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UN Refugee Agency expresses concern about US expulsion of asylum seekers during COVID-19 pandemic

By
Brent Patterson
-

As Canada aligns its border policies with the United States, the United Nations has expressed concern about the US policy toward migrants during the COVID-19 crisis.

The Guardian reports, “An unprecedented US policy authorizing the summary expulsion of migrants and asylum seekers because of the coronavirus pandemic violates international law, the United Nations has warned.”

The UN Refugee Agency says, “We understand that in the current global Covid-19 public health emergency all governments have an obligation to enact measures to protect the health of their populations. While this may warrant extraordinary measures at borders, expulsion of asylum seekers resulting in refoulement should not be among them.”

Refoulement refers to the forcible return of refugees or asylum seekers to a country where they are liable to be subjected to persecution.

On March 20, the US federal agency the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ordered the immediate deportation of non-citizens arriving without valid documents.

The Guardian adds, “The order cited an obscure quarantine law to claim the move is justified on public health grounds.”

Between March 20 and April 8, 10,000 people were expelled from the US under this order. The vast majority of those removed were from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

On March 20, the New York Times reported, “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau … said Canada would begin turning back asylum seekers who walk in from the United States outside of official border crossings.”

That article also notes, “[Amnesty International Canada] said Mr. Trudeau’s action was identical to measures used by the United States at its border with Mexico — steps the group views as a violation of international law.”

The Canadian Press has also reported, “Refugee advocates say Canada could be in legal hot water if the United States deports asylum seekers turned away from Canada as part of a broader deal with the U.S. to close the border to all but non-essential traffic.”

“Canada’s international obligations on refugees include a commitment to ‘non-refoulement’ — not sending refugees back to countries where they could face torture or persecution.”

That article adds, “[Amnesty International Canada] says if a refugee turned away by Canada is later deported to a country where they are harmed, Canada could be considered complicit in this outcome and therefore legally liable.”

CTV has reported that the Canada-US agreement on the closure of the border is expected to be renewed and extended to May 31.

Peace Brigades International-Canada has signed this public statement calling on governments at all levels across this country to institute greater human rights oversight of their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

PBI-Canada endorses call for greater human rights oversight of COVID-19 responses in Canada

By
Brent Patterson
-

PBI-Canada has joined with 153 other organizations and 147 prominent individuals in a joint public statement calling on governments at all levels across this country to institute greater human rights oversight of their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The statement highlights:

“Regard for human rights is essential in times of crisis. Human rights principles provide a valuable framework for government action and establish crucial safeguards against abuses. Yet respect for human rights is particularly vulnerable – tenuous at best – in times of crisis.”

“International human rights standards require that economic, social and cultural rights be equally subject to effective oversight and enforcement as other human rights.”

“Often overlooked is the greater or differential impact of the pandemic itself on First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities, Black and other racialized communities (especially individuals of Asian origin), the elderly, people living with disabilities, women and children at risk of violence in the home, refugees and migrants, people marginalized because of gender identity or sexual orientation, minority official language communities, prisoners, sex workers, people who are homeless or living in inadequate housing, people who use drugs, precariously-employed workers, and other at-risk communities.”

The statement recommends “immediately establishing or identifying independent human rights oversight committees” that would, among other tasks, “track human rights violations associated with COVID response measures, including through police enforcement.”

PBI-Canada expresses a particular concern that construction on the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline, the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline, and the Site C hydroelectric dam continues on Indigenous territories during this pandemic without the free, prior and informed consent of the Indigenous nations and communities.

Among the signatories to this letter: Amnesty International Canada, British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers), Canadian Union of Public Employees, Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, Christian Peacemakers Teams – Canada, Council of Canadians, Inter Pares, KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada, Nobel Women’s Initiative, Project Ploughshares, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, Unifor, and many others.

To read the full letter, please click here.

Canadian Foreign Minister endorses call for global ceasefire the day after he lifts restrictions on arms exports to Saudi Arabia

By
Brent Patterson
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To send a letter to the Prime Minister about the need to fully respect the call for a global ceasefire, please click here.

On April 10, CBC reported, “Canada ‘fully supports’ an appeal from the United Nations for an immediate global ceasefire so the world can fight the coronavirus pandemic together. On Friday, Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne and International Development Minister Karina Gould issued a statement, backing the UN leader’s concerns.”

And yet the day before, The Globe and Mail reported, “Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced the suspension of approval of new [arms export] permits for Saudi Arabia is now lifted.”

“They cited a government review made public last September to tell Ottawa it had found no credible evidence linking Canadian exports of military equipment to Saudi Arabian human-rights violations. The same report also advised the government that 48 export permits were ready to be signed should the government lift its moratorium.”

Canada had quietly signed on to the global ceasefire on March 30, but its first public announcement on it on April 10 came after the news about lifting its brief moratorium on new arms exports to Saudi Arabia.

Adding to this concern, CADSI, the lobby group for the arms industry in Canada, announced on April 2 that the Canadian government had also recognized “defence and security in its definition of essential services and functions.”

That means that, despite the social distancing rules that the country has been asked to respect, the factory that builds armoured vehicles that may be being used by the Saudi military in Yemen remains open during the pandemic.

While not speaking to this situation specifically, the UN Secretary-General has cautioned, “A substantial number of parties to conflict have expressed their acceptance for the call [but] here is a huge distance between declarations and deeds — between translating words into peace on the ground and in the lives of people.”

To send an email to the Prime Minister asking him to endorse the global ceasefire and state that the arms industry is not an essential service, please click here.

We launched this petition on April 8 and generated more than 150 letters over the two days prior to the Foreign Affairs minister making a public statement in support of the global ceasefire. Please ask the Prime Minister speak to the matter and feel free to personalize your letter as this situation continues to evolve.

As the Secretary-General says, “To silence the guns, we must raise the voices for peace.”

PBI-Canada petition backing Global Ceasefire prompts 150+ emails to the Prime Minister within 48 hours

By
Brent Patterson
-

On April 8, Peace Brigades International-Canada posted this Urgent Action appeal asking people to send an email to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to endorse United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for an immediate global ceasefire.

More than 150 emails were generated within the first 48 hours.

By April 10, Canada’s foreign affairs minister François-Philippe Champagne said Canada “fully supports” the UN Secretary-General’s call for a ceasefire. Unfortunately, the day before this statement, Champagne also announced that Canada was lifting its moratorium on the approval of new export permits for weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.

The Canadian government has also decided to allow arms factories in this country to stay open despite the need for social distancing to address the pandemic.

People from across the Canada are continuing to send emails to the Prime Minister along with personalized messages.

To send an email to the Prime Minister with your message about the UN Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire, please click there.

#MakingSpaceForPeace #GlobalCeasefire

Canada turns away asylum seekers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. resumes deportation flights to Guatemala

By
Brent Patterson
-

On April 7, the Latin American Working Group posted, “This past March, Javier Martínez of Casa del Migrante de Saltillo, was in Washington D.C. as part of a Peace Brigades International delegation to visit with lawmakers and U.S. advocacy groups.”

PBI-Canada had planned meetings for Javier in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal from March 14-19, but those meetings had to be cancelled due to the pandemic.

The LAWG article highlights, “Javier expressed that all of the actions against the shelter and the migrants it helps are attempts to discredit and delegitimize their work. This pressure is not arbitrary or without cause; it is a direct result of the Trump Administration’s efforts to prevent migrants and asylum seekers from accessing the United States”

On April 13, this article in Waging Nonviolence noted, “This current moment of pandemic is putting asylum-seekers at even greater risk, with poor sanitation and limited medical care available to the large numbers of people returned to Mexico and living in close quarters in [border cities].”

Then on April 15, The Guardian reported, “Guatemala again began receiving deportation flights from the United States on Monday [April 13] after a one-week pause prompted by three deportees testing positive for Covid-19.”

ABC News adds, “Guatemala, along with El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico, has urged the U.S. to halt removals and deportations or take other steps to stop the virus’ spread from the U.S., now the epicenter of the pandemic.”

“But last Friday [April 10], President Donald Trump instead signed a memorandum to authorize sanctions against any country that doesn’t accept removals from the U.S. — a threat to all four countries, despite concerns about the ability of their fragile health systems to handle severe outbreaks.”

The Los Angeles Times comments, “With chronic poverty, corruption and violence and dysfunctional healthcare systems, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador — Central America’s Northern Triangle — are highly vulnerable to the pandemic, but they are also dependent on the U.S. for economic and security assistance. They have little leverage against a Trump administration clearly determined to continue deportations despite the risk of worsening the virus’s spread.”

Refugees International says, “Unless deportees have access to testing prior to boarding the plane, there is no guarantee that they are not at risk of spreading the virus to others on the plane or to their families once they arrive home.”

It adds, “Continuing to deport sick people who lack access to healthcare, a financial safety net, or even basic necessities like potable water once they arrive in Guatemala is irresponsible and places unnecessary risks on some of the most vulnerable.”

Christy Thornton, a Latin American studies professor at Johns Hopkins University, says, “The United States government is actively and knowingly spreading the virus to Central America through deportation.”

The authors of the Waging Nonviolence article further comment, “The Trump administration is using the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to further choke off access to asylum and due process under the guise of ‘public health’.”

Canada and migrant rights during the pandemic

On March 20, the New York Times reported, “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reversed his government’s open immigration stance and said Canada would begin turning back asylum seekers who walk in from the United States outside of official border crossings.”

“The decision to turn back irregular asylum seekers came three days after Mr. Trudeau’s government said that it planned only to quarantine them for two weeks once they crossed into Canada.”

That article also notes, “Justin Mohammed, a human rights law and policy campaigner at Amnesty International Canada [and a former Peace Brigades International volunteer], said Mr. Trudeau’s action was identical to measures used by the United States at its border with Mexico — steps his group views as a violation of international law.”

The Canadian Press has also reported, “Refugee advocates say Canada could be in legal hot water if the United States deports asylum seekers turned away from Canada as part of a broader deal with the U.S. to close the border to all but non-essential traffic.”

“Canada’s international obligations on refugees include a commitment to ‘non-refoulement’ — not sending refugees back to countries where they could face torture or persecution.”

That article adds, “[Alex Neve of Amnesty International Canada] says if a refugee turned away by Canada is later deported to a country where they are harmed, Canada could be considered complicit in this outcome and therefore legally liable.”

On April 15, PBI-Canada joined with 153 other organizations and 147 prominent individuals in this public statement calling on governments at all levels across this country to institute greater human rights oversight of their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Photo by Morena Perez Joachin/LA Times.

Canada Pension Plan invested in ‘BAE Systems that sold £15bn worth of arms to Saudis during Yemen assault’

By
Brent Patterson
-

On April 14, The Guardian reported that BAE Systems sold £15bn in arms and services to the Saudi military over the five-year period between 2015 and 2019.

£15 billion is about CAD $26.3 billion.

That article quotes Andrew Smith of the UK-based Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) who says, “The last five years have seen a brutal humanitarian crisis for the people of Yemen, but for BAE it’s been business as usual. The war has only been possible because of arms companies and complicit governments willing to support it.”

The Ottawa-based Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) has noted that the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) had $9 million invested in BAE Systems in 2015 and $33 million in 2017/18. With respect to the $9 million figure, World Beyond War has noted, “this is an investment in the UK BAE, none in the US subsidiary.”

These figures also indicate that CPPIB investments in BAE increased after Saudi Arabia began its airstrikes against Yemen in March 2015.

The Guardian adds, “Thousands of civilians have been killed since the civil war in Yemen began in March 2015 with indiscriminate bombing by a Saudi-led coalition that is supplied by BAE and other Western arms makers. The kingdom’s airforce is accused of being responsible for many of the 12,600 killed in targeted attacks.”

That article also highlights, “Exports of British arms to Saudi that could have been used in Yemen were halted in the summer of 2019 when the Court of Appeal ruled that in June 2019 that no formal assessment had been made by ministers to see if the Saudi-led coalition had committed violations of international humanitarian law.”

“The UK government has appealed to the Supreme Court to have the judgment overturned, but the Court of Appeal judgment remains valid until the UK’s highest court completes its review of the high-profile case.”

In October 2018, Global News reported that Canadian finance minister Bill Morneau was questioned about the “CPPIB’s holdings in a tobacco company, a military weapons manufacturer and firms that run private American prisons.”

That article adds, “Morneau replied that the pension manager, which oversees more than $366 billion of CPP’s net assets, lives up to the ‘highest standards of ethics and behaviour’.”

At that same time, a Canada Pension Plan Investment Board spokesperson also replied, “CPPIB’s objective is to seek a maximum rate of return without undue risk of loss. This singular goal means CPPIB does not screen out individual investments based on social, religious, economic or political criteria.”

In April 2019, Member of Parliament Alistair MacGregor noted that according to documents published in 2018, “the CPPIB also holds tens of millions of dollars in defense contractors like General Dynamics and Raytheon…”

MacGregor adds that in February 2019, he introduced “Private Member’s Bill C-431 in the House of Commons, which will amend the investment policies, standards and procedures of the CPPIB to ensure that they are in line with ethical practices and labour, human, and environmental rights’ considerations.”

MacGregor told Peace Brigades International-Canada about this legislation when we met with him in his constituency office in Duncan, British Columbia in November 2019 during a cross-country advocacy tour that featured Colombian human rights defenders.

To read the full text of the legislation, please see BILL C-431 An Act to amend the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act (investments). Following the October 2019 federal election, MacGregor introduced the bill again on February 26, 2020 as Bill C-231. To see the 2-minute video of it being introduced in the House, please click here. 

PBI-Canada notes the Canada Pension Plan’s USD $53.7 million investment in weapons company Lockheed Martin

By
Brent Patterson
-

In July 2019, Corporate Knights magazine reported, “Lockheed Martin is the largest weapons company in the U.S., with a history that includes making the bomber that dropped Little Boy, the first nuclear weapon that decimated Hiroshima during the Second World War.”

In January 2020, USA Today additionally reported that Lockheed Martin had generated $7.27 billion in profits for most recent fiscal year, that it did $47.26 billion in arms and military services sales in 2018, and that 88 per cent of its total sales were from selling arms.

Lockheed Martin has posted that its products include the Dual Mode Laser Guided Bomb, the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, Multiple Launch Rocket System, the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, and the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet.

Toronto’s NOW Magazine has previously reported, “Lockheed Martin has [also] spent millions lobbying legislators in Washington to pursue such costly and dangerous initiatives as NATO expansion and Missile Defense.”

On February 14, 2020, Fintel, which “provides advanced research tools for data-driven investors”, posted that the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) now holds USD $53.7 million in holdings in Lockheed Martin as of December 31, 2019.

Other CPP investments in the arms industry

World Beyond War has also noted that the Canada Pension Plan is also invested in these arms manufacturers: General Electric ($146 million), Boeing ($50 million), Northrop Grumman ($36 million), Raytheon ($21 million), General Dynamics ($19 million) and BAE Systems ($9 million) among other companies.

The Ottawa-based Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade further notes that as of May 2017, the CPP had invested “$1.4 Billion in 41 of the World’s Top-100 War Industries.”

COAT coordinator Richard Sanders has commented, “The companies that are fuelling our pensions sell everything from warships, attack helicopters, and bomber warplanes, to the missiles, rockets, and bombs they wield.”

“They also churn out a bewildering array of deadly hardware, from ammunition, small arms and machine guns to tanks, troop carriers, and artillery howitzers.”

“And, lest we forget, these companies profit from the production of scores of the high-tech systems for everything from military communications and weapons guidance to mass surveillance and enemy targeting systems.”

The Divest from the War Machine coalition, that includes World Beyond War, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Nonviolent Peaceforce, Christian Peacemaker Teams, War Resisters League and CodePink, have produced this Divest List that includes Lockheed Martin and other arms manufacturers.

Peace Brigades International (PBI) was founded in 1981 to undertake the task of peace-keeping, peace-making and peace-building under the discipline of nonviolence. Waterloo, Ontario-based Project Ploughshares notes that the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima by the Martin-built B-29 Enola Gay bomber had a profound effect on Murray Thomson who co-founded PBI on Grindstone Island (on Algonquin territory in Ontario) in 1981.

PBI-Mexico provides remote accompaniment and monitoring during COVID-19 pandemic

By
Brent Patterson
-

On April 13, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project published and began circulating its April 2020 e-newsletter.

In it PBI-Mexico notes, “Like most of the organizations that we accompany in the country, we took strict confinement protection measures prior to the Mexican government decree of phase 2 of the pandemic and the declaration of a national health emergency.”

“Despite the distance, we maintain fluid communication with our accompanied organizations, as well as Mexican and international authorities, international organizations and bodies, and Mexican civil society.”

PBI-Mexico further affirms, “Faced with the possibility of a worsening human rights situation in the country, we will continue to provide remote accompaniment, permanent monitoring and analysis, and information to the international community and relevant authorities.”

The newsletter also notes the migrant rights advocacy tour that was to take place in Canada from March 14-19 but had to be postponed due to the pandemic.

That tour was to feature Javier Martinez from the Saltillo Migrant Shelter.

The Latin American Working Group interviewed Javier just prior to our planned tour and recently reported, “Javier expressed that all of the actions against the shelter and the migrants it helps are attempts to discredit and delegitimize their work. This pressure is not arbitrary or without cause; it is a direct result of the Trump Administration’s efforts to prevent migrants and asylum seekers from accessing the United States.”

At the same time, Canada has been looking at ways to “modernize” the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement to make it harder for migrants from Latin America transiting through Mexico and the United States to seek asylum in Canada.

For more about the work of PBI-Mexico, please see their website.

Mexican journalist Victor Fernando Alvarez killed, PBI-Mexico’s appeal for an improved protection mechanism for journalists

By
Brent Patterson
-

On April 11, Al Jazeera reported, “A Mexican journalist who disappeared more than a week ago in the southern state of Guerrero was found dead on Saturday, becoming the second journalist to be murdered this year in the country.”

“Forensic tests on human remains in the seaside resort of Acapulco were identified as belonging to Victor Fernando Alvarez, who disappeared on April 2.”

“Last month, reporter Maria Elena Ferral was shot dead by two assailants on motorbikes while she was getting into her car in the eastern state of Veracruz.”

That article also notes, “Mexico is notoriously dangerous for the press with more than 100 reporters murdered since 2000. …Last year, 10 journalists were murdered in Mexico, according to the Reporters Without Borders NGO.”

G1 and France Presse add, “Mexico occupies the 144th position (out of 180) in the 2019 world ranking on press freedom published by the organization Reporters Without Borders.”

The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has noted that a Protection Mechanism was created for journalists in Autumn 2010. Later, the Law for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists was signed into law in June 2012.

That law obliges both federal and state authorities to protect the rights of journalists and human rights defenders.

PBI-Mexico has commented that “the Mechanism continues to demonstrate notable deficiencies and concerning failures.”

PBI Communications Coordinator Hannah Matthews has also commented, “The Mechanism has yet to fully develop policies and practices capable of effectively protecting journalists and human rights defenders.”

She further notes, “The Mechanism can’t possibly address its shortcomings with its current budget and staffing levels. Providing additional funding would be the first step the Mexican government can take to ensure the Mechanism has the resources necessary to manage its rapidly growing caseload.”

For more, please see the report Turning the Tide on Impunity: Protection and Access to Justice for Journalists and Human Rights Defenders in Mexico that was produced by Peace Brigades International and WOLA in March 2019.

PBI-Guatemala posts about webinar with women human rights defenders that included Lolita Chávez from TZ’KAT

By
Brent Patterson
-

On April 11, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted on its Facebook page an IM-Defensoras media release about a virtual meeting of women human rights defenders that took place on Monday April 6.

Lolita Chávez of the TZ’KAT Network of Ancestral Healers of Community Feminism from Ixmulew took part in the webinar. PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the TZ’KAT network since February 2018.

The IM-Defensoras media release highlighted, “The webinar, called ‘Let’s talk about life: the defenders of the territory and common goods contribute knowledge and alternatives to the current crisis’ virtually brought together defenders based in Central America, South America, Mexico, the Spanish State and South Africa.”

“Lolita Chávez started the conversation by pointing out the importance of speaking, of not remaining silent. ‘We are peoples of love, we generate a lot of creativity … It is important that the cosmocimiento arise and communicate. We must say what we are doing in the territories, silences are convenient for the powers.’”

“And as Lolita says those European companies have not stopped, extractivism and water pollution continue. Women human rights defenders challenge western cultures to respect, listen and apprehend their knowledge to save lives, territories, affections, networks, wisdom.”

“In the words of the Mayan sisters: TZK’AT: what it is I take care of you and you take care of me, we take care of ourselves, healing you I heal, you support me and I support you, it is reciprocity but not only between humanity but with the Mother Land.”

“The meeting discussed the risk that the capitalist, racist and patriarchal response that is taking place to this crisis means for women and peoples and emphasized the urgency of the feminist, community organization, from and in the territories, to cope with the crisis.”

“The event was organized by the K’iche’s Peoples Council, Calala Women’s Fund, Píkara Magazine, the Basque Agency for Development Cooperation, the National Network of Human Rights Defenders in Honduras, the Honduran Black Fraternal Organization (Ofraneh), the IM-Defensoras and the Network of Honduran Migrants.”

To read the full media release, please click here. Information about the webinar, in which 369 people participated, is also posted here.

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