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PBI-Colombia accompanied journalist Claudia Julieta Duque listed as an urgent case by One Free Press Coalition

By
Brent Patterson
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On April 1, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project tweeted, “PBI-Colombia has accompanied journalist Claudia Julieta Duque since 2010. Today @OneFreePress [the One Free Press Coalition] includes her in the list of the 10 most urgent cases of threats against freedom of expression in the world.”

PBI-Colombia shared Claudia’s tweet that says, “Once again the One Free Press Coalition has included me in the list of the Ten Most Urgent Cases of Threats against freedom of expression in the world, this time for the existence of a criminal plan against me originated last February within the @UNPColombia [National Protection Unit].”

One Free Press notes, “Journalist fears for her life, amid government-orchestrated threats. After 19 years of persecution and legal censorship, award-winning journalist Claudia Julieta Duque told IWMF [the International Women’s Media Foundation] that she learned on February 29 about an ongoing criminal threat against her life.”

It adds, “According to Duque, agents of the state institution in charge of protecting human rights defenders and at-risk journalists, called the National Protection Unit (UNP), were reportedly ordered to carry out intelligence activities to infiltrate Duque’s security scheme and threaten her welfare.”

In June 2019, Time Magazine reported, “Lack of security and safety in Colombia for journalists has forced some to flee the country; two journalists fled after being harassed online by officials. Others, like local journalist Claudia Duque, have endured kidnapping, illegal surveillance, and psychological torture for decades.”

“Courts convicted three high-ranking security service officers for torturing Duque and put another eight on trial. As of January 2019, none has served a day in prison.”

In September 2019, Duque commented, “In Colombia, journalism is far from free and unobstructed. Here, the threats against journalists are constant. Three colleagues have been murdered since last December.”

On accompaniment by Peace Brigades International, Claudia has stated, “I feel very safe when I’m with PBI, they are like my guardian angels. I really feel that daily accompaniment enables me to keep doing my job, I feel much calmer.”

Please also see our article PBI-Colombia thanks Canadian Embassy for observation of hearing on psychological torture of journalist Claudia Julieta Duque (January 21, 2020).

#IWMFCourage #PressFreedom

PBI-Guatemala expresses concern about threats received by Olopa resistance to mine

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 30, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted, “We express our concern about various threats that the colleagues of the Olopa resistance shared with us in the last days in the face of the mining project Cantera Los Manantiales.”

A peaceful blockade of the mine site was established in February 2019 because of concerns that the mine violated the Indigenous right to free, prior and informed consent and that its operations were polluting local water sources.

Prensa Comunitaria has reported that the mine was “provisionally suspended” in late November 2019 by the Supreme Court of Justice because the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines had granted a 30-year mining licence to the company in 2015, without consultation with the Ch’orti‘ Indigenous communities of Olopa.

Nuevo Dia, which is accompanied by PBI-Guatemala, says that the mine “illegally extracts antimony, contaminating water, cutting down forests, causing strange diseases that especially affect children and removing tranquility, the peace and joy of the communities.”

And it notes, “Leaders and authorities have suffered criminalization, persecution, slander and defamation for opposing the company ‘Cantera Los Manantiales’.”

RIO Medios Independientes adds, “The direct concern is about the pollution of the Jupilingo River, as well as the appearance of skin diseases of children and elderly people.” The Belizean newspaper Amandala has reported that locals opposed to the mine say that it is also polluting the Zacapa River.

In November 2018, Telesur reported, “The Indigenous Maya Ch’orti’ environmental activist Elizandro Perez, who led a local resistance against a mining company in his community, was found dead Wednesday morning in his home.”

“Perez, 36, was head of the Indigenous Maya Ch’orti’ Council, a member of the Nuevo Dia [New Day] Central Indigenous Campesino Ch’orti’ organization, and one of the most visible faces of the legal battle against Cantera Los Manantiales, an antimony mine just 400 meters away from his house in Olopa, Chiquimula, eastern Guatemala.”

“He had received death threats since 2016, but these increased during November, so he decided to file a complaint at the Public Ministry. The community and the activist reported that the legal battle had intensified in the days leading up to Perez’s murder, and they held the company responsible for anything that happened to them.”

To watch a 5-minute video about the struggle against the mine, please click here.

PBI-Honduras marks the International Transgender Day of Visibility and encourages watching the PBI-UK film Somos

By
Brent Patterson
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On April 2, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted, “This past Tuesday [March 31] was the International Day of Trans Visibility, a group that is in a situation of extreme vulnerability in Honduras, with numerous attacks and attacks and without progress in accessing justice.”

PBI-Honduras adds, “With this documentary produced together with Peace Brigades International (UK) we want to recognize the work that human rights defenders of sexual diversity do every day. Listen to them!”

PBI-UK has noted, “SOMOS tells the story of Arcoiris, a group of LGBT+ human rights defenders in Honduras. In recent years the organisation has faced mounting attacks and threats following relentless public abuse and stigmatisation.”

“Prejudice from the police and judiciary means that these attacks go largely unpunished, making it one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be an LGBT+ human rights defender.”

“Our interviews reveal both the severity of the risks they face and their determination to further their struggle.”

“PBI has provided protective accompaniment to Arcoíris since 2015 and is committed to continuing our support for LGBTI+ communities in some of the most dangerous countries around the world.”

To watch the 18-minute film by Manu Valcarce that was released in January 2020 with English subtitles, please click here.

On March 19, the United Nations highlighted, “In many countries, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people face discrimination in accessing health care.”

“This discrimination can affect access to HIV testing and treatment as well as care for other chronic diseases that can make LGBT people particularly at risk of suffering serious illness or death as a result of COVID-19.”

“Governments should ensure that all healthcare services related to COVID-19 are provided without stigma and discrimination of any kind, including on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, and should make clear through public messaging campaigns that everyone has the right to access health care.”

Furthermore, Newsweek recently published an article titled The Unexpected Way the Coronavirus is Hurting Some Members of the Trans Community.

In the American context, that can include: disruptions to hormone replacement therapy (HRT), loss of inclusive health care benefits as a result of surging unemployment levels, an acute psychic burden for trans youth, and greater tension for youth living with their families who may be hostile to their identity.

#TDOV2020 #DíaDeLaVisibilidadTrans 

PBI-Mexico highlights Indigenous community of Ayutla’s lack of water during the COVID-19 pandemic

By
Brent Patterson
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Residents put this banner up on a main road when President Andrés Manuel López Obrador visited in January of this year. It says: “Welcome to the territory of San Pedro and San Pablo Ayutla Mixe, a community with 957 days without drinking water.”

On April 1, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project shared on its Facebook page a message from Codigo DH, a human rights group it accompanies.

Codigo DH notes, “The villagers of #AyutlaMixe this month turned more than a thousand days without water. …In these days of the health emergency we urge reconnection to facilitate preventive work in the face of the Covid-19 crisis and the season’s stretch.”

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 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.

Being able to wash your hands with clean water is an important tool is preventing the spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus.

PBI-Guatemala expresses concern for imprisoned human rights defenders now at heightened risk due to the coronavirus pandemic

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 31, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted, “Thinking about Bernardo Caal Xol from the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabon, Jorge Coc and Marcelino Xol Cucul of the CCDA and Agustín Ramírez and Timoteo Suchité de Rosa, indigenous authorities and members of Nuevo Dia, all defenders of the territory imprisoned.”

In its Facebook post, PBI-Guatemala highlights an article from La Hora.

That article reports:

“Adverse conditions of confinement for more than 25 thousand people deprived of liberty, in the 21 Guatemalan prisons constitute a focus of risk in the face of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, because, in a prison space, which should be destined for one person , there can be up to four; In addition, transfers continue and prison personnel constantly enter and leave prisons, coupled with water shortages and hygiene measures, according to an analysis by the Center for National Economic Research (CIEN).”

On March 25, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet issued this statement: “Now, more than ever, governments should release every person detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners and others detained simply for expressing critical or dissenting views.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross has also warned, “An outbreak of COVID-19 in prison could be devastating to the population there, especially an overcrowded prison where general health is already low.”

Furthermore, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders has previously stated, “The Observatory reiterates its concern about the deepening of the patterns of persecution and violence against people who defend human rights in Guatemala.”

Peace Brigades International-Canada joins with PBI-Guatemala in expressing our concern for criminalized human rights defenders who are now facing increased risks in prison due to the coronavirus pandemic.

PBI-Kenya celebrates Editar Ochieng’s commitment to the human right to water and sanitation during the COVID-19 pandemic

By
Brent Patterson
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On April 2, the Peace Brigades International-Kenya Project posted on its Facebook page, “This is Editar, a WHRD Toolkit Organizer.”

PBI-Kenya adds, “She is sensitizing the community on facts around COVID-19 and how to behave with regards to it. Editar is also involved in the distribution of water vessels and setting up hand washing points in Kibera. She is working together with the local administration and other actors to ensure that the COVID-19 virus does not spread.”

The Nairobi-based Daily Nation has previously reported, “[The Social Justice Centre Working Group] is calling on the government to direct its focus on Kenyans living in the slums as the country grapples with the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.”

“According to the organisation, densely populated informal settlements may be unable to observe the government’s guidelines ‘even if their lives depended on it’ owing to the structural challenges in the slums.”

“The rights group argues that while some Kenyans may work from home, for slum dwellers, a day away from work would mean no means to fend for their families.”

Among the measures the Social Justice Centre Working Group is seeking at this critical time is for “the government to restore water supply to all slums and to crack down on water cartels that extort Kenyans.”

The human right to water and sanitation – recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in July 2010 – is critical in addressing this pandemic. Editar’s work to distribute water vessels and set up hand-washing stations is very important.

The UN has noted, “Across low-income countries, women and girls have primary responsibility for management of household water supply, sanitation and health. Often, fulfilling these roles precludes any other occupation or participation in education, and their marginalization is compounded by the indignity and insecurity of having nowhere private to go to the toilet. Addressing the needs of females in relation to water, sanitation and hygiene is a key driver in achieving gender equity and locking the potential of half of global society.”

PBI-Kenya has previously highlighted, “As a proud and radical intersectional feminist, Editar doesn’t apologize for challenging power dynamics and patriarchal systems that oppresses women systematically.”

PBI-Canada joins PBI-Kenya in thanking Editar for her work.

PBI-Honduras highlights the human right to health during the coronavirus pandemic

By
Brent Patterson
-

On March 30, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted on their Facebook page, “During the coronavirus crisis we remember health is a fundamental human right of all human beings.”

PBI-Honduras adds, “[The human right to health] is related to other fundamental rights such as life, personal integrity, human dignity, adequate food, information, drinking water and adequate sanitation, among others.”

Their post also included an article by the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective which has been accompanied by PBI-Colombia since 1995.

On March 26, the Collective “launched the COVID19 and human rights booklet, which seeks to provide tools to understand and demand our rights in times of pandemic.”

The first chapter focuses on “the right to health that emphasizes the importance of public health understood as a human right to overcome this health emergency.”

The full article can be read at COVID19 and the right to health: Public health against the pandemic.

As of March 30, there have been 3 deaths and 139 cases of coronavirus in Honduras.

On March 27, Al Jazeera reported, “Honduras has one of the weakest healthcare systems in the world and is ill-prepared to confront an epidemic, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Global Health Security Index.”

“The country spends only about 8.5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare, much less than the regional average of 14 percent. Corruption in the healthcare system, including embezzlement of public funds and schemes to buy overpriced medicine and equipment, only worsens the problem.”

“Hospitals often lack medicine, bed space and basic supplies, a situation that spells disaster for a growing pandemic.”

The article also notes the concern expressed by Suyapa Figueroa, president of the Honduran Medical College, that the Honduran “government could manipulate this public health crisis into another attempt to privatise the healthcare system.”

The PBI-Honduras Project was established in 2013.

Our 2018 Annual Report notes, “Eight international volunteers accompanied members of six organisations and one individual HRD working on business and human rights, land rights, indigenous rights, freedom of expression, support to victims, women’s rights and LGBTI rights. Volunteers are based in Tegucigalpa.”

For more on the work of the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective, please visit their Facebook page and Twitter feed.

PBI-Kenya condemns police violence at Likoni Ferry Crossing hours before COVID-19 curfew

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 28, the Peace Brigades International-Kenya Project posted a statement by the Police Reforms Working Group that it and 19 other groups signed titled ‘Police must stop the use of excessive force while enforcing the curfew order’.

The statement says:

“Under the auspices of the Police Reforms Working Group, twenty national human rights organisations, collectively condemn the unnecessary and excessive use of force by Kenya Police Service officers yesterday at the Likoni Ferry Crossing, Mombasa.”

“We also condemn the assault of Nation Media Group Journalist Peter Wainaina by a uniformed police officer during the operation. We remind the Police that journalists and media houses are among the essential services exempted from the curfew order as per the Schedule published by the Ministry of Interior.”

“It is unbelievable that this violence took place two hours before the designated curfew time of 7:00 pm. It is essential that Kenyan law and international human [rights] standards are respected.”

“We further call upon the National Police Service Inspector General to restrain his officers from using teargas to avoid potential spread of COVID-19. Hundreds were forced to cough, vomit, spit and touch their faces to wipe away tears and unblock their mouths and noses.”

A separate statement by Kenya National Commission on Human Rights noted, “The gusto, attitude, and zeal in which the law enforcement officers were seen harassing and beating innocent members of the public; that included vulnerable persons like women, defeated the solemnity in which they need to handle the mitigating measures of spreading COVID 19. Equally critical actors such as journalists and other essential service providers like drivers of food supplies were not spared in this sheer brutality.”

For more on this, please see Police assault journalists as chaos rock Likoni crossing channel (The Star), Chaos rock Likoni ferry crossing (Daily Nation), Night Of Terror As Police Whip Kenyans On Day 1 Of State Curfew (Capital News) and Chaos in Mombasa as police beat up residents hours before curfew (Citizen Digital).

Image above from NTV Kenya video.

The full statement from the Police Reforms Working Group is below.

PBI-Colombia raises alarm about threats and the killing of human rights defenders during the coronavirus pandemic

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project is drawing attention to the situation of continued violence and threats against human rights defenders during the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting quarantine measures.

Marco Rivadeneira, Ángel Ovidio Quintero and Ivo Humberto Bracamonte killed

On March 24, PBI-Colombia shared an article from The Guardian titled Colombian death squads exploiting coronavirus lockdown to kill activists.

That article reported, “Marco Rivadeneira, a high-profile activist, was murdered in the southern Putumayo province, Ángel Ovidio Quintero was shot dead in the western Antioquia region, and Ivo Humberto Bracamonte was killed on the eastern border with Venezuela.”

Those deaths happened in cities where quarantines were already in place and the article noted, “Activists fear that a nationwide quarantine – to be imposed on Wednesday [March 25] – has put them in a deadly bind. Moving around puts them at risk of infection, but staying in one place makes them sitting targets.”

Carlota Isabel Salinas Pérez killed

On March 25, PBI-Colombia posted, “La Organización Femenina Popular (OFP) demands justice for the femicide last night of social leader Carlota Isabel Salinas Pérez, member of the organisation’s support team in the San Pabo municipality, Bolivar. We express our deep concern in light of this assassination and send our solidarity to her family.”

La Voz reports, “The social leader Carlota Isabel Salinas, defender of women’s rights in the context of the armed conflict in Colombia, was murdered in a town in the northern department of Bolívar. The crime occurred on Tuesday [March 24] in the municipality of San Pablo, when armed men broke into her home and forced her to leave and after making her walk several meters, shot her dead, said Gloria Amparo Suárez, a lawyer for the OFP.”

That article adds, “In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, Salinas had dedicated herself to bringing food to the most vulnerable families in the urban area of ​​San Pablo.”

Indigenous community of Nuevo Cañaveral threatened

Then PBI-Colombia expressed concern about a report by the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP), which it has accompanied since 1994.

On March 25, the CIJP posted, “Today, the indigenous community of Nuevo Cañaveral refused to attend the summons of an AGC meeting in Pisingos. Because of this decision, the indigenous community fears armed retaliation by the AGC against the three leaders who threatened a few hours ago or other members of the Resguardo.”

Colombia Reports has explained, “The ‘Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia’ (AGC), a.k.a. ‘Gulf Clan’, is Colombia’s most powerful paramilitary group that allegedly controls most of the country’s drug trade.”

Assassination plan against Jani Silva

And on March 26, PBI-Colombia tweeted, “CIJP has been informed of an assassination plan against female social leader Jani Silva from Putumayo. We call for protection guarantees for social leaders in the light of the high risk situations and threats they are facing.”

Attack on Jhon Restrepo

Furthermore, Caribe Afirmativo has reported, “In the last hours of [March 25], while the Humanitarian House of Comuna 8 in Medellín was closing humanitarian aid activities, the activist and leader of the LGBTI movement, Jhon Restrepo, was attacked by three men with sharp weapons, allegedly members of an armed group outside the law, who stabbed him multiple times, trying to assassinate him and leaving him with serious injuries to his body.”

That article notes, “Restrepo, who is a gay man, had been working inside said Casa Diversa headquarters throughout the day preparing humanitarian aid for people in the community who would be affected socioeconomically by the current social isolation the country is experiencing due to of COVID-19.”

Peace Brigades International will continue to take all measures possible and raise concerns about attacks made against human rights defenders. As some social organizations have commented, there is no quarantine on the murder of social leaders.

Top photo: Jani Silva

Canadian PBI volunteer Javier Ignacio Hoyos, Jani Silva, Carlos Fernández (CIJP) and Sandra Lagos (La Perla Amazónica Campesino Reserva Zone – ZRCPA).

PBI-Guatemala expresses concern for criminalized land defenders in jail at risk due to COVID-19

By
Brent Patterson
-

On March 25, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted on its Facebook page, “Thinking of Bernardo Caal Xol of the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón, Jorge Coc and Marcelino Xol Cucul of the CCDA [Campesino Committee of the Highlands] and Agustírez and Timoteo Suchité de Rosa, indigenous authorities and members of Nuevo Dia, all criminalized defenders of the territory.”

This week, in light of the coronavirus pandemic and the increased vulnerability of those in prison, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet issued this statement: “Now, more than ever, governments should release every person detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners and others detained simply for expressing critical or dissenting views.”

Earlier this month, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned, “An outbreak of COVID-19 in prison could be devastating to the population there, especially an overcrowded prison where general health is already low.”

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders  has previously stated, “The Observatory reiterates its concern about the deepening of the patterns of persecution and violence against people who defend human rights in Guatemala.”

The Observatory adds, “According to UDEFEGUA [Unit for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Guatemala] data, in 2018 there were 391 attacks against defenders, including 26 murders and 147 cases of criminalization.”

The Inter‑American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has defined criminalization as the “the misuse of criminal law by State and non-State actors with the aim [to] not only interferes with their work in defending and promoting human rights, but also affects the leading role they have in the consolidation of democracy and the rule of law.”

You can click on the following hyperlinks to learn more about PBI-Guatemala accompaniment of defenders Bernardo Caal Xol, Jorge Coc and Marcelino Xol Cucul, and Agustín Ramírez and Timoteo Suchité.

PBI first operated a project in Guatemala from 1983-1999, which closed following the Peace Accords. The current project opened in 2003.

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