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PBI-Canada participates in #NoWar2020 virtual conference, May 28-30

By
Brent Patterson
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Peace Brigades International-Canada is participating in the DIVEST, DISARM, DEMILITARIZE: Conversion for a peaceful, green, & just future virtual conference on Zoom this Thursday May 28 to Saturday May 30.

We encourage you to check out the schedule for the 3-day conference here.

We would also like to draw your attention to the online panel “Weapons to Windmills: Economic Conversion from a War to Peace Economy” on Friday May 29 from 4:30 pm to 6 pm ET that will be moderated by Greta Zarro and feature Tamara Lorincz, Simon Black and Brent Patterson (the executive director of PBI-Canada).

More than 280 people have already registered for that panel. You can also register for this panel by clicking here.

PBI-Canada will also be participating in next year’s #NoWar2021 conference scheduled to take place on June 1-6, 2021 in Ottawa (on unceded, unsurrendered Algonquin territory). That conference will include a ‘No to CANSEC’ protest at the EY Centre on June 2-3 against Canada’s biggest annual arms show.

Peace Brigades International is committed to making space for peace through the accompaniment of at-risk human rights defenders, peace education, and building on the heritage of nonviolent action that tells us that peace is more than the absence of war, but the presence of justice. Our principles are based in nonviolence, internationalism and a non-hierarchical model of organizing.

If you missed this panel or other panels and are still interested, the panels are being recorded and we will post those links when they become available.

Peace Brigades International and the call for a Binding Treaty on transnational corporations and human rights

By
Brent Patterson
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On May 29 and June 12, civil society organizations will have an opportunity to participate virtually in informal consultation sessions on a legally binding instrument that would regulate the activities of transnational corporations.

Timeline

The United Nations Human Rights Council resolution (26/9) that launched this process 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 will be held in October 26-30, 2020 in Geneva.

The Zero Draft and human rights defenders

After the Zero Draft was released, the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net) expressed its concern that there was no specific reference to human rights defenders. It stated: “Failing to formally recognize and protect HRDs and activists by the provisions of the Treaty risks harming one of the Treaty’s core objectives: to strengthen and ensure corporate accountability.”

The Revised Draft

The preamble in the revised draft states: “Civil society actors, including human rights defenders have an important and legitimate role in promoting the respect of human rights by business enterprises, and in preventing, mitigating and seeking effective remedy for the adverse human rights impacts of business enterprises.”

Key demands still sought in the Binding Treaty

While the revised draft was seen generally as an improvement over the Zero Draft, ESCR-Net has listed key areas of concern that need to be addressed.

ESCR-Net notes: “As it relates to the situation of human rights defenders, the Treaty must ensure consistency with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Human Rights Defenders to avoid gaps and foster harmonization with the spirit of the declarations.”

It has further noted among its recommendations that the Treaty must guarantee the right to free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples, that mandatory enhanced due diligence is necessary, and that it must reflect the primacy of human rights obligations over those under bilateral or multilateral trade, investment, or other agreements.

PBI supports the call for a Binding Treaty

The Treaty is an effort to build on the Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights, which were endorsed by the Human Rights Council in June 2011.

By September 2018, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project had commented: “After 7 years of the Guiding Principles being in force, PBI has not witnessed an improvement in the situation of risk for human rights defenders on the ground.”

PBI-Mexico highlighted: “On the contrary, there has been a spike in attacks against land, territory and environmental defenders, indicating that the implementation of the Guiding Principles, mainly through voluntary codes of conduct, has not had the desired affect and that further action may be required.”

PBI-Mexico further noted: “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 open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights (OEIGWG) was established by the Human Rights Council in 2014 to elaborate the Treaty.

Speaking in March 2018, prior to the 4th session of the OEIGWG and prior to the release of the Zero Draft, PBI-Switzerland Advocacy Coordinator Kim-Mai Vu stated: “PBI reiterates the importance of the participation of civil society and human rights defenders as crucial to the success of the process.”

Consultations

As noted above, there will be virtual “open informal consultation” on May 29 and June 12 on the Binding Treaty. The registration information for the session on May 29 is now available here. It is open to NGOs with ECOSOC consultative status.

PBI-Canada seeks clarification from Global Affairs about Canada’s arms exports reports

By
Brent Patterson
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UPDATE: The Export Controls Policy Division at Global Affairs Canada replied to our email on May 27. They sent us the web-link for the ‘2019 Exports of Military Goods’ report that was tabled in Parliament that same day. Among the key findings listed in the report: “For the 2019 calendar year, the value of Canadian exports of controlled military goods and technology amounted to a record high of approximately $3.757 billion.” The full report can be read by clicking here.

The Global Affairs Canada Report on Exports of Military Goods from Canada – 2018 states: “Global Affairs Canada welcomes suggestions on how to improve future editions of this report. To submit any suggestions, please contact the Export Controls Policy Division at Global Affairs Canada: expctrlpol@international.gc.ca.”

In an email sent to this email address on May 24 – the International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament – we raised two points:

1- Arms exports to the United States

The Global Affairs report states: “For the 2018 calendar year, Canada’s total exports permitted under the Export and Import Permits Act of military goods and technology amounted to approximately $2.069 billion, which is over double the value of 2017 exports ($1.031 billion). To note: an estimated half of all Canadian exports are to the U.S. The numbers above exclude these exports.”

We asked that future reports include a full and transparent report on the export of military goods from Canada to the United States.

2- Release of the report on arms exports

We noted that the 2017 report was released on June 6, 2018, but that the 2018 report was not released until February 13, 2020.

We asked for a clarification on why that was, if it was possible for there to be a regular annual release date, and when the report on military exports in 2019 would be released.

Human rights concerns

In February 2017, L’actualité reported: “In total, Canada has sold $18.5 billion in military goods to 143 countries or territories over the past 25 years, excluding the United States.”

“Of that number, nearly a third, representing $5.8 billion, has been delivered to 59 countries considered by the Freedom House – an independent American body that has assessed the state of democracy in more than 200 countries since the late 1980s – as dictatorships during the year of export.”

“Military goods worth $4.3 billion, or a quarter of exports, landed in 77 countries where political repression (such as unlimited detention without trial for political opponents) was evident during the year of export , according to the Purdue University ‘political terror’ scale in the United States.”

The news magazine also noted: “In addition, 36 countries where murder, torture and political kidnapping were part of everyday life (still according to the political terror scale of Purdue University) received Canadian military equipment, for a sum of $518 million.”

Furthermore, Global Affairs own figures show that military exports doubled in 2018 (to approximately $2.069 billion) from 2017 ($1.031 billion).

We will keep you posted on the response we receive.

Top photo: A picket against 16 LAV 6s manufactured in London, Ontario being loaded onto the Saudi-flagged cargo ship Bahri Yanbu in Saint John, New Brunswick on December 22, 2018. Photo by David Frank in the NB Media Co-op.

PBI arranges virtual meeting between Colombian activists and Canadian civil society

By
Brent Patterson
-

Peace Brigades International is organizing a virtual meeting in early-June with Alexandra González Zapata from the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP), Fabian Laverde from the Social Corporation for Community Advisory and Training Services (COSPACC) and civil society allies based in Canada and Quebec.

On May 7, PBI also organized a conference call with Alexandra and Fabian with representatives from Global Affairs Canada and the Embassy of Canada to Colombia.

This is an opportunity for the CSPP and COSPACC to share information about the tensions between Toronto-based Frontera Energy and the community of San Luis de Palenque, Casanare, Colombia that culminated in the criminalization and arrest of eight community leaders on November 27, 2018.

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

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

Forst highlights, “In November 2018, Frontera Energy signed two agreements with the Ministry of Defence for a total of US$1,343,106 to secure army protection for its activities.” He then notes that on December 4, 2018, the army and the police accused the aforementioned leaders of being members of an illegal armed group.

The concern has been expressed that cooperation agreements between the state and companies essentially mean that the state security forces are acting as private security for the oil companies against the rights and interests of community members.

Peace Brigades International has accompanied the CSPP since 1998 and COSPACC since 2009 and will continue to monitor the situation in San Luis de Palenque.

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

Book launch webinar: Who Killed Berta Cáceres?

By
Brent Patterson
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On Tuesday June 2 (at 9 am in Vancouver, 12 pm in Toronto, and 1 pm in Halifax), Front Line Defenders, COPINH, The Goldman Environmental Prize, and 350.org will be holding a book launch webinar titled: Who Killed Berta Cáceres? Dams, Death Squads, and an Indigenous Defender’s Battle for the Planet.

The webinar will feature Nina Lakhani, the author of Who Killed Berta Cáceres? (available from Verso as of June 2), Bertha Zuniga Cáceres, the General Coordinator of COPINH, and will be moderated by Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org.

As noted on the Front Line Defenders website:

“Lakhani tracked Cáceres’s remarkable career in the face of years of threats as friends and colleagues in Honduras were killed defending basic rights; the journalist endured threats and harassment herself as a result of investigating the murder. She was the only foreign journalist to attend the 2018 trial of Cáceres’s killers, where state security officials, employees of the dam company and hired hitmen were found guilty of her murder. Many questions about who ordered and paid for the killing remain unanswered. Drawing on more than a hundred interviews, confidential legal filings and company documents during years of reporting in Honduras, Lakhani paints an intimate portrait of an extraordinary woman in a state beholden to corporate powers, organised crime and the United States.”

The webinar will be live streamed on Front Line Defenders’ YouTube and Facebook channels.

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project began accompanying the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) in May 2016 following the murder of Berta Cáceres in March 2016.

For recent PBI-Canada articles, please see: PBI-Canada remembers Berta Cáceres on the 4th anniversary of her murder (March 2, 2020); PBI-Honduras at delivery of petition demanding an investigation into the intellectual authors of the murder of Berta Cáceres (February 10, 2020); PBI-Honduras observes the sentencing of the seven men found guilty of killing Berta Cáceres (December 3, 2019); PBI-Honduras observes court hearing related to the murder of COPINH leader Berta Cáceres (October 17, 2019); PBI-Honduras attends presentation of report on murder of Berta Cáceres (September 7, 2019); PBI-Honduras visits COPINH community after their collective crops damaged (July 19, 2019); and PBI-Spanish State present for the dedication of gardens in Madrid in honour of Berta Cáceres (July 4, 2019).

“In this context of COVID19, with our work we try to generate solutions, not panic.” – Camilo Bermúdez, COPINH

UN Secretary-General Guterres repeats his plea for a global ceasefire, while Canada’s military exports have doubled

By
Brent Patterson
-

On May 21, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres repeated his call first made on March 23 for “an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world.”

In his new appeal Guterres noted that 3,217 civilians were reported to have been killed or injured in Yemen in 2019, with children accounting for 25 per cent of the casualties. The previous year, Canada exported $1.282 billion in military goods to Saudi Arabia which has been at war with Yemen since March 2015.

Fighting in northern Yemen has intensified in 2020 and the UN refugee agency says that more than 40,000 people have been displaced since the beginning of the year.

It is within this context that Canada has said that it supports the call for a global ceasefire while also confirming a $14 billion agreement to export armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia and opening the way for more arms shipments to that country.

On April 10, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Canada fully supports the call for a global ceasefire. And yet just one day prior, Champagne announced that Canada’s ban on new arms export permits to Saudi Arabia had been lifted.

Champagne also noted on April 9 that Canada’s delivery of an estimated 742 light armoured vehicles (LAVs) to Saudi Arabia was about 50 per cent complete. The LAVs are wheeled military vehicles armed with that can be armed with various weapons, including automatic cannons, machine guns, mortars and anti-tank missiles.

Champagne has declined to say whether Canada has sought assurances from the Saudis that the LAVs will not be used in foreign military operations.

Guterres has pleaded: “To silence the guns, we must raise the voices for peace.”

To raise your voice for peace via an email to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that you can personalize with your own message, please go to our URGENT ACTION that calls on him to back the UN’s call for a global ceasefire.

Canada’s official military export figures (that don’t include hundreds of millions of dollars in arms sales to the United States because of a defence production sharing agreement signed in 1956) show that our global military exports more than doubled in 2018 ($2.069 billion) from 2017 ($1.031 billion).

The Prime Minister has encouraged Canadians to reflect on how we can all stand up to build a more peaceful world. Stricter adherence to the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty would be an important first step in that direction.

For more on this: The Observer view on the failure to secure a global ceasefire during the pandemic (Sunday May 24). Photo of Guterres by Mark Garten.

PBI-Canada observes the International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament

By
Brent Patterson
-

Sunday May 24 is the International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament.

The day was established in 1982 by antimilitarist women in Europe who came together to protest against nuclear weapons and the arms race.

This was when the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp was in place to protest against American nuclear cruise missiles being deployed at the Royal Air Force base in Greenham Common, 80 kilometres west of London.

It is a day to celebrate the historic and current efforts by women working for a just and peaceful world and for disarmament. The day also commemorates the violence suffered by women in armed conflicts and post-conflict situations.

Peace Brigades International accompanies more than 700 women who are human rights defenders. In 2019, 70 per cent (324) of the PBI volunteers who accompany all the human rights defenders we support were women.

Between 2012 and 2016, at least 42 women environmental human rights defenders were killed in Mexico and Central America. There were also 609 aggressions recorded against WEHRDs in that same region in 2015-16 alone.

Women environmental human rights defenders face gender-differentiated violence directed against them which can be further exacerbated by the systemic oppression of Indigenous women defending the land and water from megaprojects.

Peace Brigades International was formed in 1981 within days of the establishment of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. Our principles are based in nonviolence, internationalism and a non-hierarchical model of organizing.

PBI-Canada strives to illuminate the intersectionality of feminism, social justice, human rights, the protection of land and water, and peace.

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

As the International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament approaches, PBI-Canada reaffirms our solidarity with and would like to draw your attention to the work of our allies including: the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW Peace), the Nobel Women’s Initiative, the Raging Grannies, the Joint Chair in Women’s Studies, University of Ottawa and Carleton University, World Beyond War, CODEPINK: Women for Peace, and the Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders (IM-Defensoras).

PBI-United Kingdom to host six webinars with human rights defenders, June 3 to July 8

By
Brent Patterson
-

Peace Brigades International-United Kingdom and the Alliance for Lawyers at Risk will be hosting six webinars on Wednesdays between June 3 and July 8 titled Portraits of Resilience, Hope and Solidarity.

PBI-UK notes: “These webinars will shine a light on the heroic efforts of brave individuals to expose human rights violations and support vulnerable communities during the COVID-19 health crisis.”

“The sessions will be an opportunity for everyone to meet human rights defenders in our network and learn more about the situation on the ground, the impact of COVID-19 on their work, and what they are doing to address the challenges posed to communities.”

Some of scheduled speakers include: Editar Adhiambo Ochieng (Kenya), Dina Meza (Honduras), Alirio Uribe (Colombia), Donald Hernandez (Honduras), Mandira Sharma (Nepal), Danilo Rueda (Colombia) and Jani Silva (Colombia).

The Wednesday webinars (all starting at 12 pm EDT and lasting for 60-minutes) will be:

June 3 – Government and Grassroots Responses in Kenya

June 10 – Defending Human Rights Under Lockdown in Latin America

June 17 – Stories of Hope, Resilience and Solidarity

June 24 – Environmental Rights and the Legal Community

July 1 – Women’s Rights During the Pandemic

July 8 – Protecting Our Future through Corporate Accountability

For more details and information on how to register for these webinars, please visit this PBI-UK web-page.

PBI-Guatemala hosts online forum on their new report on social struggles in Alta Verapaz

By
Brent Patterson
-

On May 21, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project held an online forum to present its new report: We Defend Life! The Social Struggles in Alta Verapaz.

The presentation was hosted by Silvia Weber (PBI-Guatemala) and featured Sandra Calel (the Union of Campesino Organizations for the Verapaces – UVOC), Julio Gonzalez (Madreselva Colectivo Ecologista) and Jordi Quiles Sendra (the author of the We Defend Life! report and a past accompanier with PBI-Guatemala).

To watch a two-hour video of that presentation in Spanish, please click here.

The 64-page report – available in English and Spanish – highlights:

“Alta Verapaz (AV) is a department characterized by difficult realities and deep contradictions: it has the highest number of conflicts over agrarian issues and a record number of evictions; it has the highest rates of poverty and, at the same time, it has a great wealth of natural goods. Furthermore, in 2018 it was one of the departments with the highest number of attacks and murders of human rights defenders.”

“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.”

“This monograph aims to highlight the concrete challenges faced daily by the indigenous peoples and resistances of AV in defense of their fundamental right to a dignified life. To achieve this we have included, alongside the secondary sources and interviews with experts, direct testimonies from members of the four organizations that PBI accompanies in the region, paying special attention to the important role that women play in these struggles. It is these people and organizations who are the protagonists of this report.”

To watch the Facebook presentation of this report, please click here. To read the report in English click here and to read it in Spanish click here.

PBI-Mexico joins call for precautionary measures to protect Indigenous community in Ayutla and their right to water

By
Brent Patterson
-

“In Ayutla the right to water is denied”

On May 21, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project tweeted: “We join the call for @CNDH [the National Human Rights Commission] and @DDHPO [Human Rights Oaxaca] to comply with the precautionary measures in favor of the community and defenders in #AyutlaMixe.”

Codigo DH, a group that PBI-Mexico accompanies, had also tweeted: “Three years without water, three years without justice in #AyutlaMixe. We urge the @CNDH and @DDHPO to comply with the precautionary measures issued in favor of #AyutlaMixe to prevent further violence and criminalization of women’s struggle #defenders.”

Educa Oaxaca, which is also accompanied by PBI-Mexico, has previously tweeted, “Indigenous Mixe community of Ayutla has suffered without water, due to land grabs by an armed group from neighboring Tamazulápam. Threats to Ayutla continue, yet the state government asks Ayutla to cede more territory.”

Furthermore, Mexico Daily News has reported, “The municipalities of San Pablo Ayutla and Tamazulapam del Espíritu Santo in the Mixe region of the state have disputed the boundaries of their communities for 50 years, fighting over 3,600 hectares of land between them, on which there is only one spring.”

“Authorities from Tamazulapam say that according to their documentation the spring belongs to them, but residents of the neighboring town beg to differ.”

A clash between the communities broke out over this issue on May 17, 2017.

Proceso adds, “The armed group from Tamazulapam took the spring, cut off the supply of drinking water and destroyed the hydraulic infrastructure of the community (two water tanks and pipes that connected 70% of the indigenous population).”

“That situation was denounced as a crime against humanity. However, state and federal officials, with knowledge of the risks and facts, did nothing to avoid major problems.”

And it notes that the (then) UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz has received the file related to this collective violation of the human right of access to water committed against the entire Ayutla community.

To read the Civil Observation Mission Report (March 2020) on this issue, please click here

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