justice centres in Nairobi.

Image from PBI-UK website.

PBI-Guatemala expresses concern for the security situation of Hermelindo, Jesus and Elias Caal

By
Brent Patterson
-

On June 13, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted on its Facebook page: “We sympathize with the Caal family. We express our concern for your security situation. PBI accompanies UVOC.”

The Verapaz Union of Peasant Organisations (UVOC) is an indigenous and peasant organization dedicated to the defence and promotion of access to land for the peasant population in the departments of Alta and Baja Verapaz.

PBI-Guatemala shared the UVOC post that stated: “In the early morning of Thursday 11 to Friday 12 June, Hermelindo Caal Oxóm (UVOC’s collaborator), Elias Caal Oxóm (Community Press correspondent) and the father of both, Jesus Caal, were accused of witchcraft and threatened with death by members of the community in which they reside, Gancho Mahoga II of Cobán municipality (Alta Verapaz).”

This follows the murder of Domingo Choc Che, 55, in Guatemala on June 6. He was an expert on traditional herbal medicine who had worked with researchers from University College London. He was also accused of practicing witchcraft.

The Guardian has reported: “The 1996 peace accords for the first time recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples to their traditions and spirituality. But persecution continues against those who practice Maya spiritualism, which is often referred to as ‘witchcraft’ by conservative Christian religious groups.”

Jose Che, the secretary of Guatemala’s Relebaal Saqe association of councils of spiritual guides, says: “There has been discrimination and racism against Maya people for a long time. They do not respect our cosmovision, our spirituality.”

And Claudia Samayoa, one of the founders of the human rights organization UDEFEUGA, says: “Prior to the peace accords there was a clear persecution of Maya spiritual guides and traditional herbalists But Guatemala has not managed to dismantle this vision from colonial times that practicing ‘witchcraft’ deserves death. There are neo-pentecostal churches and some expressions of Catholicism that continue to consider the practice of Maya spirituality as a form of witchcraft.”

PBI-Guatemala, in its post about the murder of Domingo Choc Che, included the hashtag #RacismoMata which translates into Racism Kills.

On May 21, PBI-Guatemala released its new report: We Defend Life! The Social Struggles in Alta Verapaz.

That report sets the context: “The indigenous peoples and campesinos of AV have been subjected to continuous dispossession dating back to the Spanish conquest, when the looting of natural wealth in the region began through the exploitation of raw materials.”

To read the full report, please click here.

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