The Global Sumud Flotilla has posted on social media: “On March 29, 2026, a unified maritime flotilla and overland humanitarian convoy will depart simultaneously, mobilizing thousands from over 100 countries in a coordinated, nonviolent response to genocide, siege, mass starvation, and the destruction of civilian life in Gaza.”
In response to a direct call from Palestinians in Gaza, the Global Sumud Flotilla is preparing to sail again this spring with thousands of participants, more than a hundred boats, and expanded goals.
This mission not only aims to break the siege and deliver life-saving humanitarian aid, but also to establish a sustained civilian presence. Teams of doctors, nurses, teachers, eco-builders, unarmed civilian protectors, and others will disembark to work alongside the Palestinian people as they continue to endure the Israeli regime’s ongoing attacks and begin rebuilding healthcare systems and basic infrastructure destroyed over the past two years.
Establishing an Unarmed Protective Presence
Deploying trained civilian protectors to work alongside communities to deter violence and document violations.
What is the unarmed protective presence?
Unarmed civilian protectors are highly trained civilians who work alongside local communities to:
Deter violence through presence
Accompany civilians in high-risk areas
Document violations of international law
Strengthen local protection and accountability mechanisms
This model has been used historically to deter violence, including in the West Bank, and is distinct from humanitarian aid or military intervention.
Participants providing visible, unarmed civilian presence to deter harm and document abuses
Advanced Protective Presence participants accompany and support communities through disciplined, visible, and nonviolent presence, coordinated closely with local community guidance.
Requirements:
– Experience in armed conflicts
– Strong self-control and de-escalation
– High situational awareness in volatile or militarized settings
– Ability to follow strict protocols
– Reliable documentation and reporting when required
The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has posted on social media:
“Last week we met with ARCAH to discuss the right to water and the preservation of natural resources, focusing on the Choluteca River. As PBI, we support ARCAH’s work advocating for the communities they serve, and we emphasize that living in a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is also a human right.”
And on January 8, ARCAH posted several texts on the “fight for water” and the threat of water privatization including this one. It says: “This project is supported by international organizations such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and local companies that want to have power over the country’s water. These companies are known as water service providers (EPS), with Ficohsa being the main company that is causing harm to the people.”
Trump, Asfura and water
In November 2025, the Associated Press reported: “On Wednesday, [Nasry Asfura] received the endorsement of U.S. President Donald Trump… Trump mentioned on his social network that as mayor [of Tegucigalpa] Asfura helped ‘bring water to millions of people.’”
Asfura was declared the winner of the November 30, 2025, election on December 24, 2025, and was sworn into office on January 27, 2026.
ARCAH
ARCAH is “a space for community articulation and an anti-capitalist, anti-racist, anti-patriarchal, anti-colonialist and anti-classist social movement that seeks to defend territories and common goods from any project that threatens the peace and cosmovision of communities.”
“We begin our 2026 Balance and Planning session, which will determine a fundamental part for the analysis and projection of agendas that will allow us to continue persisting in the defense of life and dignity in the Magdalena Medio region.”
The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has accompanied these meetings.
“The Corporación Regional para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (CREDHOS) plays a key role in defending human rights and access to justice in Colombia — the country with the highest number of killings of human rights defenders worldwide, according to our Global Analysis.
Since late December 2025, CREDHOS has reported a wave of serious threats targeting its members, particularly its board of directors and its president, human rights defender Iván Madero. Their work in the Barrancabermeja area of Magdalena Medio — a region marked by disputes over territory, natural resources such as oil, and power among armed groups, state forces, and private interests — has made them targets of surveillance, intimidation, and pamphlets declaring them military targets.
These threats dangerously escalate the already high levels of risk faced by defenders working for justice, full compliance with the Peace Agreements, and the defence of territory and the environment. Despite existing protection measures from Colombia’s National Protection Unit (UNP), serious gaps in implementation continue to put their lives at risk.
We call on the Colombian authorities to act urgently: investigate all threats including clarifying the alleged involvement of state forces and the military in the intelligence operation carried out against them, publicly recognise the legitimate work of CREDHOS, implement effective protection measures, and end the criminalisation and stigmatisation of human rights defenders.”
From Canada, we remain attentive and concerned about this situation faced by members of CREDHOS.
(Left to right): Elizabeth Guadalupe Mosqueda Rivera, Héctor Hugo Arreola Galván, Mario Hurtado Cardozo, Aleida Quintana Ordaz, Javier Garate.
To hear more about the situation for human rights defenders in Mexico and the call to strengthen the Protection Mechanism for human rights and journalists, join us for this Zoom call on Thursday February 12 at 5:00 pm ET.
-Mario Cardozo, the Space of Civil Society Organizations for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (Espacio OSC)
-Elizabeth Mosqueda, the Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity Oaxaca (Consorcio Oaxaca)
-Aleida Quintana, the National Network of Human Rights Defenders (Red Nacional de Defensoras)
-Hugo Arreola, the Zeferino Ladrillero Human Rights Center (CDHZL).
And it will be moderated by Javier Garate, a member of the PBI-Canada Board of Directors and the Washington, DC-based US Policy Advisor for the Land and Environmental Defenders Campaign at Global Witness.
Three days ago, Mexican journalist Frida Guerrera posted on Instagram: “They threaten us again to be the next FEMICIDE. One more time. We have no fear. We will never be silenced. It does alter us. But here we go again.”
Infobae now reports: “On February 1, journalist Frida Guerrera denounced on social networks a direct threat that endangered her integrity.”
“On Wednesday, February 4, the organization dedicated to the defense of freedom of expression Article 19, exposed the case and condemned the facts, requesting the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) to urgently investigate the threats. …Article 19 called on the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) to investigate the case urgently, requesting that a gender perspective and intersections be adopted in the process.”
The article continues: “Given the constant risk she faces, since 2019 Frida Guerrera has had protection measures provided by the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders. These actions seek to protect their safety in the face of the series of threats and aggressions suffered in the exercise of their work.”
An article in El Universal also reports: “[Article 19] asked the Protection Mechanism to provide adequate and pertinent measures to ensure her integrity, since, she denounced, the communicator has been forced on several occasions to self-censor as a form of protection.”
“Frida Guerrera is a journalist who hunts down men who kill women.
For the past five years, Guerrera, who is 50, has devoted nearly every waking hour to searching for disappeared women and memorialising the victims of femicide. A distinct crime recognised in many Latin American countries, femicide is defined as the murder of a woman because of her gender.
Every day, Guerrera trawls national and regional news outlets, identifies femicide cases and catalogues victims’ age, location and the method of their murder on a spreadsheet. She then selects a few cases to write up on her blog, a never-ending scroll of pictures of victims, which she gathers from interviews with their parents.
Throughout the day, Guerrera posts missing person notices on her Twitter and Facebook pages and asks her tens of thousands of social media followers to help find the women or the men who targeted them.”
In October 2018, Vice noted: “In total, Guerrera has brought more than 200 stories into the public eye— where the government fails to report, she pieces accounts together, visiting the victim’s home and talking with parents, husbands, and children. Guerrera shares their stories on her blog and column with VICE Mexico, as well as a nightly Periscope broadcast in which she provides a daily update on the subject. …Her social life is limited due to the numerous death threats she receives and the constant anxiety that she may be the next woman on her own list.”
Previous threats
The Infobae article this week highlights: “According to the journalist, recognized for her independent work in the coverage of femicides and gender violence, this is not the first time she has suffered this type of threat.”
In fact, in August 2009, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project noted: “Among the recent cases of attacks against journalists in Oaxaca … an independent reporter and author of the blog Frida Guerrera, was physically and verbally assaulted in downtown Oaxaca on January 29, 2009.”
And in July 2017, PBI-Mexico shared that “Frida Guerrera, journalist and beneficiary of the Protection Mechanism” was a panelist at the launch of the Third Report by Espacio OSC on the Protection Mechanism.
Quadratin Mexico reported at that time: “Impunity and the lack of adequate investigation of the attacks and murders of journalists and human rights defenders fuel and exacerbate these attacks, as diagnosed in the report Comprehensive Protection for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, the debt of the Mexican State.”
PBI-Canada highlights at this crucial time that at the United Nations Universal Periodic Review session held on January 24, 2024, the Government of Canada recommended that Mexico: “Strengthen, from an intersectional and gender perspective, the federal Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, specifically in the areas of prevention, protection, investigation, and reparation.”
From Canada, we remain attentive to the situation faced by journalist Frida Guerrera and amplify the calls for protection measures.
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Article 19 and PBI-Mexico are members of the Space of Civil Society Organizations for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (Espacio OSC). You can hear more about the need to strengthen the Protection Mechanism by registering here for this webinar on February 12.
The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has shared:
“On Sunday, 25 January, the Meeting of Peoples in Defence of Water and Forests was held in San Mateo Ozolco, Puebla. Ozolco is a community located on the slopes of the Itzaccíhuatl volcano, which is currently at the centre of a dispute over tree felling.
PBI accompanied the People’s Front in Defence of Land and Water – Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala (FPDTA – MPT) as international observers in their participation in this meeting of peoples.
The event was organised by the Committee in Defence of the Forest of San Mateo Ozolco and the National Indigenous Congress.
‘Descendants of landowners intend to cut down the forest on Mount Iztaccíhuatl and thereby destroy the region’s water supply, but as peoples it is our duty to protect the forest that our grandmothers and grandfathers left us to produce water and air for everyone. Let us defend the forest for life, so that we may continue to have water in the Izta-Popo region and the Cholulteca Valley.’ (FPDTA-MPT)
The gathering was an opportunity to forge bonds of solidarity between Ozolco and many communities in the region that are part of the same struggle to defend the forest and water.”
For a video of the Meeting of Peoples in Defence of Water and Forests please click here.
Accompaniment
PBI-Mexico has accompanied the Peoples’ Front in Defence of Land and Water – Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala since early 2020.
The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has posted on social media:
“On Friday [January 30], PBI accompanied the Poqomam People’s Peaceful Resistance in #Chinautla at the eighth technical meeting to find a solution to the serious problem of water access faced by the communities. Various government authorities participated, including the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office (PDH), the Human Rights Commission (COPADEH), the Departmental Governor’s Office, and the Municipality of Chinautla. The community continues to reaffirm the need to move forward with concrete and sustainable solutions to guarantee this fundamental right.”
Significant court ruling
In July 2025, Mongabay reported: “[On June 5, 2025] the Mayan Poqomam population obtained a court ruling ordering the municipality to take measures against the inadequate management of solid waste and the generation of illegal dumps. …[The ruling] obliges the municipality of Chinautla to assume its responsibility in environmental management, in the face of the operation of illegal landfills. In addition to closing these illegal dumps, the court decision also ordered to address the affected ecosystems and design a technical and scientific response plan in the short, medium and long term.”
By November 2025, Plaza Publica further explained: “After more than three decades of community resistance, a court finally granted an injunction to this population, which obliges the municipality of Chinautla and other competent institutions to stop the pollution and restore the ecosystem. The court ruling represents a respite on paper, although daily life is still the same. …In compliance with the injunction, two meetings have been held, on August 28 and September 10, with the participation of the Ministry of the Environment, the Attorney General’s Office, the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office, the National Civil Police, representatives of Alianza por el Motagua and Aida, among other entities. The meetings are led by the mayor and the purpose is to find joint solutions to a problem that has overflowed over the years. … As a result of the court ruling, the municipal mayor says that they are analyzing with ancestral authorities the best way to clean up the environment.”
Accompaniment
PBI-Guatemala has previously explained on their website: “Since 1989, the Peaceful Resistance of the Poqomán People in Chinautla have been defending their right to be consulted on the activities of various clay extraction companies operating in their territory (Arenera La Primavera, Arenera El Pino, Piedrinera San Luis and San Fernando Arenera). They are also defending their territory against the pollution caused by other businesses operating in the region. Another problem faced by Poqomam communities is the pollution of the Las Vacas river that passes through Chinautla which flows directly out of the landfill in zone 3 of the capital city.”
PBI received a request for accompaniment from the Peaceful Resistance of the Poqomán People in Chinautla, as they have been subject to attacks and criminalization. PBI began accompanying them in December 2018.
The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has posted: “Visit to the Justice and Peace Colombia office in Bogota.”
PBI-Colombia has highlighted on their website: “J&P’s members have been the target of many security incidents since 1996, including serious threats to their personal integrity, being illegally followed and subjected to illegal wiretapping and surveillance, assassination plots, kidnappings40 and smear campaigns. Despite the signing of the peace agreement between the FARC and the government in 2016 and the transition to the post-conflict phase, in many areas where the Commission works, the armed violence has not stopped. Due to this situation the local communities and the members of J&P who accompany them continue to face high levels of risk.”
Peace Brigades International has accompanied the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission since 1994.
Photo: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Secretary of State for International Development Randeep Sarai.
The Canadian Press reports: “The MP [Member of Parliament] overseeing foreign aid says Ottawa wants to focus its international assistance efforts on countries that can generate economic spinoffs for Canadians.”
Randeep Sarai, the secretary of state for international development, tells The Canadian Press: “The first priority is focusing our development dollars in a trade and development nexus. Due to the new trade realities that the world is facing — and specifically Canada — I think we need to use development as a positive tool to help create new pathways and create mutual prosperity for the partner countries as well.”
The article further highlights that Sarai says that Canada needs to focus its aid on countries it wants to trade with.
The news report also notes: “[Prime Minister Mark] Carney telegraphed how his government would be linking aid and trade when he appointed MP Yasir Naqvi as parliamentary secretary both to Sarai and to Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu.”
The article concludes with Sarai suggesting more federal top-ups for Canadian programs in regions including Latin America.
That announcement highlights that Mexico is “Canada’s third-largest merchandise trading partner” and that bilateral trade between Canada and Mexico reached nearly $56 billion in 2024.
Notably, there were also 114 Canadian mining companies operating in Mexico with $13.0 billion in assets in 2024. The Embassy of Canada in Mexico has also noted: “In Mexico, Canada has invested over $10.3 billion dollars in the energy sector alone, including $4.1 billion dollars in renewable energy.”
Calgary-based TC Energy is the largest Canadian investor in Mexico. It’s the company that recently completed the Southeast Gateway (Puerta al Sureste) pipeline.
Mining, pipelines and extractive megaprojects can bring risks for organizations, defenders and communities who raise concerns about their human rights and environmental impacts, as well as to the journalists who report these stories.
Support for the Protection Mechanism
In September 2025, human rights defenders with the Civil Society Space of Organizations (Espacio OSC) asked Global Affairs Canada and Members of Parliament from all parties to support an investment in the Protection Mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists in Mexico.
They highlighted Prime Minister Carney’s statement of September 18, 2025, on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Mexico that pledged “$9.9 million in funding for United Nations-led projects to support migrant integration initiatives in Mexico and combat the illicit production and trafficking of fentanyl.”
Notably, the Government of Canada has previously called for the strengthening of the Protection Mechanism during the United Nations (UN) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Mexico in January 2024.
At that time, Canada recommended that Mexico: “Strengthen, from an intersectional and gender perspective, the federal Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, specifically in the areas of prevention, protection, investigation, and reparation.”
Webinar, February 12
To hear about the critical need for a strengthened Protection Mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists in Mexico, please join us for this webinar featuring representatives from Espacio OSC.
