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PBI-Guatemala accompanies BDH at aggravated usurpation hearing for La Cumbre community members

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 13, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted on its Facebook page, “On Tuesday [March 10] we accompanied BDH in the case of La Cumbre at the court of first instance in Cobán. Three community members are accused of aggravated usurpation of the lands where they live.”

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples has explained that the charge of aggravated usurpation is commonly brought against Indigenous land defenders criminalized as trespassers on their own lands.

The PBI-Guatemala post adds, “One of the defense witnesses explained that from generations ago they lived the land as settlers worked. Three more witness statements will be taken on March 20 at 14:30 p.m.”

The Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence (BTS) Network has previously reported on the eviction at La Cumbre, Tactic, Alta Verapaz that took place on November 1, 2017 that displaced 25 families from their homes.

BTS notes, “Women reported sexual violence during the eviction. The community was associated with the Peasant Unity Committee (CUC) and had previously labored on a plantation owned by the Morales Cahuec family. During the eviction, current workers of the plantation were involved in destroying homes.”

The Guatemala Solidarity Project further explains, “These are families who were forced to live and work on plantations for generations without receiving any pay.”

“Because of changes in the international economy, ‘landowners’ often no longer need the indigenous labor and are using extreme violence to evict these communities and then extract natural resources from the land.”

Land distribution in Guatemala continues to be deeply unequal with the largest 2.5 per cent of farms currently occupying more than 65 per cent of the land while 90 per cent of the farms are on only one-sixth of the agricultural land in the country.

Indigenous and peasant farmers were dispossessed of their land in the 18th century through colonization that drove Indigenous and peasant farmers to the less fertile highlands. The 2002 census estimates that 45 per cent of Guatemala’s population is indigenous, but the figure may be closer to 60 per cent.

BDH is a group of lawyers who represent those whose human rights have been violated. It has been accompanied by PBI-Guatemala since 2013.

PBI-Canada migrant rights tour postponed, coronavirus impact on migrants remain a key concern

By
Brent Patterson
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Given necessary public health precautions, Peace Brigades International-Canada has postponed its advocacy tour to Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal with Javier Martinez of the Casa del Migrante Saltillo and Lena Weber from PBI-Mexico.

The tour was set to focus on the human rights situation of migrants transiting through Mexico and the impact on their lives of policies such as the Migrant Protection Protocols/Remain in Mexico and the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement.

The Saltillo Migrant Shelter, situated near the Coahuila/Texas border, provides a range of services to more than 12,000 migrants a year.

Related to this, CNN reported this week, “The Supreme Court said on Wednesday [March 11] that the controversial Trump administration ‘Remain in Mexico’ asylum policy can stay in effect while legal challenges play out.”

That article adds, “The policy, officially known as Migrant Protection Protocols, mandates that non-Mexican asylum return to Mexico as they await hearings in the United States. It has resulted in the creation of makeshift camps where hundreds of migrants have waited for weeks, if not months, in squalid and unsafe conditions. In some cases, migrant families have opted to send children across the US-Mexico border alone.”

Now Al Jazeera reports, “Doctors working at a makeshift migrant and refugee encampment along the US-Mexico border are treating the potential arrival of the novel coronavirus, now declared a worldwide pandemic, as a certainty, not a possibility.”

“A doctor at the camp in Matamoros, Mexico, said when COVID-19 arrives here, it will be ‘catastrophic’, and people will die. About 2,500 migrants and asylum seekers live in the encampment, which consists of thousands of tents.”

Matamoros is located about 400 kilometres east of Saltillo.

That article adds, “For serious medical emergencies, the [encampment] clinic [a cluster of temporary buildings and a trailer arranged around a carpeted open-air waiting area] refers patients to local hospitals. But Sam Bishop [the project coordinator for the group that runs the camp clinic] said many fear to Matamoros hospitals because there is a lot of discrimination against asylum seekers.”

Given the significant and ongoing concerns about migrant rights and the need for PBI-Mexico to accompany the Saltillo Migrant Shelter, the advocacy tour in Canada will be rescheduled as soon as possible (hopefully in the fall).

The Canadian government is looking to “modernize” the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement, which currently prevents many migrants from applying for asylum after being in the US, so that it would also bar those who enter by land between official crossing points. That could have the impact of further swelling the camps on the US/Mexico border and worsening the living conditions for migrants.

Photo by Acacia Coronado/Texas Observer.

Postponed: PBI-Canada to host visit by Saltillo Migrant Shelter lawyer and PBI-Mexico advocacy coordinator

By
Brent Patterson
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Due to the current public health emergency related to coronavirus, we have opted to postpone this speaking tour. For more on our reasoning and concerns, please click here.

Peace Brigades International-Canada will be hosting Javier Martinez Hernandez, the legal coordinator for the Saltillo Migrant Shelter in Coahuila, Mexico, and Lena Weber, the advocacy coordinator for the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project for meetings in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal on March 14-18.

Those meetings will include discussions with:

– the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC), the largest coalition in this country of self-organized groups of migrant workers;

– the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), a union that represents 200,000 workers with a strong commitment to human rights and international solidarity;

– Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC);

– Solidarity Across Borders, a migrant justice network based in Montreal who engage in popular education, support work and political mobilizations;

– Paul Manly, the Member of Parliament for Ladysmith-Nanaimo and the Green Party caucus critic for Citizenship and Immigration;

– Mitchell J. Goldberg, the co-founder of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL) and a former PBI-Guatemala field volunteer.

These meetings will happen in the context of the Canadian government’s announcement to “modernize” the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement.

The American Civil Liberties Union has commented, “Currently, Canada prevents many immigrants from applying for asylum after being in the U.S., but an expanded agreement would bar those who enter by land between official crossing points.”

Related to this, CNN reported this week, “The Supreme Court said on Wednesday [March 11] that the controversial Trump administration ‘Remain in Mexico’ asylum policy can stay in effect while legal challenges play out.”

That article adds, “The policy, officially known as Migrant Protection Protocols, mandates that non-Mexican asylum return to Mexico as they await hearings in the United States. It has resulted in the creation of makeshift camps where hundreds of migrants have waited for weeks, if not months, in squalid and unsafe conditions. In some cases, migrant families have opted to send children across the US-Mexico border alone.”

The support provided by donors to PBI-Canada helped to enable this tour that will focus on the issues of migrant rights, Canadian border policies, the causes of displacement (that can include trade agreements and climate change), the risks faced by human rights defenders who support migrants, and collective human rights obligations.

Peace Brigades International has provided protective accompaniment to the staff at the Casa del Migrante Saltillo since 2014.

We will provide updates on this tour via social media and in next week’s e-newsletter.

PBI-Honduras seeks field volunteers! Deadline to apply is April 15!

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has posted that it is looking for field volunteers to join their team in Honduras.

In 2018, eight international volunteers accompanied members of six organizations and one individual human rights defender 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.

PBI-Honduras notes, “To begin the formation and selection process you must comply with the requirements, complete the general application and request that two references (from the NGO sector, academic field, work experience, or acquaintances in your life), complete the reference form and send the document to formacion@pbi-honduras.org before April 15th, 2020.”

Among the key requirements:

– Fluent Spanish: spoken, written and reading

– Commitment to at least 12 months of field work

– Commitment to work following the principles of nonviolence, non interference and non partisanship.

– Availability to work in a horizontal structure where decisions are made through consensus.

– Experience working and living in groups especially in stressful situations.

PBI-Honduras also notes, “We cover the following costs: round trio ticket to Honduras, accommodation and medical insurance. Economic support of approximately $220 USD per month for personal costs and repatriation once you have finished your contract.”

The next training week will be held in Valladolid, Spain in September 2020.

All of the information you need to apply can be found on the PBI-Honduras website here.

PBI-Guatemala seeks volunteers! Deadline to apply is May 6!

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has posted, “The next process of training and selection of volunteers is starting!”

“The deadline to receive applications will be May 6th of 2020. The training week will be realized in Belgium in the week of September 6th to 12th of 2020. You are welcome to send us your application and reference forms from now on.”

Some of the key requirements to be a volunteer include:

-A good level of Spanish – spoken, written and reading.

-Ability to commit to a minimum of 12 months’ work in the field.

-Ability to work within the principles of non-partisanship, non-violence, and non-interference.

-Ability to work in a horizontal structure based on consensus making decisions.

PBI-Guatemala also notes, “The following expenses are covered: return flights, room, board and medical insurance. Volunteers also receive economic support of $175 monthly for personal expenses, and a repatriation grant when they have completed their service.”

Peace Brigades International accompanies 10 organizations in Guatemala with 10 international volunteers based in Guatemala City.

All the information needed to apply is available in English and in Spanish.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies law firm representing Maya Q’eqchi’ land defender at hearing on “aggravated usurpation”

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 12, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted, “On Tuesday we accompanied the BDH in the judicial process in which the ancestral authority Samuel Choc of the community Las Mercedes, Chisec is located.”

PBI-Guatemala adds, “Samuel Choc is accused of aggravated usurpation and instigation to crime by African palm company Tecnoservisios Agri-food S. A.”

On September 5, 2019, Prensa Comunitaria reported, “Choc Ac, a Maya Q’eqchi’ originally from the community of Las Mercedes, was denounced by the palm oil producing company, Tecniservicios Agroindustriales SA, through its legal representative Luis Fernando Oliva Oliva, and charged with the crime of aggravated usurpation on October 29, 2018.”

“As stated in the complaint, Choc Ac along with other families settled on land that is claimed as the property of the palm oil production company.”

After seven months of preventive detention, Judge Úrsula Teyul ordered that Choc Ac be released from prison.

The Prensa Comunitaria article continues, “Samuel Choc denounced having been criminalized and imprisoned for not wanting to give up his land and for promoting, together with the community, the defence of the land.”

Choc Ac says, “My parents, grandparents and families in the community have lived for several generations in that place. We are a family of farmers, merchants and fishermen on the Chiribiscal, Quimala, San Román and Negro rivers, which are being contaminated by palm planting waste these days. They have caused serious damage, many fish have died and many people have sprouted skin diseases, the pestilence of waste has increased and caused the increase in flies.”

The article also notes, “The crime of aggravated usurpation is one of the ways that oil palm companies use to criminalize the peasant population living in the northern transverse strip (FTN).”

“The community demands the withdrawal of the palm company as they are responsible for the pollution of the rivers and for promoting social conflicts. The communities reject that the authorities are defending business interests and do not take care of the waste produced by monoculture of African palm. They demand that those responsible for the death of the fish be prosecuted and this irreparable damage in impunity remains.”

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, has stated in a report to the UN Human Rights Council that the “crime of aggravated usurpation is commonly brought against indigenous land rights defenders.”

PBI-Guatemala has previously posted, “Indigenous leaders and leaders continue to be criminalized in [the department/province of] Alta Verapaz. We reaffirm that defending rights is not a crime.”

The Human Rights Law Firm (BDH), a group of lawyers who represent those who have had their human rights violated, has been accompanied by PBI-Guatemala since 2013.

The next court hearing for Samuel Choc will be on March 26.

Nepal Monitor provides two-day digital security training to human rights organizations

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 10, Nepal Monitor posted on its Facebook page that it had “conducted a two-day digital security training on the 26th and 27th of February to professionals working/involved in different human rights organizations.”

Peace Brigades International supports NepalMonitor.org, a Collective Campaign for Peace (COCAP) protection and conflict prevention initiative. COCAP is a Kathmandu-based national network of 43 peace and human rights non-governmental organizations.

As readers will know, Nepal is a country with a population of about 30 million people in South Asia bordered by China to the north and India to the south.

Peace Brigades International provided accompaniment to human rights defenders in Nepal from 2006 to 2013. That was in the immediate aftermath of the 1996-2006 Nepalese Civil War (also known as the Maoist Insurgency) in which the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) overthrew the Nepalese monarchy.

At that time, PBI developed the Nepal Monitor.

Peace Brigades International has previously noted, “Both the Maoist insurgents and government forces committed human rights and humanitarian law violations including extrajudicial execution, torture, displacement, arbitrary arrests and detention. None of those responsible have yet been held to account.”

PBI’s current work in Nepal, as noted in our 2018 Annual Review, highlights, “Two international and five Nepali staff members based in Kathmandu coordinate the Nepal Monitor, an initiative established to provide protection and to prevent conflict by mapping security incidents and human rights violations in the country.”

PBI-Kenya shares the story of its collaborative work in the ‘Every Voice Matters’ report

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 10, the Peace Brigades International-Kenya Project posted, “In February, we launched ‘Every Voice Matters’, a publication by the Ushirikiano mwema kwa Usalama (UMKU, Better relationships for Safety/ Security) project.”

One of the chapters in the report is a contribution by PBI-Kenya, which notes:

“In early 2017, PBI Kenya invited three of the organisations we’d been working with, and known in various ways beforehand, to come together in order to develop a joint project proposal to tackle the normalisation of extrajudicial killings in Nairobi’s settlements and help improve relationships between human rights defenders, community members and police. At this point, PBI Kenya had already been working closely with Mathare Social Justice Centre (MSJC) for several years going back to when they were a couple of Mathare-based activists just starting to formalize their social justice work to become the first justice centre.

When the four partnering organisations sat down for the first time to develop a joint proposal, little did we know about the amazing journey we were about to embark. PBI Kenya’s vision was to create a project that would combine the strength and determination of two grassroots organisations with strong community support and two international organisations with valuable networks in Kenya and abroad. Having known what each part was capable of on their own, PBI Kenya believed that by bringing together our unique approaches and expertise what we could achieve together would be so much more than what any of us could on our own.

From the concept note stage to the start of the project more than a year later in April 2018, trust and relationship building was key in order to ensure the success of this unique project. As a non-hierarchical, consensus-based organisation PBI strongly believed that collective and inclusive decision making would yield impressive results, given the different perspective and organisational cultures of each organisation. We also knew this process wouldn’t always be easy, but the results are surely worth the effort. Three years later, as we embark towards the closure of this project, we feel privileged to have been part of an incredibly rewarding project, while the topic of the work is distressing we have still managed to foster new forms of learning, new insights, new partnerships and more importantly new friendships.

Our consortium of four was a mirror reflection of a larger movement occurring in Kenya. Over the duration of the UMKU project social justice centres began popping up, growing from just one into an entire movement with thirty across the country today, and still growing! At the time we set out to develop this project in the summer of 2017, MSJC was the only social justice centre. With the establishment of the Dandora Community Justice Centre (DCJC) in late 2017/ early 2018, we decided to bring them into the project to support MSJC in case documentation. Since then, the social justice centre movement has gained local, national and international recognition and legitimacy as established (I)NGOs and the International Community now turn to the centres for first-hand information on cases and trend analysis on extrajudicial executions (EJEs). Having contributed to this growth makes us extremely proud!

Apart from PBI Kenya’s role as bridge builder, our contribution has been mainly in the areas of capacity development for human rights monitors and project staff in the areas of documentation, security management, networking and advocacy. While not envisioned in the first place, it soon became clear that psychosocial support for the human rights monitors and justice centre activists at the forefront of documentation was absolutely key. The darkest moment of the UMKU project was when we learned of the death of Carol Mwatha, a founding member of Dandora Community Justice Centre (DCJC) and human rights monitor for the UMKU project who had disappeared in early February 2018. This sent shock waves through the whole human rights community and deeply affected the morale of grassroots activists. In order to help the justice centre activists to come to terms with the loss, while at the same time developing a support system that would help them continue with the work, PBI Kenya and other NGOs carried out a number of psychosocial support workshops throughout 2018 and have incorporated this into our work since.

For the UMKU project, PBI Kenya organised two highly successful speaker tours, the first in 2018 and the second in 2019 during which we managed to have a total of 50 advocacy and networking meetings with relevant stakeholders from the international community. Having enabled grassroots defenders from MSJC and Ghetto Foundation to travel to Europe to directly engage with government, EU and UN representatives in Berlin, Brussels, London and Geneva (including this year’s UPR pre-session on Kenya), was a powerful way to considerably contribute to their increasing of their protection networks. This three-year journey has been gratifying for us at PBI Kenya, having played a role in not only shedding light on the struggles and afflictions caused by EJEs in Nairobi’s settlements in hopes of bringing about positive change, but also in revealing the dedication, resilience and strength within the settlements taking on the form of justice centres, like our two partners Ghetto Foundation and MSJC.”

The two-year UMKU project, that was being implemented by Peace Brigades International, Saferworld, Mathare Social Justice Centre and Ghetto Foundation, is set to close this month.

The full 28-page report can be read here.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies TZ’KAT Network of Ancestral Healers on a tour of Q’eqchi’ communities

By
Brent Patterson
-

On March 11, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted, “Between February 28 and March 4 we accompanied TZ’KAT Network of Ancestral Healers on a tour of Q’eqchi’ communities in [the departments of] Alta Verapaz and Izabal.”

PBI-Guatemala adds, “From activities of harmonization and recognition of ancestral knowledge, the participants exchanged on good governance practices to achieve balance and inclusion in the communities.”

PBI-Guatemala has previously explained, “The organisation was formed by 10 women human rights defenders in October 2015. Many members are part of other organizations and movements in defence of the territory, the rights of indigenous peoples and women.”

“These women defenders have a history of being politically persecuted, suffering stigmatization, death threats, territorial political displacement and criminalization as a result of their work in defence of these rights. Likewise, all of them have experiences of ancestral healing processes and in indigenous communities they work as healers, midwives, herbalists, etc.”

For more please see PBI-Guatemala shares articles about Lorena Cabnal on territorial defence, ancestral memory and healing.

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the TZ’KAT Network since February 2018.

PBI-Honduras visits ASODEBICOQ in Santa Bárbara and learns about actions taken in defence of land, water and territory

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 9, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted, “Last February we were in the department of Santa Barbara as part of our internal tour to follow up on the activities of our company accompanied by ASODEBICOQ (Association for the Defense of Common Goods of Quimistan).”

PBI-Honduras adds, “There we were able to visit different communities and learn more about the actions they carry out in defense of the land, water and territory and human rights.”

Quimistán is a municipality in the department of Santa Bárbara.

In February 2019, Radio Progreso reported that the department of Santa Bárbara is “threatened by more than 15 hydroelectric projects and 23 concessions for mining.”

That same article notes, “In the municipality of Quimistán, there is an imminent danger from the installation of the Santa Lucia hydroelectric dam, which is advanced by 90%. And, despite the fact that there is a strong rejection by the population, they currently intend to build a second hydroelectric dam also on the Cuyagual River.”

ASODEBICOQ is opposed to the construction of the Santa Lucia I and Santa Lucia II dams. It has called on the Government of Honduras to stop construction of the dams because the project violates the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, an International Labour Organization Convention, also known as ILO-convention 169.

PBI-Honduras has accompanied ASODEBICOQ since May 2018.

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