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PBI-Guatemala 5-minute video tells the story of Indigenous campesino resistance to the Cantera Los Manantiales mine in Olopa

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 6, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted on their Facebook page, “Last week the Olopa Resistance celebrated its first anniversary of the installation of a sit-in on the road to the mine.”

PBI-Guatemala continues, “This short video tells about the struggle of the Peaceful Resistance of Olopa, accompanied by Nuevo Dia, against the mining project that started its activities in their territory without a prior, free and informed consultation.”

In the video, Francisco Ramirez says:

“Members of Peace Brigades International (PBI) have provided us with plenty of support particularly with security workshops. I feel fortified by their support. They constantly call me, even at 1 AM. ‘Francisco, where are you? Are you at the blockade? On the road? At home?’ They are monitoring my wellbeing. So yes, they have been a great help.”

To watch the video on Facebook click here, to see it on Vimeo click here.

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied Nuevo Dia since 2009.

On February 26, 2020, PBI-Guatemala accompanied Nuevo Dia at the celebration of the first anniversary of peaceful resistance and installation of a blockade of the ‘Cantera Los Manantiales’ mine in Olopa.

Concerns raised about Canadian oil company’s contract with Colombian army following community protests against its operations

By
Brent Patterson
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Frontera Energy is a Toronto-based oil company that has operations near the community of San Luis de Palenque, which is located about 450 kilometres north-east of Bogota.

El Espectador has reported that Frontera operates 106 oil wells in the area. The company’s Cubiro Block reportedly produces on average 3,600 barrels of oil per day.

Michel Forst, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, has noted (on page 9, points 29 and 30), “Social protests [took place] between 2016 and 2018 in response to the failure of Canadian public company Frontera Energy to fulfil its obligation to compensate communities affected by environmental damage and to repair damaged roads.”

More specifically, the community had demanded that Frontera “invest an environmental compensation for the value of 1% of its investment for the collection of water that is carried out for the oil activity; repair of the roads that have deteriorated due to the constant passage of heavy vehicles; and the payment of the debts acquired by Frontera Energy during the last years with more than 80 people from the community who provided their transportation, food and lodging services.”

Prensa Libre has reported that Frontera Energy viewed these demands as “excessive”.

Forst highlights, “In November 2018, Frontera Energy signed two agreements with the Ministry of Defence for a total of US$1,343,106 to secure army protection for its activities.”

Franklin Castañeda of the Committee in Solidarity of Political Prisoners (CSPP) says, “A few days after signing the first contract worth more than $1 million, a representative of this company filed charges and testified against the leaders of the protests.”

El Espectador further reports, “On November 27, 2018, at 2:45 in the morning, an operation of 200 men, between members of the Police and the National Army, who landed in two helicopters, captured them in San Luis de Palenque.”

Forst notes that on December 4, 2018, the army and the police accused the aforementioned leaders of being members of an illegal armed group.

The community leaders face the criminal charges of conspiracy to commit a crime, assault, attempted homicide of an officer and blocking public roads.

Three of the community leaders remain in prison and five are under house arrest while they await their trial more than 15 months after their arrest.

In September 2019, the CSPP and the Social Corporation for Community Counseling and Training (COSPACC) told the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Geneva, Switzerland “how Frontera Energy has influenced the investigation process against the social leaders who protested against it.”

With respect to the agreements with the Ministry of Defence, Frontera Energy has commented, “These agreements are recognized by the Constitutional Court to provide support in the security and protection of private activities, as they are activities of general interest and of public utility.”

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has accompanied the Committee of Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP) since 1998 and the Social Corporation for Community Counseling and Training (COSPACC) since 2009.

This is a photo of a November 12, 2018 protest in San Luis de Palenque against Frontera Energy, about two weeks prior to the arrest of community leaders, published by the newspaper Las Chivas.

PBI advocacy tour with Casa del Migrante lawyer visits the United States and Canada

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 4, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted, “Today we started an advocacy tour accompanying Casa del Migrante Saltillo in meetings with the legal teams of two organizations supporting migrants and refugees in San Antonio, Texas.”

PBI-Mexico adds, “During the tour we will visit six cities in the United States and Canada, meeting with authorities and civil society organizations to exchange on migration policy and the challenges faced by migrants and defenders of migrants, the work of Casa Del Migrante Saltillo and to strengthen support networks.”

Javier Martínez Hernández, the legal coordinator of the Saltillo Migrant Shelter, and Lena Weber, the PBI-Mexico advocacy coordinator, will visit Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal from Saturday March 14 to Thursday March 19.

While in Canada they will meet with civil society allies, academics, government officials, and Member of Parliament.

To read more about the Casa del Migrante Saltillo, please see this PBI-Mexico webpage.

For a further backgrounder on this tour, please see PBI-Canada to host visit of Saltillo Migrant Shelter legal coordinator Javier Martínez, March 14-19.

Canada responds to report by UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 4, Michel Forst, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, addressed the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

To see his 12-minute speech, please click here.

From 4:32 to 8:09, Forst commented on his visit to Colombia in 2018. He highlighted three main trends: the high number of human rights defenders killed, the high level of impunity for the perpetrators, and the criminalization of defenders.

Forst’s full report on Colombia can be read here.

The El Espectador news report on Forst’s presentation can be read here.

In response to Forst’s presentation, Magda Lakhani, the Second Secretary (Human Rights) at Canada’s Permanent Mission to the World Trade Organization, the United Nations and the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, commented:

“Madame President, Canada thanks the Special Rapporteur for this essential report at a time when many countries are experiencing an upsurge in violence and post-conflict challenges.

Human rights defenders are critical precisely at moments when societies are in crisis and in transition. We would like to recognize their essential role in mitigating conflict, advocating for victims, rebuilding accountable institutions, supporting transitional justice, and expanding safe space.

We are committed to supporting women’s leadership in peace building and post-conflict governance processes that promote gender equality.

We would like to reinforce the Special Rapporteurs’ statement on the States responsibility to protect defenders who undertake legitimate actions to protect human rights. States are increasingly using emergency legislation and measures that can curtail public freedom and can be in violation of international human rights law.

Often in situations of armed conflict there is the criminalization of those questioning state authorities. Human rights defenders must be able to exercise their human rights and fundamental freedoms and voice their opposition to state actions.

Canada will continue to support the creation of safe and inclusive spaces for human rights defenders and as affirmed in our guidelines to missions, Voices at Risk, with consideration to specific challenges facing women human rights defenders.

We have two questions for Mr. Forst:

  1. What can be done to further support women human rights defenders in online spaces to protect against digital attacks?
  2. How can we facilitate state cooperation to set up protection mechanisms accessible to defenders and peace builders operating in conflict and post-conflict areas?

Her 2-minute intervention can also be seen here starting at the 33:53 mark.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies BDH lawyers at La Cumbre land usurpation hearing

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 4, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted, “Yesterday we accompanied the BDH lawyers to the hearing of the La Cumbre case, Tactic. Three community members suffer a criminalization process being accused of aggravated usurpation in the context of eviction from their community in 2017.”

PBI-Guatemala adds, “At the hearing the last witness of the complainant was heard. The next hearing will be March 10 to hear the defense witnesses.”

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 community had been participating in a dialogue table with the Secretary of Agrarian Affairs to recognize their right as legitimate owners of the land.”

The Guatemala Solidarity Project further explains, “The eviction was blatantly illegal for a number of reasons, including that there was no advance notice through the Human Rights office and that it was carried out on a holiday which is against the law.  After 45 minutes the Army commenced burning down houses, all the while forcefully questioning people as to the whereabouts of community leaders with fraudulent arrest warrants who had fled into the mountains to avoid arrest.”

“La Cumbre, like many other communities facing violence that we work with, is a village of former ‘mozos colonos’.  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.”

Furthermore, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, has stated the “crime of aggravated usurpation is commonly brought against indigenous land rights defenders.”

She highlights, “Disregard of indigenous rights of traditional lands ownership breeds tensions, subsequent violence and criminalization, as indigenous peoples become trespassers or illegal occupants of their own lands, subject to criminal charges such as ‘usurpation’ or illegal occupation, and liable to forced evictions and removal from the lands they rely upon for their livelihoods, social and cultural cohesion and spiritual traditions.”

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.

PBI often attends court hearings involving criminalized human rights defenders. Sue Willman, a partner at UK-based Deighton Pierce Glynn, has commented, “International trial observation is a vital tool where the rule of law is fragile and a presence might just make a difference.”

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-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-Honduras accompanies CNTC at trial of ‘Fuerzas Unidas’ members for land usurpation

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 2, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted on its Facebook page, “On February 24, we witnessed the second session of the oral and public trial against two members of the Campesino Fuerzas Unidas for the crime of land usurpation. We accompanied to this hearing the CNTC (the National Union of Rural Workers), which works for the right of access to land.”

Land ownership in Honduras

USAID has noted, “Approximately 70% of farmers [in Honduras] hold 10% of the land in minifundios [small holdings], while 1% of farmers hold 25% of the land in private latifundios [large estates]. Minifundistas have very limited access to land, while an additional 300,000 people are landless or very land poor.”

Usurpation

USAID has also noted, “Ambiguity of ownership challenges land tenure security in Honduras. Approximately 80% of the privately held land in the country is untitled or improperly titled. As of 2005, only 14% of Hondurans occupied properties legally. The remaining 86% held property outside the scope of the law.”

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, has provided this definition of usurpation:

“Disregard of indigenous rights of traditional lands ownership breeds tensions, subsequent violence and criminalization, as indigenous peoples become trespassers or illegal occupants of their own lands, subject to criminal charges such as ‘usurpation’ or illegal occupation, and liable to forced evictions and removal from the lands they rely upon for their livelihoods, social and cultural cohesion and spiritual traditions.”

Fuerzas Unidas

Via Campesina has previously noted, “We condemn the criminalization campaign against the peasant families of the Campesino Production Associative Company ‘Fuerza United’, of the community of Ocotes Altos, located in the municipality of Trujillo, which is struggling to recover the land that for years the Livestock Fund has been abandoned.”

Via Campesina has also previously explained, “The peasant group United Forces Movement [is] characterized by its hard work and permanent struggle of all and all its members its main leader is the companion Enma Fúnez a woman fighter and with a lot of conviction that has she held important positions on the national board of directors of the National Central of Field Workers CNTC of which this Peasant Movement is a member.”

The CNTC

PBI-Honduras has noted, “The CNTC, created in 1985, is a small-scale farming and trade union organisation, which fights for the distribution of land. It is affiliated to the Unitary Confederation of Honduran Workers and is part of the Vía Campesina.”

“Its aim is to support affiliated small-scale farming families so that they have access to land and resources and can carry out productive agricultural, fishing, forestry and agro-industrial activities, contributing to their social and economic development.”

PBI-Honduras has accompanied the CNTC since May 2018.

PBI-United Kingdom organizes photo exhibit on women human rights defenders for March 8, International Women’s Day

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 2, Peace Brigades International-United Kingdom tweeted, “Celebrate #InternationalWomensDay2020 by learning about some of the inspiring women we work with!”

The event page for an IWD event in Lewes (about 90 kilometres south of London) highlights, “Photographs of Women Human Rights Defenders, from Lawyers to Indigenous Grassroots Organisers, on loan to us from Peace Brigades International, will be on display throughout the day with their accompanying stories and we have an exclusive showing of a short film directed by Manu Valcarce.”

PBI-UK notes, “This exhibition presents portraits of six women human rights defenders from three countries in Latin America where PBI is active.”

“They are involved in different forms of struggle: defending their land from exploitation by international corporations, demanding justice for victims of disappearance, fighting for LGBT rights or working as lawyers to support indigenous communities.”

PBI-UK adds, “The photos come with extracts from interviews in which the women talked about their work and the dangers they face and expressed their commitment to the struggles they are involved in.”

The six defenders featured are:

– Esdra Yaveth, a co-ordinator of LITOS in the Arcoíris (Rainbow) LGTB Association of Honduras;

– Felipa, an activist with ASODEBICOQ – Association for the Defence of the Communal Wealth of Quimistan in Honduras;

– Maricela Vazquez, a lawyer working for the Paso del Norte Human Rights Centre in Mexico;

– Yaneth Bautista, the director of the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation for Human Rights in Colombia;

– Sandra Alarcon, a human rights lawyer with the Tlachinolan Human Rights Centre in Mexico;

– Lilian Borjas, secretary of the regional office of the National Union of Rural Workers (CNTC) in Honduras.

All of these organizations are accompanied by PBI.

As PBI-UK further explains, “Peace Brigades International provides direct protection and support to human rights defenders to keep them alive and help their activism thrive. International volunteers accompany at-risk activists in a visible display of solidarity which deters violent attacks.”

“This is reinforced by advocacy work at all levels. PBI’s activities help create favourable security, policy and political environments in which defenders can carry out their work, as well as building networks that can be mobilised at short notice to provide much needed support.”

To learn more about the work of PBI-UK, please visit their website here.

PBI-Canada remembers Berta Cáceres on the 4th anniversary of her murder

By
Brent Patterson
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Today, March 2, is the fourth anniversary of the murder of human right defender Berta Cáceres, the co-founder and coordinator of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH).

This morning COPINH posted on its Facebook page, “Berta lives, lives in the Lenca people who fight against those who try to snatch their territory, lives in women who raise their voice to defend their rights, lives in the struggles of peoples for water and life. 4 years from her sowing, Berta lives in the heart of all rebellion!”

In April 2015, less than a year before she was killed, Cáceres gave this acceptance speech when she received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize:

“In our worldview, we are beings who come from the Earth, from the water, and from corn.

The Lenca people are ancestral guardians of the rivers, in turn protected by the spirits of young girls, who teach us that giving our lives in various ways for the protection of the rivers is giving our lives for the well-being of humanity and of this planet.

COPINH, walking alongside people struggling for their emancipation, validates this commitment to continue protecting our waters, the rivers, our shared resources and nature in general, as well as our rights as a people.

Let us wake up! We’re out of time. We must shake our conscience free of the rapacious capitalism, racism and patriarchy that will only assure our own self-destruction.

The Gualcarque River has called upon us, as have other gravely threatened rivers.

We must answer their call.

Our Mother Earth – militarized, fenced-in, poisoned, a place where basic rights are systematically violated – demands that we take action.

Let us build societies that are able to coexist in a dignified way, in a way that protects life.

Let us come together and remain hopeful as we defend and care for the blood of this Earth and of its spirits.

I dedicate this award to all the rebels out there, to my mother, to the Lenca people, to Rio Blanco, and to the martyrs who gave their lives in the struggle to defend our natural resources.”

To watch the 3-minute video of her speech, please click here.

On February 10 of this year, PBI-Honduras posted, “On the third of this month we attended in front of the Public Ministry in Tegucigalpa the meeting convened by COPINH to different national and international organizations in which more than 1000 signatures were presented demanding justice for the Berta case and the follow-up of the investigation to reach the intellectual authors of her murder.”

PBI-Honduras has also noted on its website, “The organisation promotes the protection of territories and the recognition of the political, economic, social and cultural rights of indigenous peoples in Honduras. Investigations into the murder of Berta Cáceres and COPINH’s work in communities where land conflicts have been ongoing for decades, have had a significant impact on the organisation’s security situation.”

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project began accompanying COPINH in May 2016.

PBI stands in solidarity with those who defend territory and the environment

By
Brent Patterson
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Peace Brigades International accompanies defenders, communities and organizations in their work in defense of the territory and the environment in Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.

From our accompanying work, we observe that those who defend nature and natural commons are among the groups that face the most risks for their work. We also highlight the high and differentiated risks to which women defenders are exposed. In addition, the high impunity rate is worrying against cases of aggressions against defenders in these countries.

We observe that those who defend the territory and the environment face delegitimization, discredit, stigmatization and criminalization processes, which affect personally, organizationally, family and community, and generate an adverse context for the defense of the right to territory and the environment. 

The work of the defenders of the land and territory is fundamental for the guarantee of economic, social, cultural and environmental rights as a means to have a decent life.

It is key that the international community publicly recognizes the important work of defenders. Likewise, that it guarantees the integral monitoring of the instances that investigate the cases of attacks on defenders, with the objective of achieving justice and reparation for the victims and their families.

We consider it important that the international community make all the will and resources available so that a safe environment is created for those who defend the right to territory and natural assets, promoting their valuable work, dismantling stereotypes and stigmatization and rejecting criminalization processes that harm and endanger your life and work in favor of society.

The full In Solidarity with Organizations that fight and defend the territory and natural commons in Latin America statement signed by the PBI field projects in Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico can be read in Spanish on the PBI-Estado Español website here.

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