Home Blog Page 444

The Canadian PBI volunteers who accompanied Colombian communities attacked by paramilitaries in 1999

By
Brent Patterson
-

Steve Law and Evelyn Jones from Kennetcook, Nova Scotia were Peace Brigades International volunteers in Colombia in 1998-99.

On March 26, 1999, the head of the largest paramilitary organization in Colombia issued a death threat against international workers who were providing human rights protection and humanitarian aid to communities displaced by the civil war.

Steve says, “That was the most blatant demonstration by the paramilitary that they didn’t want us there. Things became very, very difficult for everyone living in this area, and for us.”

On April 4, 1999, just hours after Steve and Evelyn said their goodbyes to the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado, a peace leader and two residents there were killed by the paramilitary group ACCU (Peasant Self-Defence Groups of Cordoba and Urabá).

The next day another paramilitary group, AUC (United Self-Defence Groups of Colombia), attacked the village of Arenal and the settlements of Villahermosa and Cano Seco.

In the aftermath of the attacks, Evelyn accompanied a United Nations delegation to an isolated river community that had seen seven members of its community tortured and killed and another seven leaders kidnapped and held for ten days.

Evelyn was witness to the physical and psychological devastation experienced by survivors. She consoled widows of the dead and disappeared. She also worked with other PBI volunteers to accompany several Colombian human rights defenders out of the region.

During this time Steve travelled to San Jose, a mountain community that had also been attacked by paramilitaries. Steve accompanied the bodies of those massacred in a solemn procession from the morgue to the cemetery.

Steve lived with the wounded survivors during their stay in the local hospital and spent several days providing nocturnal vigilance in the community, prepared to alert the town of possible further incursions of death squads.

After eight months in Colombia, Steve and Evelyn returned to Canada.

In September 1999, The Sunday Herald reported, “Canada values Colombia for its investment potential, Mr. Law says, but gives the country a minimal amount of aid. It limits the number of refugees from Colombia to 100 annually.”

That article continues, “During Colombian President Andres Pastrana’s visit to Canada earlier this year, Prime Minister Jean Chretien showed his support for the president and signed a framework agreement to liberalize trade with Colombia.”

It also notes, “The prime minister also threw in an offer to train Colombian military officers at the Lester B. Pearson Peacekeeping Centre in Nova Scotia.”

On December 2, 1999, Steve testified to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade about the human rights crisis in Colombia.

In February-April 2000, Steve and Evelyn embarked on a cross-country speaking tour to highlight the ongoing situation in Colombia.

As noted in the poster for that speaking tour, “PBI is a non-partisan organization that originated in Canada in 1981 in response to calls by Central American human rights organizations to provide non-violent accompaniment to human rights workers. Through protective accompaniment to organizations and communities, PBI seeks to reduce violence and open up political space for social change.”

This article is based on writings from that time by PBI activists Scott Pearce and Erika Zarate as well as an article in The Sunday Herald.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies BDH law firm at hearing of Mendoza García in Ixil genocide case

By
Brent Patterson
-

On November 27, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted on its Facebook page, “Today we accompanied the BDH [the Human Rights Law Firm] in the first declaration hearing of General Mendoza García in the accusation of genocide and duties against humanity against the Ixil people.”

PBI-Guatemala adds, “The defendant participated via video-conference from the Mariscal Zavala prison. Today the MP [Public Ministry] accused the crimes, and tomorrow the statement of Mendoza Garcia is expected.”

Prensa Libre reports, “On November 27, the first declaration hearing of Luis Enrique Mendoza García, a retired military officer, began in the Court of Higher Risk C, where he was indicated for acts of genocide, five months after he was captured in Baja Verapaz.”

“The appearance of Luis Enrique Mendoza García at the hearing was by videoconference because his defense argued that, recently, he underwent a surgical intervention on his hands and puts his health at risk from transfers from Mariscal Zavala to the Courthouse.”

The International Justice Monitor notes, “Mendoza García served as Chief of Operations (G3) of the General Staff of the Guatemalan army from April 1982 to July 1983, during the de facto regime of Efraín Ríos Montt.”

“Last September, High Risk Court ‘B’ … determined unanimously that the Guatemalan army committed genocide against the Mayan Ixil between 1982 and 1983. Mendoza García was in charge of military operations in that region during those years.”

The Conversation has reported, “Luis Mendoza García, who has been on the run since 2011, was arrested on election day (June 16 while voting in his hometown.”

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

PBI-Mexico accompanies Codigo DH at community discussion about violence against women

By
Brent Patterson
-

On November 27, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted, “PBI accompanied the activities of the Codigo DH Gobixha AC office in Amuzgos within the framework of the conference against violence against women.”

PBI-Mexico notes that this involved visiting the community of Santa María Ipalapa (about 12 kilometres from San Pedro Amuzgos) on November 26.

PBI-Mexico has previously noted, “Código-DH is a civil-society organization created for the holistic defence of human rights in the state of Oaxaca. It works primarily in the Valles Centrales, the Sierra Sur and the Isthmus of Tehuántepec regions.”

“In February 2011, the organization opened an office in San Pedro Amuzgos, in the Sierra Sur region, aiming to promote respect for human rights in this area of Oaxaca state. …It works particularly with Amuzgo women who have experienced gender-based violence.”

November 25 was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The United Nations highlights, “Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in our world today remains largely unreported due to the impunity, silence, stigma and shame surrounding it.”

PBI-Mexico has accompanied CodigoDH (the Committee of Integral Defence of Human Rights Gobixha A.C.) since its formation in 2011.

PBI-Honduras observes community consultation that rejects mines and solar power park

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has posted, “On November 17, PBI-Honduras observed a self-consultation of the municipality of Namasigüe, Choluteca, which was carried out with the technical support of our accompanied organization, CEHPRODEC.”

PBI-Honduras adds, “According to the final vote count, 97% of the residents rejected the installation of mining projects and photovoltaic plants.”

The mining projects appear to involve Montreal-based Glen Eagle Resources Inc. and its Honduran subsidiary Cobra Oro.

The photovoltaic plants appear to involve Oslo, Norway-based Scatec Solar and its plan to build a solar energy park. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre has noted the villagers oppose the solar project because they were not consulted about it, it puts their access to water at risk as well as the possibility of freely moving around the area.

CEHPRODEC provides legal and technical assistance to indigenous and small- scale farmer organisations that are defending their territory against extractive industries and hydroelectric schemes.

PBI-Honduras has accompanied CEHPRODEC since May 2014.

UN Special Rapporteur links “current development model” with risks faced by human rights defenders

By
Brent Patterson
-

In his recent address to the United Nations session titled Prevention is better than cure: exploring best strategies by States to prevent attacks on human rights defenders (co-organized by Peace Brigades International), the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Michel Forst made some notable observations.

Forst stated, “As you know for the last few years news of killings of defenders and a lot of those who condemn the bad practices of businesses have increased and are now happening daily. It’s an epidemic which is spreading as business tries to conquer new markets, as natural resources are found in areas that had been until then untouched.”

Forst highlighted, “Many positive measures have been taken [but] this is not enough to turn around the trend. States must go to the root of environmental conflicts, such as imbalance of power, making nature into a commodity, impunity and the current development model in order to ensure long-term solutions.”

What is the “current development model” that puts human rights defenders at risk?

Mega-projects are likely commonly understood as one form of the current development model. The UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation Léo Heller recently released his thematic report The Impact of Mega-Projects on The Human Rights to Water and Sanitation.

That report notes, “Human rights defenders advocating the rights of those affected by mega-projects have faced harassment, physical assault, bodily injuries, and even death.”

In relation to mega-projects, EDUCA, which is accompanied by PBI-Mexico, has stated, “The ‘accumulation by dispossession’ has reached a climax, with territories granted to mining, wind power and real estate companies, or for the development of hydraulic projects, the construction of highways and the large-scale production of genetically modified corn.”

Danilo Rueda of the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission, which is accompanied by PBI-Colombia, has noted in relation to palm oil mega-projects, “Big business, hand in hand with Colombian and international policy, is destroying water sources and flora and fauna by depleting the forests. This is capitalist logic, which favours the accumulation of capital, and in the long term, the effects are highly negative.”

Lorena Cabnal, who is accompanied by PBI-Guatemala, has stated, “The root of the climate crisis is patriarchal, capitalist and neoliberal, so it threatens the plurality of life in the cosmos. Given that, the Ancestral Healers of Territorial Community Feminism will continue to denounce, defend, recover and heal our body-to-earth territory.”

And PBI-Mexico has commented, “Mexico, as in many countries in the region, has an impressive richness of natural resources, and the neoliberal policies that privilege the exploitation of these resources over the rights of indigenous people to their lands, has provoked conflicts and violence in many parts of the continent.”

What is neo-liberalism?

In a recent article in The Nation, Ben Ehrenreich explains, “The word gets thrown around a lot these days, but this is what neoliberalism means: a globally applicable method for preserving the current overwhelming imbalance of power.”

Ehrenreich argues that opposition to neoliberalism is a common theme in the current protests happening in Colombia, Honduras and other countries.

He notes, “All of the countries recently experiencing popular revolts—and most of the rest of the planet—have for decades been ruled by a single economic model, in which the ‘growth’ celebrated by the pedigreed few means immiseration for the many, and capital streams into American and European accounts as reliably as sewage flows downhill.”

How to move forward in a human rights context?

In June 2018, PBI-United Kingdom launched a Human Rights Defenders Toolbox that it highlighted includes “a range of legal fact sheets designed to inform and assist human rights defenders in their struggles to uphold the rule of law in the face of corporate aggression.”

PBI-UK explains, “The project seeks to address the fact that, despite the existence of [the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights], gaps in their implementation mean that human rights defenders confronting corporate interests still face escalating violence.”

Corporate aggression, the systemic causes of conflict, imbalances in power, resource extraction, the commodification of nature, land and territory, and impunity are all key issues to explore in the prevention of attacks on human rights defenders, promoting non-violence, and making space for peace.

As PBI has stated, “In a system that favours profit over rights, economic models that encourage the forced displacement of those defending their resource-rich territories will continue and those at the forefront will remain at risk of violence.”

PBI-Canada endorses #NoWar2020: Divest, Disarm, Demilitarize gathering in Ottawa

By
Brent Patterson
-

Murray Thomson, who helped to found Peace Brigades International in 1981, was a regular presence at protests against CANSEC, including the one above in May 2018. He passed away in May 2019 at 96 years of age.

Peace Brigades International-Canada has endorsed the #NoWar2020: Divest, Disarm, Demilitarize gathering that will take place in Ottawa on May 26-31, 2020. The event supports “conversion for a peaceful, green & just future.”

The #NoWar2020 website also highlights, “An international coalition of individuals and organizations will be converging on Ottawa to say No to CANSEC, Canada’s biggest annual weapons expo.”

The CANSEC website notes that in 2019 it brought together 306 “defence & security exhibitors” and 55 international delegations.

CANSEC has been held annually in Ottawa since 1998. Prior to that, it was known as ARMX. Matthew Behrens recalls that in 1989 more than 3,000 people rallied against ARMX and over 200 people were arrested for blockading the entrance to the fair. ARMX was scheduled to take place again in 1991, but that didn’t happen until 1993.

The Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) has noted, “When ARMX returned in 1993—under the clever PR guise of a ‘Peacekeeping’ exhibition – Marion Dewar was active on COAT’s steering committee and hosted PEACEX, our three-hour program of speeches, music and poetry, which included information tables from 60 organizations.”

Minutes from a January 24, 1993 PBI-Canada National Coordinating Council meeting state: “Alan Dixon reported that a weapons trade show under the title ‘Peacekeeping ‘93’ is being planned for March 16-17th in Ottawa. Dis-ARMX will be held March 16, 5-9 pm. Alan proposed PBI have a booth. He’ll do the groundwork. Toronto Office will supply materials for display, pamphlets, T-shirts to sell, etc.”

The #NoWar2020 conference will focus on a range of key issues including: “weapons divestment & disarmament, war tax resistance, the negative impacts of war/militarism (e.g. erosion of civil liberties and human rights, militarization of the police, the environmental footprint of militarism, and much more), curbing military spending, and the reallocation of military funds to human and environmental needs.”

Keynote speakers will include Medea Benjamin from CODEPINK and Tamara Lorincz, a co-founder of the Vancouver Island Peace and Disarmament Network.

In terms of “war tax resistance”, Murray was also a founder of the Peacefund Canada Foundation, a campaign that was aimed at allowing conscientious objectors to have their tax payments spent only for non-military purposes.

It is also important to remember that the arms trade undermines the full realization of human rights in numerous ways.

Arms are used to repress social protests and deny human rights, they infringe on the right to be free from disappearance, arbitrary arrest and torture, they represent a massive redirection away from spending on human rights (including the right to housing and the right to clean drinking water), and the military’s carbon emissions worsen climate change that violates the human right to a healthy environment.

Along with PBI-Canada, #NoWar2020 has been endorsed by groups including Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, the Ottawa Quakers Peace & Social Concerns committee, Nobel Women’s Initiative, Winnipeg Quakers, and Rights Action.

For more on the gathering, please click here.

To support the work of PBI-Canada with a donation, please click here.

PBI co-organizes session at UN in Geneva on preventing attacks on human rights defenders

By
Brent Patterson
-

On November 26, Peace Brigades International tweeted, “Don’t miss our event this afternoon at the #UNForumBHR at 3pm, where the 2019 Human Rights & Business Award for outstanding work addressing the #HumanRights impacts of business will be awarded!”

The PBI tweet includes a web-link to Prevention is better than cure: exploring best strategies by States to prevent attacks on human rights defenders.

That web-page notes, “This 3-hour session will explore states’ strategies to prevent attacks on and protect human rights defenders and their rights, in cases where defenders are being targeted for their work to address impacts of business activities.”

“It will involve the perspective of defenders and affected rights holders and focus on the role that civil society, intergovernmental bodies, and businesses can play to strengthen and supplement state-based mechanisms.”

Along with PBI, the session was organized by groups including Global Witness, Front Line Defenders and the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre in collaboration with the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.

To watch this session on UN Web TV, please click on Part 1 (that features a 5-minute opening statement by Michel Forst, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders) and Part II.

This session took place during the Eighth Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights (Geneva, 25-27 Nov 2019).

The UN has noted, “The Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises (also referred to as the Working Group on Business and Human Rights) was established by the Human Rights Council in 2011.”

The resolution that formed this Working Group emphasized that “transnational corporations and other business enterprises have a responsibility to respect human rights.”

At the same time that the Working Group was established, the UN also adopted a set of Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

This year’s annual forum focused “on the need for all governments to demonstrate progress, commitments and plans in implementing the State duty to protect and strengthening accountability.”

Further reading: PBI engaged in UN processes on human rights and transnational corporations

#UNForumBHR #bizhumanrights

PBI-Mexico accompanies CodigoDH on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

By
Brent Patterson
-

On November 26, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted, “PBI accompanies the members of the office of @CodigoDH in San Pedro Amuzgos during the day against violence against women.”

CodigoDH tweeted the photo above noting, “After having suffered two negligent doctors, Amelia Hernández raises her voice to prevent other women from San Pedro Amuzgos suffering from the deficiencies that the public health system presents in this area of Oaxaca.”

CodigoDH further explains, “Amelia Hernández Merino, a 31-year-old indigenous woman from the ‘La Guadalupe Amuzgos’ community, reported that during the 35th week of pregnancy, she went to a prenatal follow-up review in the city of Jamiltepec, Oaxaca, and presenting symptoms of preeclampsia was urgently transferred to the General Hospital of San Pedro Pochutla, where she had an emergency caesarean section in which, in addition to performing a definitive contraception procedure without her informed consent and under pressure from the medical emergency, she was left with a cotton pad or towel lodged in her belly as a result of a bad practice of the health personnel on the day of the caesarean section that caused a severe infection that was about to cost her life, and the loss of 90 centimeters of intestine.”

“As a result of medical negligence, Amelia and her husband had to go urgently to a private health service and to meet the expenses caused by the Hospital de Pochutla they had to sell their house and file a criminal complaint DDHPO / 049 / RC / (11) / OAX / 2019 in the Human Rights Ombudsman of Oaxaca.”

“Eleven months after having suffered both medical negligence, Hernández Merino shared her experience to make her case visible and prevent other women from San Pedro Amuzgos from suffering the severe deficiencies that the public health system presents in this highly marginalized area of ​​the state of Oaxaca.”

PBI-Mexico has previously noted, “Código-DH is a civil-society organization created for the holistic defence of human rights in the state of Oaxaca. It works primarily in the Valles Centrales, the Sierra Sur and the Isthmus of Tehuántepec regions.”

“In February 2011, the organization opened an office in San Pedro Amuzgos, in the Sierra Sur region, aiming to promote respect for human rights in this area of Oaxaca state. This office focuses on providing education, legal assistance, consciousness raising and capacity building for local authorities, and training local human rights promoters. It works particularly with Amuzgo women who have experienced gender-based violence.”

November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The United Nations highlights, “Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in our world today remains largely unreported due to the impunity, silence, stigma and shame surrounding it.”

PBI-Mexico has accompanied CodigoDH (the Committee of Integral Defence of Human Rights Gobixha A.C.) since its formation in 2011.

PBI-Guatemala visits communities opposed to hydroelectric projects on Maya Q’eqchi’ territory

By
Brent Patterson
-

On November 26, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted, “The Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón continues its fight for the defence of the territory and in rejection of the hydroelectric projects in Maya Q’eqchi ’territory. We visited during this week the communities of Champerico, Tres Cruces, Sacta, Martín Chichaj and Sesaltúl.”

PBI-Guatemala has previously explained, “On the Cahabón River and its tributaries Oxec, Canlich and Chiacté, seven hydroelectric plants currently operate: Renace I, II, III, IV, Oxec, Oxec II, and Chichaic.”

The two most recently completed dams are Oxec II which began operation in September 2018 and Renace IV which became operational in January 2019.

Telesur has reported, “The communities claim the Oxec and Renace hydroelectric projects are illegal because the local Indigenous Q’eqchi’ peoples were not properly consulted and informed about it, as established by Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization” and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

PBI-United Kingdom has posted, “In August 2017, PBI provided security support to the good-faith consultation in which the 195 communities of the Cahabón River overwhelmingly rejected the Oxec hydroelectric projects.”

Not long after that, in November 2018, Mayan Q’eqchi’ community leader Caal Xol was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison.

Telesur notes, “It was Caal Xol who filed three lawsuits against the Oxec construction company at different institutions, including accusations for failing to consult the local population, and illegally cutting down 15 hectares of trees.”

In October 2019, PBI-Guatemala was present at a request by Q’eqchi’ communities to the Constitutional Court to stop the Renace dams.

PBI-Guatemala noted, “Inhabitants of San Pedro Carchá, indicate that the Ministry of Energy and Mines authorized the company and concessioned the Cahabón River for 50 years, violating the right of consultation to the Q’eqchi’ people, so it is requested that the Constitutional Court protect and suspend hydroelectric activities.”

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has accompanied the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón since July 2017.

Colombian labour unions set to intensify the ongoing National Strike on November 27

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Unitary Central of Workers (CUT) has just tweeted, “We have decided to reinforce and raise the protest and citizen mobilization, continuing the #ParoNacional with greater intensity for Wednesday, November 27.”

Elías Fonseca, a member of the CUT executive, says, “Tomorrow, November 27, we are going to make another national strike across the country along with large mobilization days to demand that the Government negotiate the ‘package’ that we have indicated as the causes that have ignited this social protest.”

Reuters reports, “Colombian unions and student groups will hold another protest on Wednesday in honour of a teenage demonstrator [Dilan Cruz] who died after being injured by a tear gas canister, after an initial strike last week sparked days of marches.”

That article highlights, “The committee said in a statement early on Tuesday it would demand ‘a permanent negotiation until the agenda for which the Nov. 21 strike was called is resolved’ in a meeting with President Ivan Duque.”

Along with the Unitary Central of Workers (CUT), the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), the Confederation of Colombian Workers (CTC) and the teachers’ union FECODE are key organizers of this national strike.

Prior to the initial National Strike day on November 21 (of which an estimated 1 million people took part), the Bogota Post reported, “Over 40 workers’ unions will strike tomorrow, along with peace activists, women’s rights groups, student campaigners, indigenous groups, environmental organisations and of course ordinary people.”

PBI-Colombia

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has posted, “Social and peaceful protest is a human right, above all, disproportionate repressions cannot be justified against the civilian population, we ask for guarantees and respect for life.”

Following the death of 18-year-old student Dilan Cruz, PBI-Colombia also commented, “We regret the death of the young Dilan Cruz who in the exercise of his right to social protest to claim his rights was the victim of a violent attack Violence can never be justified or used to resolve conflicts Solidarity and love for his family.”

The reasons for the national strike

Reuters notes, “The strike committee said it would ask Duque to shut down the ESMAD and ‘purify’ the police [after the riot police fired a tear gas canister that killed Dilan Cruz at one of the national strike protests]. …It will also demand that the government’s tax reform proposal, which includes a cut in duties on businesses, be rejected.”

The Bogota Post has also reported, “One trigger for Colombia’s national strike was a proposal from the national association of financial institutions (ANIF) to pay young people 75% of the minimum wage. Another was a proposal by former president Uribe – who supported Duque in his presidential campaign – to reduce the working week, which could also impact people’s pensions. And a third was the possibility to increase pension contributions and change the way Colpensiones [the Colombian Pension Administrator] works. The government has denied it has plans to implement any of these proposals.”

The numerous other reasons for the national strike include the murder of human rights defenders (738 social leaders have been killed since January 2016), ongoing violence against Indigenous peoples (135 indigenous people have been killed since Duque became president in August 2018), the failure to implement the peace agreement, and a recent military airstrike that killed eight children.

A fuller list of the multiple reasons behind the ongoing national strike can be read in this Colombia Reports article.

To follow on Twitter, you can search these hashtags: #ElParoSigue #ParoNacional #DilanCruz #ParoNacionalColombia #HuelgaGeneral #ParoNacionalIndefinido

1...443444445...474Page 444 of 474