Home Blog Page 41

Mexican trade delegation to visit Canada on May 7-9; the call to strengthen the Protection Mechanism continues

By
Brent Patterson
-

Video still: Cameron MacKay, Ambassador of Canada to Mexico, speaks at the announcement of the trade mission to Canada.

CBC News reports: “A Mexican trade delegation is scheduled to launch a three city tour in Canada at the beginning of May that will also include bilateral trade talks between government officials, Mexico’s secretary of economy announced Thursday [March 12]. Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard said the delegation would visit Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver between May 7 and 9.”

The article adds: “Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente said the upcoming trade mission to Canada is another step in strengthening the relationship between the two countries, building on a series of recent high-level visits — including Sheinbaum’s attendance at the G7 meeting last June in Kananaskis, Alta., and Prime Minister Mark Carney’s trip to Mexico in September. …Mexico’s planned visit [also] follows one of the largest Canadian trade missions ever in February which touched down in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey.”

EFE also reports: “The tour will cover 10 sectors: infrastructure, agribusiness, patents and innovation, creative industries, investment funds, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, logistics, education and energy. The plan also contemplates facilitating regulatory approvals, accelerating patents, bringing Mexican startups closer to venture capital funds and creating a one-stop shop for SMEs between the two countries.”

Alicia Bárcena, the Secretary of the Environment for Mexico, was at this event.

El Ciudadano.mx notes: “Bárcena stressed that there is potential for mixed investments in the energy sector, particularly to expand renewable generation and move towards the national goal of 40% clean energy by 2030. He also expressed interest in learning about Canada’s experiences in the circular economy, especially in the management of waste, tires and plastics. The official stressed that environmental cooperation also includes the protection of the monarch butterfly, a species that inhabits protected natural areas in both countries. This joint work is part of the conservation actions that Mexico and Canada have maintained for decades.”

That article further reports: “In the economic sphere, Bárcena pointed out that there are currently 320 mining projects of Canadian origin in Mexico, operated by 128 companies present in 24 states of the country, which reflects the weight of this relationship in the extractive sector.”

Strengthening the Protection Mechanism

The sectors that will be highlighted in this trade mission – including infrastructure, agribusiness and energy – can bring risks for organizations, defenders and communities who raise concerns about their human rights and environmental impacts, as well as to the journalists who report these stories.

PBI-Canada, alongside PBI-Mexico and the Civil Society Space of Organizations (Espacio OSC), continues to highlight the importance of strengthening the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists in Mexico.

It is in this context that we recall the Government of Canada has called for the strengthening of the Protection Mechanism during the United Nations (UN) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Mexico in January 2024.

At that time, Canada recommended that Mexico: “Strengthen, from an intersectional and gender perspective, the federal Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, specifically in the areas of prevention, protection, investigation, and reparation.”

The Carney Doctrine and responsible business conduct

We also recall that in early-February of this year, the Canadian Press reported: “[Randeep Sarai, the secretary of state for international development] says Ottawa wants to focus its international assistance efforts on countries that can generate economic spinoffs for Canadians.”

And just yesterday, former Liberal MP John McKay and former Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise Sheri Meyerhoffer wrote in The Hill Times: “Canada’s competitive strategy will no longer rest solely on trade access, natural resources, or capital markets. It will depend increasingly on how well we govern the social, environmental, technological, and geopolitical risks that shape economic performance.”

McKay and Meyerhoffer highlight: “Effective human rights’ due diligence is effective risk management.”

The ask for international cooperation

Prime Minister Carney’s statement of September 18, 2025, on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Mexico pledged “$9.9 million in funding for United Nations-led projects to support migrant integration initiatives in Mexico and combat the illicit production and trafficking of fentanyl.”

When PBI-Mexico accompanied Espacio OSC at meetings with Members of Parliament and Global Affairs Canada officials in Ottawa in September 2025, it was suggested that similar international cooperation to strengthen the Protection Mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists would be welcomed.

Human Rights Dialogue in May

The Mexican trade delegation is likely to precede the Mexico-Canada Dialogue on Human Rights and Multilateral Issues that is expected, according to the Embassy of Canada in Mexico, to take place after mid-May in Ottawa.

We remain attentive to this upcoming Dialogue as well.

We continue to follow this.

Further reading: PBI-Canada and PBI-Mexico meet with the Embassy of Canada in Mexico to highlight the need to strengthen the Protection Mechanism (February 27, 2026).

PBI-Canada seeks strengthened protection for human rights defenders who advocate for labour rights, the right of association

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: PBI-Canada and PBI-Mexico highlighted the importance of strengthening the Protection Mechanism at a meeting with the Embassy of Canada in Mexico City on February 27, 2026.

Peace Brigades International-Canada recognizes trade union activists as human rights defenders and seeks increased protection for them.

This includes strengthening protections such as the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists in Mexico, as well as the Rapid Response Mechanism within the Canada-U.S. Mexico Agreement.

Labour activists are human rights defenders (HRDs)

The Global Affairs Canada Voices at Risk: Canada’s Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders notes: “HRDs sometimes focus on specific categories of rights or the rights of specific persons. They may seek to promote and protect civil and political rights, as well as economic, social and cultural rights. They may also … focus on specific themes such as labour rights.”

The Voices at Risk guidelines also highlights: “Women HRDs standing for [a range of rights including] labour rights face greater risk of intimidation, harassment and violence by state or non-state actors, local authorities, anti-government elements, and private sector entities…”

Rapid Response Mechanism

We note that the United Steelworkers (USW) has recently highlighted: “Canadian Steelworkers joined allies from the U.S. and Mexico in February to strategize on how to secure stronger labour rights in advance of a planned review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).”

The USW then notes: “Participants from the three countries arrived at a common position on how to improve labour rights under the CUSMA. This includes strengthening the Rapid Response Mechanism, whereby workers in Mexico can file complaints of violations of their rights to unionize or to collectively bargain, against employers that export to the U.S. or Canada.”

Orla Mining Ltd. in Zacatecas, Mexico

In November 2024, the Financial Post reported: “The United Steelworkers union (USW) has filed a complaint under the Canada United States Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) on behalf of workers at a Canadian-owned mine in Mexico who have faced assaults and death threats after they joined an independent union.”

“This complaint calls for an independent panel to investigate and address violations of workers’ rights at the Camino Rojo gold and silver mine in Zacatecas, Mexico, which is owned by Vancouver-based Orla Mining Ltd.”

The article further notes: “The Mexican government has formally recognized Los Mineros as the legal bargaining agent for workers at the Camino Rojo mine. However, the mine’s Canadian owner, Orla Mining, has pressured workers to instead join a pro-employer ‘protection’ union. Over the summer, workers at Camino Rojo reported being intimidated with violence, threats of dismissal and eventually death threats due to their membership in Los Mineros. In the most-recent escalation, armed gunmen broke into the home of Jaime Pulido Leon, a local union leader at the mine.”

By June 2025, The Tyee reported: “The allegations have not yet been tested in court, but the union’s case is being reviewed by three authorities: Mexico’s Supreme Court, the Canadian government and an international panel established by the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA, which replaced the previous North American Free Trade Agreement in 2020. The case promises to test the panel as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to tear up the agreement — and underscores a pattern of human rights breaches by Canadian mining companies operating in Mexico.”

Protection Mechanisms

PBI-Canada is currently analyzing the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists in Mexico in relation to union activists.

Our understanding is that neither the Protection Law nor the Mechanism Regulations limit the access of trade unionists to the Mechanism. As long as their defence of human rights is framed, for example in the right of association, they can enter the Mechanism. However, challenges can arise given non-independent protection unions have been linked with political parties and structures of corruption.

We continue to pursue more information about this.

Overall situation in Mexico

The 2025 ITUC GLOBAL RIGHTS INDEX THE WORLD’S WORST COUNTRIES FOR WORKERS (May 2025) gives Mexico a Rating of 3 noting “regular violations of rights”.

NEXT: Upcoming webinar prior to Mexico-Canada Dialogue

Look for a webinar this spring where we will continue to amplify this message in advance of the Mexico-Canada Dialogue on Human Rights and Multilateral Issues that will take place in Ottawa in the second half of May 2026.

Further reading

–PBI-Canada and PBI-Mexico meet with the Embassy of Canada in Mexico to highlight the need to strengthen the Protection Mechanism (PBI-Canada article, February 27, 2026)

–Initial research survey on the inclusion of union activists in Protection Mechanisms for human rights defenders and journalists (PBI-Canada article, January 23, 2026).

Canadian House of Commons vote defeats Bill C-233 that linked arms exports to human rights abuses

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: Image from CPAC via CPJME.

On Wednesday March 11, Members of Parliament (MP) defeated Bill C-233, the No Loopholes Act proposed by the New Democratic Party (NDP).

The NDP had said the Bill sought to close the “loopholes in Canada’s arms export laws allow Canadian-made weapons and components to end up in the hands of governments accused of war crimes and human rights abuses.”

CBC News now reports: “An NDP private member’s bill that would have ended exemptions from Canada’s export-control regime for weapons and ammunition destined for the U.S. failed to pass at the House of Commons on Wednesday, though it garnered the support of 15 Liberal MPs who sided against their government.”

That article adds: “Green Party Leader Elizabeth May also voted for the bill, and the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois voted against it. Twenty-three MPs did not vote, including 15 Liberals.”

The Canadian Press further reports: “MPs rejected Bill C-233 in a vote on second reading on Wednesday, with 295 voting against it, and 22 voting in favour. That means the legislation is dead and will not be sent to a committee for study.”

That article also explained: “Ottawa and Washington have a defence production agreement that allows shipments of Canadian arms to the U.S. — including shipments purchased by Washington — to effectively avoid the detailed review typically required to get an arms export permit.”

Kelsey Gallagher, a senior researcher at the non-profit Project Ploughshares, told Canadian Affairs: “The US is not a State Party to the [Arms Trade Treaty] and therefore has significantly weaker safeguards when transferring military systems abroad. Canadian munitions have been exported to other states through the US that Canadian policy would have barred if they were exported directly.”

The Hansard record of the 295 to 22 vote can be seen here.

We continue to follow this.

Further reading:

–Bill C-233 in Canada would complement the Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act in the protection of defenders (PBI-Canada article, December 5, 2025)

–Situating Bill C-233 within Canada’s Arms Control Framework (Project Plougshares article by Kelsey Gallagher, November 24, 2025)

–Transparency in the supply chain of weapons components could help uphold international obligations, protect human rights defenders (PBI-Canada article, August 21, 2025).

PBI-Colombia accompanies CREDHOS on Verification Commission in the communities of Puerto Matilde and Tamar Bajo

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo by CREDHOS.

The Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) has posted on social media:

“We participated in the Verification Commission for the communities of Puerto Matilde and Tamar Bajo, in the Cimitarra River Valley, convened by the Magdalena Medio Humanitarian Roundtable, with the purpose of verifying the humanitarian situation of the communities of Puerto Matilde and Tamar Bajo, Jurisdiction of Remedios, Antioquia, in light of the recent armed confrontations between armed actors.

Various social organizations that are part of the Humanitarian Roundtable also participated in this commission, as well as international support organizations, multilateral agencies, and state institutions.

It is important to remember that the community of Puerto Matilde had already been displaced in mid-2025, when a large part of its inhabitants were forced to leave the territory, and at the beginning of this year there were new displacements.

The communities complain that the State has not provided sufficient guarantees for their permanence and that, on the contrary, some actions by the security forces are putting the civilian population at risk.

Families have had to abandon their homes due to the lack of guarantees for their continued presence in the territory, while armed groups, particularly the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia, continue to have a strong presence in the village.

The inhabitants of the territory express their concern: ‘No matter how hard we have tried to remain in the territory, guarantees have not been given.’”

Peace Brigades International has accompanied CREDHOS since 1994.

Photo by IAP.

PBI expresses concern about the repression of human rights defenders in Ecuador, Canadian groups call for “Voices at Risk” to be implemented

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: “On February 3, the FOA and more than 100 community members met with Ambassador Kowalik during a public assembly in Cuenca to share their concerns regarding the Canadian mining project and the proposed FTA with Canada.”

Peace Brigades International has joined with other organizations to “express our grave concern about the situation of repression and human rights violations, particularly against human rights defenders as well as Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities, ‘campesino’ and Afro-descendant communities, women and young people, and civil society organisations that make up the social fabric of Ecuador.”

The statement highlights: “The implementation of a securitized policy and the normalisation of states of emergency, surveillance and militarisation under the pretext of addressing a serious structural security crisis, as well as the erosion of judicial independence and the rule of law.”

And the signatory organizations say: “The international community must reinforce its monitoring of the situation of human rights and environmental defenders, provide assistance to strengthen the rights system, and offer direct support to civil society as a whole.”

Additionally, this week “Seventy-seven Ecuadorian, Canadian, and international civil society organizations and coalitions have sent a formal letter to the Canadian Ambassador to Ecuador, Craig Kowalik, urging the Canadian Embassy to implement Canada’s Voices at Risk: Canada’s Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders in response to the criminalization of Indigenous and environmental defenders from the Federation of Indigenous and Campesino Organizations of Azuay (FOA, Federación de Organizaciones lndigenas y Campesinas del Azuay).”

“FOA members are facing criminal proceedings for their environmental defense work to safeguard the Kimsakocha páramo from the Loma Larga gold mining project, owned by Canadian mining company DPM Metals Inc.”

The letter states: “The Canadian embassy must prioritize human rights and the rights of nature over the interests of Canadian mining companies in the country.”

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Guatemala attends the 14th anniversary of the La Puya mine blockade, PBI-Canada recalls the role of Radius Gold

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has posted on social media:

“Yesterday [March 8] we attended the 14th anniversary of the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya.

Hundreds of residents and friends of the Resistance gathered for recreational activities and to share their commitment to the fight against mining and corruption. They also celebrated last December’s arbitration ruling, which rejected the mining company’s claim against Guatemala, thanks to the Resistance’s participation in the process.”

Vancouver-based Radius Gold

The story of the Peaceful Resistance begins with the Vancouver, Canada-based mining company Radius Gold securing an exploitation licence from the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines in 2011.

Prensa Comunitaria has explained: “In 2011, the MEM [Ministry of Energy and Mines] issued an exploitation license to the entity Exploraciones Mineras de Guatemala [the Guatemalan subsidiary of Vancouver-based Radius Gold], called Progreso VII Derivada, for the exploitation of gold and silver in an area located between the municipalities of San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc, without consulting the communities. There are Kaqchikel and Xinka indigenous people in the area, who opposed the project from the beginning.”

On March 2, 2012, residents from San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc – an area known as La Puya, about 30 kilometres north of Guatemala City – set up a 24-hour a day blockade at the entrance of the Radius Gold Inc. owned El Tambor mine also known as the Progreso VII Derivada mine.

By August 2012, the Canadian company sold El Tambor to US-based Kappes, Cassiday & Associates, but retained an economic interest in the mine (including quarterly royalty payments on the gold production from the mine).

More specifically, Radius Gold says of this sale: “KCA agreed to repay approximately US$400,000 owing to the Company (US$100,000 paid upon signing and approximately US$300,000 to be paid once KCA has commenced shipment of gold produced from the property). Also upon commercial production, KCA agreed to make quarterly payments to the Company based on the then price of gold and the number of ounces produced from the property.”

PBI-Canada visits La Puya

On Sunday May 7, 2023, PBI-Canada and PBI-Guatemala visited with Doña Licha and the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya at a roadside site that it has maintained at the entrance to the “El Tambor” Progreso VII Derivada gold mine.

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Canada at La Puya, May 7, 2023.

PBI-Mexico accompanies International Women’s Day marches in Cuernavaca, Mexico City and Hermosillo

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has posted on social media:

“In the framework of the International Women’s Day (8M), @PBI_Mexico accompanies marches and demonstrations in Cuernavaca, the City of Mexico and Hermosillo.

The presence of international observers helps raise awareness and support the struggles for equality, justice and a life free from violence.”

Cuernavaca, Morelos

Aristegui reports: “Thousands of women participated on March 8 in the mobilization from the Chamilpa Campus of the UAEM to the Plaza de Armas of Cuernavaca, within the framework of International Women’s Day. They demanded justice for Kimberly Joselin Ramos and Karol Toledo, psychology students who disappeared and were murdered less than a week apart; They also intervened buildings and monuments with iconoclasm to make femicidal violence in the state visible.”

Mexico City

La Jornada reports: “After a march with a wide call to commemorate this International Women’s Day (8M), the first contingents of women began to enter the capital’s main square, which is beginning to be painted more and more purple, the characteristic color of this date. The slogans are diverse, and most refer to the multiple forms of violence experienced by women in the country…”

Hermosillo, Sonora

And El Sol de Hermosillo reports: “Relatives of victims, people with children, disabilities, indigenous women, as well as various groups marched on the occasion of International Women’s Day on the afternoon of Sunday, March 8 in Hermosillo, a movement that extended from the steps of the University of Sonora to the Congress of the State of Sonora and the State Judiciary. …During the march through the main streets of the capital of Sonora, at least more than a thousand people participated, especially women who exclaimed ‘They took them alive, we want them alive’, ‘Lord, madam, do not be indifferent, women are killed in the face of the people’, ‘Woman listen, this is your fight’ and ‘My friends take care of me, not the Police’, among other slogans.”

Additional reading: PBI-Honduras present at International Women’s Day march in Tegucigalpa, notes UPR recommendations (PBI-Canada article, March 9, 2026).

PBI-Honduras observes press conference on draft Law that would grant privileges to agribusiness, could criminalize campesina protests

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has posted on social media:

“On Wednesday, March 4, we observed the press conference organized by the Peasant, Indigenous, and Popular Alliance of Honduras (#ACAINPH) in front of the National Congress, in which defenders from various organizations and movements defending the land, including #plataformaagraria, @copinh, @cntctegucigalpa, @viacampesina_hn, #copa, #clnph, #acilpazh, and #movimientosintierra, warned of the serious repercussions of the bill “Strengthening and Protection of the Agro-industrial Sector of Honduras,” pointing out that this initiative would not only favor agro-industrial interests but could also violate the rights of peasants, affect access to land, and weaken guarantees for rural communities.

At PBI, we support calls for respect for the peasant way of life, for the self-determination of peoples, and for the human right to access land and produce food.”

#Honduras #humanrights #peasantry #access to land”

As noted above, the organizations present at the press conference included: #plataformaagraria (the Agrarian Platform), @copinh (the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras), @cntctegucigalpa (the National Union of Rural Workers), @viacampesina_hn (Via Campesina), #copa (the Coordinator of Popular Organizations of Aguán), #cinph (Indigenous coordinator of popular power in Honduras), #acilpazh (the Association of Indigenous Lenca Communities of La Paz, Honduras), and #movimientosintierra (the Movement without Land).

La Via Campesina also posted videos of the press conference on social media and noted: “The Alliance Peasant, Indigenous and Popular of Honduras (ACAINPH), integrated by social and territorial base organizations that claim the human right to the land and the territory, warn about the intention to use the National Agrarian Institute and, in addition, the pretense to approve the project titled “Law for the Strengthening and Protection of the Agro-Industrial Sector of Honduras”.

MNTV.hn further explains: “The Peasant, Indigenous and Popular Alliance of Honduras (ACAINPH) denounced that the draft “Law for the Strengthening and Protection of the Agro-industrial Sector of Honduras” would represent a risk to agrarian reform and rights of access to land in the country. The organizations pointed out that the initiative, promoted in the National Congress (CN), would grant privileges to agribusiness entrepreneurs and could criminalize protests and peasant demands linked to land conflicts. …The alliance called on social and human rights organizations to monitor the legislative process and defend territorial rights.”

And El Libertador reports: “Various peasant organizations mobilized this Tuesday [March 4] in the basement of the National Congress to reject the draft bill called the Law for the Strengthening and Protection of the Agroindustrial Sector Honduras, promoted by the National Party, which would allegedly open the door for agricultural lands to pass into the hands of the agroindustrial sector.”

“The demonstrators described the initiative as ‘a violent attack’ against the historical struggles for land and pointed out that it violates the Constitution of the Republic and international human rights treaties signed by the country.”

That article adds: “[Raul Ramirez of ACAINPH] warned that, if the law is approved, the organizations will defend their territories. ‘They may approve it, but it is unfair, illegal and unconstitutional. Our defence will be in the streets and on the land’, he said, assuring that the peasant sector will maintain permanent mobilizations.”

We continue to follow this.

VIDEO: PBI-Mexico explains their field volunteer application process, March 15 deadline for applications

By
Brent Patterson
-

To watch a one-hour video with Dinah and Jonas from the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project, click here.

The application form to apply to join the PBI-Mexico team is here.

As noted there: “Brigade members commit to a minimum of one year of volunteering in the field that will be carried out in the field work team. The Field Teams are located in the State of Morelos and the other in the State of Sonora (starting in autumn 2026) from where it will work in the states of Morelos, Puebla, Michoacán, Mexico City and Sonora. PBI brigade members live and work together in an office house, participate in all areas of PBI’s work (Physical Accompaniment, Advocacy, Communication/Visibility, Security and Protection Training), including administrative, logistical and internal communication tasks associated with the operation of the organization.”

Applications are being accepted until March 15.

Subsequent key dates include:

  • Interviews: March 25 – April 5, 2026
  • Submission of self-training notebook works: April 13 – May 17, 2026
  • Virtual Training Days: May 22 – 24 and May 29 – 31, 2026

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact PBI-Mexico, PBI-Canada or any PBI country group.

 

WEBINAR TODAY! Learn about being a field volunteer with PBI-Mexico, March 9 at 3 pm ET

By
Brent Patterson
-

PBI-Canada is organizing with PBI-Mexico a webinar on Monday March 9 at 3 pm ET (1 pm in Mexico City) about the application process to be a field volunteer.

You can register for the webinar here.

The application form for apply to join the team is here. Applications are being accepted until March 15.

Hear from the PBI-Mexico team about what it’s like to be a field volunteer! Hear about the work of PBI-Mexico accompanying human rights defenders! Bring your questions!

Register for this webinar today.

1...404142...474Page 41 of 474