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PBI-Honduras seeks volunteers; apply by August 31!

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project is seeking field volunteers.

Key qualifications include a fluency in Spanish, a commitment to at least 12 months of field work, and an ability to work in a horizontal structure where decisions are made through consensus.

PBI-Honduras will cover the following costs: a round trip ticket to Honduras and back, accommodation and medical insurance, an honorarium of about $285 CAD per month for personal costs and repatriation once you have finished your contract.

Key dates include:

Deadline for applications – August 31

Interviews – September 15 to October 6

Online training – October 6 to December 31

In-person training in Valladolid, Spain – January 12-18, 2020

In 2018, eight international volunteers accompanied members of six organizations and one 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 the capital city of Tegucigalpa.

All the information on how to apply to be a field volunteer in Honduras can be found here.

Please help spread the word!

 

PBI-Colombia seeks volunteers; apply by October 11!

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has opened the call to select volunteers who would join the field teams in Colombia starting in July/August 2020. Volunteers are based in Bogotá, Barrancabermeja and Apartadó.

The deadline to apply is October 11.

Following that, key dates include:

Between November 2019 and January 2020 – interviews with candidates.

February, March and April 2020 – an online training program that seeks to provide candidates with a greater knowledge of the situation in Colombia and the work of the team.

June 6 to 13, 2020 (tbc) – an intensive training session in Spain.

PBI-Colombia notes, “The people selected at the end of the training/selection meeting will join our teams in the second half of 2020 or the beginning of 2021, as established from the project based on our human resources needs.”

Last year, twenty-seven PBI-Colombia volunteers accompanied members of thirteen organizations and two individual human rights defenders working on business and human rights and forced disappearances.

Earlier this year, Javier Ignacio Hoyos from Canada joined the PBI-Colombia team.

Javier says, “I applied to PBI Colombia because I value its principles, I believe in its mission and I admire its work over the last decades.”

He adds, “I sincerely believe that by accompanying these people and communities in their day to day work and protecting their spaces for action, I will in a small way be part of the collective construction of a more peaceful, fair and inclusive society.”

All of the information on how to apply can be found here.

PBI-Canada present at Parliament Hill rally in the defence of social leaders in Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 26, Peace Brigades International-Canada was present for the rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa organized in solidarity with the “march for life and the defence of social leaders” in Colombia global day of action.

In Canada, rallies also took place in Toronto, Winnipeg, Montreal and Quebec City.

Prior to the day of action, the Toronto Star reported, “Almost three years after the peace deal was signed, Colombian-Canadians will take to the streets on Friday as part of a global effort to draw attention to the situation in their homeland.”

Alfonso Ibarra, an organizer of the Ottawa-Gatineau rally, said in this media release, “The free trade agreement between Canada and Colombia signed in 2011 was supposed to improve respect for human rights in Colombia.”

He then highlighted, “The Canadian government remains silent in the face of this latest wave of systematic killings. Canada must do more than support its extractive (oil and mining) companies, and instead prioritize the life of land defenders in Colombia.”

A significant number of human rights defenders have been killed in Colombia despite the peace agreement reached between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on August 24, 2016 and ratified on November 29-30, 2016.

La Jornada reports that the estimated number of social activists killed varies from 292 to 734 people over the past three years.

“According to statistics from the Ombudsman’s Office, between January 2016 and June 2019, at least 486 social leaders and defenders were killed in Colombia. But the Attorney General’s Office maintains that the deaths only total 292, while organizations such as the Institute for Peace and Development Studies document 734 homicides in the same period.”

In this 8-page report (June 2018), Front Line Defenders highlighted, “Most killings of HRDs [human rights defenders] are related to disputes over land and territory, the emergence of new political groupings, mining interests or the exploitation of other natural resources and drug trafficking.”

It adds, “In most cases, the reason for these killings has been the fact that the HRD was working on issues such as denouncing or opposing illegal economic activity and criminality; claiming their own or collective rights; and supporting policies derived from the implementation of the agreements such as the programme to replace the cultivation of coca with other crops.”

For example, Amazon Watch reported in March 2018, “According to [the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission, which has been accompanied by PBI-Colombia since 1994], cattle ranchers and palm oil and banana growers have counted on the support of the AGC [the paramilitary Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces] to intimidate, threaten and kill the community leaders who are defending their land from the expansion of agribusiness and commercial logging interests in the region.”

Given that ongoing violence, the Toronto Star reports, “According to Canada’s refugee board, the number of Colombian refugee claimants tripled to 2,582 last year from 820 in 2016, with another 671 seeking asylum in the first three months of 2019 alone.”

As noted in this PBI-Canada article, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project was present at the “march for life” rallies in Bogota, Barrancabermeja and Apartado, the three cities where PBI-Colombia volunteers are based.

#DefendamosLaVida #26deJulioDespertemos #26JMiGritoEs

PBI-Guatemala accompanies community that seeks return of its land now occupied by a Canadian-backed military base

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 29, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted, “Yesterday we accompanied the Chicoyogüito community in commemorating the eviction of their lands on July 28, 1968. The ceremony took place outside the Creompaz facilities.”

CREOMPAZ is a United Nations training base for peacekeepers, located about 220 kilometres north-east of Guatemala City.

This Embassy of Canada to Guatemala webpage notes, “The Global Peace Operations Program (GPOP) … funds CREOMPAZ, the Central American Peace Operations Training Centre in Coban, Guatemala which serves as a training center for El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.”

In Canada Looks South (University of Toronto Press, 2012), it was noted that, “In 2009, Ottawa made a CAD$250,000 grant to CREOMPAZ to enhance Central American armed forces’ capacity to participate in UN peace missions.”

In October 2014, this Department of National Defence/Canadian Armed Forces webpage noted, “DND/CAF is also supporting Guatemala in its efforts to develop peacekeeping and HADR [Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief] capabilities. For example, from 10-21 March 2014, Guatemala’s Peacekeeping Operations Centre (CREOMPAZ) hosted a DND/CAF-sponsored Civil Military Cooperation (CIMIC) course. DND/CAF also assisted with the purchase of specialized equipment for a regional HADR training program within CREOMPAZ.”

Before it was CREOMPAZ it was Military Zone 21, a Guatemalan army military base that was the site of extreme state violence against men, women and children in the 1980s during the internal armed conflict.

In 2012, forensic anthropologists began to excavate clandestine graves at CREOMPAZ. They uncovered the remains of 558 people, 92 of whom have been identified.

Dawn Paley wrote, “Regardless of the mass graves at the base, military and police training continues there, supported by countries like the US and Canada.”

PBI-Guatemala accompanies AVECHAV.

It notes, “The Chicoyogüito Neighborhood Association [AVECHAV] is made up of 250 families from the displaced community of Chicoyogüito in Cobán (Alta Verapaz), which in 1982 was wiped out by the army. As a result of their participation as witnesses in the Creompaz case, survivors of the Chicoyogüito community and their families receive threats.”

On the 50th anniversary of the loss of their land, the survivors and relatives of the displaced families once again requested that their lands be returned.

Their statement highlighted, “Despite the suffering and permanent banishment we have experienced, it was our grandparents who kept hope alive in us. It was they who never lost their eyes on their ancestral lands.”

It adds, “The psychological consequences of that military dispossession are still present.”

Several international organizations — including Oxfam America and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights — have called on the Government of Guatemala to “comply with what is established in the Peace Accords, in terms of uprooted population, restoring the lands they inhabited ancestral and that until today are kept under the control of the Army.”

The PBI-Guatemala website notes, “PBI began accompanying the Association around the beginning of the trials in the CREOMPAZ case.”

PBI-Honduras attends ‘Walking the Tightrope’ forum on persecution of journalists

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 30, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted on its Facebook page, “On Saturday, July 20, PBI-Honduras Project attended the forum ‘Walking the Tightrope’, organized by ASOPODEHU in collaboration with the [Colombia-based] Foundation for Press Freedom – FLIP, in the city of Marcala, La Paz.”

PBI-Honduras adds, “There we heard stories of journalists and social communicators who have been persecuted for their defence of freedom of expression and current criminalization trends in Honduras and throughout the Latin American region.”

Al Jazeera has reported, “At least 62 journalists have been killed in the country between 2006 and 2017, according to data from the Commission for Investigation of Attacks on Journalists of the Latin American Federation of Journalists. Only two of those killings happened before [the US-backed military coup in] 2009.”

Reporters Without Borders has ranked Honduras 141 out of 180 countries on the 2018 World Press Freedom Index.

That article adds, “The statistics make Honduras the most deadly country for journalists in the Americas per capita.”

There have also been ongoing strikes and protests in Honduras since late April of this year over President Juan Orlando Hernández’s proposed ‘reforms’ of the health and education systems, deep public dissatisfaction with his government, allegations of corruption, and findings of widespread irregularities in the November 2017 election.

On June 28, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued this statement noting that it is investigating the deaths of four people and that “another 78 people, including journalists and human rights defenders, have reportedly been injured by the security forces in the context of the protests.”

ASOPODEHU refers to the Association for Democracy and Human Rights in Honduras, an organization headed by journalist Dina Meza. She attended the ‘Walking the Tightrope’ forum (you can see her sitting at the left end of the head table in the photo).

Its mission (translated from Spanish) is “to accompany victims of violations of their fundamental human rights, with emphasis on vulnerable groups: journalists, social communicators, women, youth, indigenous people, blacks and the community of sexual diversity.”

Al Jazeera also notes the organization “supports at-risk media workers and offers training to young journalists.”

On July 12, PBI-Honduras also posted, “Last week, we accompanied Dina Meza from ASOPODEHU in meetings with journalists in the cities of La Paz and Marcala in order to discuss topics related to freedom of expression.”

PBI-Honduras has accompanied Meza since May 2014.

Al Jazeera has reported, “As a safety precaution, Meza often is flanked by a pair of international human rights observers provided by Peace Brigades International when she works in the field on investigations or reporting outside of the capital, Tegucigalpa.”

#LibertaddeExpresión #FreedomofExperession

Global Witness human rights report notes criminalization of Unist’ot’en land defenders

By
Brent Patterson
-

Global Witness is an international human rights organization with offices in London, Brussels and Washington.

Each year it produces an annual report on the harassment and killing of land and environmental defenders around the world.

This year’s report – Enemies of the State? How governments and business silence land and environmental defenders – highlights, “In 2018, Global Witness documented 164 killings of land and environmental defenders – ordinary people murdered for defending their homes, forests and rivers against destructive industries. Countless more were silenced through violent attacks, arrests, death threats or lawsuits.”

Its chart on the ‘total number of killings per country’ includes Colombia (24), Guatemala (16), Mexico (14), Honduras (4), Kenya (2) and Indonesia (1).

These are countries where Peace Brigades International has field projects that support at-risk human rights defenders.

Their report highlights, “Guatemala saw a jump from three killings in 2017 to 16 killings last year, making it the most dangerous country per capita in 2018.”

That gives a sobering context for the work of the ten Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project volunteers who last year accompanied members of 11 organizations and 3 human rights defenders working on issues including environmental and land rights.

The Global Witness chart on the ‘number of killings by sector’ include mining & extractives (43), agribusiness (21), water & dams (17), and logging (13).

The report also notes, “Our 2018 world map pinpoints instances in 2018 of physical and legal attacks against land and environmental defenders across continents.”

In what Global Witness has described as “criminalisation” that map notes, “A subsidiary of energy company TransCanada filed a civil lawsuit and injunction against leaders and members of the indigenous Unist’ot’en tribe in November 2018 for their role in protests against the construction of a natural gas pipeline on their land.”

It then explains, “According to CBC news, Freda Huson and Dinï ze’ Smogelgem were accused of ‘acting without lawful authority with the stated purpose of stopping the project’. As a result, the British Columbia supreme court ordered the Unist’ot’en tribe to disband their blockade – allowing the company to access the site. TransCanada is also the company behind the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline that has triggered widespread protests.”

The Wet’suwe’ten are protecting their traditional lands (in the central interior of British Columbia) from the 670-kilometre TransCanada Coastal GasLink pipeline that would bring fracked gas down from Dawson Creek (in northern B.C.) to Kitimat, where it would be converted into a liquid form (for export) at LNG Canada’s proposed processing facility.

190 kilometres of that pipeline would run through Wet’suwe’ten territory.

LNG Canada is a consortium comprised of Shell, PETRONAS, PetroChina, Mitsubishi and the Korea Gas Corporation.

The Unist’ot’en Camp further explains, “On January 7, 2019, militarized RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] descended onto unceded Gitdumt’ten territories of the Wet’suwet’en Nation to enforce a colonial court injunction” that allows Coastal GasLink to begin pre-construction activities for a fracked gas pipeline.

Just days after that RCMP raid, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), which is accompanied by the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project, posted on Facebook:

“Solidarity with the worthy struggle of Indigenous peoples in Canada! NO to the plunder of the Indigenous territories of the Wet’suwet’en People!”

Those assembled in this photograph, which includes the daughter of slain human rights defender Berta Cáceres, are holding signs that read: “No to the dispossession of Indigenous peoples!” and “Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people in Canada.”

This year’s Global Witness report also provides this update: “Following sustained media attention on the death of Honduran environmental activist Berta Cáceres in 2016, seven men were found guilty of her murder in November 2018. The court ruled that the executives of the Agua Zarca hydropower dam company Desa had ordered Cáceres’ killing because of long delays and financial losses as a result of the protests she led.”

PBI-Honduras began accompanying COPINH, the organization Cáceres led, in May 2016 as it continues to be at-risk following her murder.

Vancouver-based company apologizes to injured human rights defenders in Guatemala

By
Brent Patterson
-

On April 27, 2013, private security forces employed by Tahoe Resources began shooting at land defenders opposed to the Escobal silver mine, located about 75 kilometres southeast of Guatemala City.

Misael Martinez told Al Jazeera, “We were peacefully protesting at the site, in front of the entrance to the mine.”

Al Jazeera reports, “Martinez, a farmer from a nearby village, was shot in the back. Six other protesters were also hit. All survived, although one teenager shot in the face required extensive reconstructive surgery.”

This media release notes, “The victims retained Vancouver-based Camp Fiorante Matthews Mogerman (CFM Lawyers) to represent them in a civil suit against Tahoe in Canada.”

Now, Agence France-Presse reports, “A Canadian mining firm has apologized after reaching an agreement with demonstrators shot and wounded while protesting the company’s Guatemalan gold and silver mine, according to statements Tuesday from both sides.”

That article highlights, “In a separate statement, Pan American Silver acknowledged protesters’ human rights had been violated.”

Pan American Silver now owns Tahoe Resources Inc.

According to the website of Vancouver-based Pan American Silver, “On February 22, 2019, Pan American Silver and Tahoe Resources Inc. completed the plan of arrangement whereby Pan American acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of Tahoe.”

The CFM Lawyers media release (referenced above) notes, “In 2017, the BC Court of Appeal overturned a lower court decision and confirmed that the case should be heard in Canada, concluding that there was a real risk that the Guatemalan protestors would not get a fair trial in their own country.”

Joe Fiorante, a partner at CFM Lawyers, says, “The case sets a very important precedent. It confirms that Canadian courts are the appropriate forum for human rights claims arising from the foreign activities of Canadian mining companies.”

At this media conference yesterday, Fiorante also noted, “These cases are Canadian human rights cases as much as Guatemalan cases.”

The Escobal mine went into operation in early 2014, but after continued protests a Constitutional Court ruling stopped production at the mine in 2017 given indigenous communities had not been consulted about its development.

Al Jazeera notes, “The language of the [Constitutional Court ruling in 2017] suggests that the mine may resume operation following the consultation regardless of the outcome. Xinka residents are pushing for a free and fair consultation process, but have no plans to consent to the mine or allow production to resume.”

This Earthworks Action petition highlights, “During [Pan American Silver’s] first shareholder meeting since the purchase [in February], Founder, Director and Chairman of the Board, Ross J. Beaty, said ‘I believe that there’s no sensible reason, social, environmental, or political, that Escobal shouldn’t be generating $400M per year’.”

This statement from NISGUA and allies expresses concern about the recent “escalation of tension, threats and defamation” against the Peaceful Resistance of Mataquescuintla that opposes the reopening of the Escobal mine.

Thunberg’s visit to Mexico could draw attention to the risks faced by human rights defenders

By
Brent Patterson
-

Greta Thunberg’s upcoming visit to Mexico this fall could draw attention to the crucial role at-risk human rights defenders play in upholding our shared right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

Thunberg will be sailing across the Atlantic Ocean this August to attend the United Nations Climate Action Summit on September 23 in New York City. Following that, she will be visiting Canada, Mexico, Chile and other countries.

The United Nations says, “Human rights and the environment are intertwined; human rights cannot be enjoyed without a safe, clean and healthy environment; and sustainable environmental governance cannot exist without the establishment of and respect for human rights. This relationship is increasingly recognised yet paradoxically environmental rights are increasingly violated.”

Michel Forst, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, and David R. Boyd, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, recently acknowledged in this statement the youth who are leading the Fridays for Future school strike for the climate protests.

That’s the movement that grew to global proportions after Thunberg began holding a sign that read Skolstrejk för klimatet (School strike for the climate) outside the Swedish parliament in August 2018 to call on the Swedish government to reduce carbon emissions in line with the Paris Agreement reached in December 2015.

Special rapporteurs Forst and Boyd have commented, “We salute their courage and are deeply grateful for their actions, which are desperately needed in today’s political climate of lassitude and decision paralysis.”

This past January, The Irish Times reported, “The ‘global epidemic of murders’ of human rights defenders continued, according to the [Front Line Defenders] report, which said 321 deaths was an increase of nine people on the previous year.”

That article highlighted, “Colombia and Mexico accounted for just over half of these, while the large majority of victims [77 per cent] were involved in work relating to indigenous and environmental issues.”

Then in March, the UN Human Rights Council adopted this resolution that, “Stresses that human rights defenders, including environmental human rights defenders, must be ensured a safe and enabling environment to undertake their work free from hindrance and insecurity, in recognition of their important role in supporting States to fulfil their obligations under the Paris Agreement and to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

Following Thunberg’s visit to Mexico, she will be attending the COP25 UN climate summit in Santiago de Chile, Chile from December 2-13.

That could be another critical opportunity to highlight that protections for human rights defenders engaged in environmental struggles must be fully realized as a crucial pillar in stopping the scourge of further climate breakdown.

Photo by Anders Hellberg.

Is the role of an Embassy to be a corporate advocate or to uphold human rights?

By
Brent Patterson
-

This coming November 27th will mark the 10th anniversary of the death of Mexican human rights defender Mariano Abarca Roblero.

Abarca opposed Calgary-based Blackfire Exploration’s open-pit La Revancha barite mine in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.

The Toronto Star has reported, “Opposition to the mine was led by two groups, one of which, the Mexican Network of People Affected by Mining [REMA], was led by Abarca, speaking out against the environmental impacts of the mine and the failure to acknowledge the rights of Indigenous groups.”

“Protests against the mine included a months-long blockade of its operations. Abarca, along with two members of his family, was beaten at his home in the summer of 2008.”

“The following summer he led a protest delegation to the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City. He was later detained by police following a complaint by Blackfire.”

“In November 2009, he lodged his own complaint against the mining company, alleging that death threats had been made against him by Blackfire employees. Days later he was murdered — a drive-by shooting outside his home.”

The background in this MiningWatch Canada post highlights, “Access-to-information requests showed that the embassy intervened with Mexican government officials to support the company even when it knew about conflict over Blackfire’s project in Chiapas, Mexico, including the risks that Mr. Abarca was facing.”

It adds, “Mr. Abarca had personally alerted the embassy about community concerns over the mine’s impacts and related threats. Shortly after, Mr. Abarca was detained without charge on accusations filed by the company, and just weeks before his murder, the embassy asked Mexican authorities to quell protests over Blackfire’s operations.”

The Justice4Mariano.net further notes, “When Abarca was detained for eight days without charge, the Embassy received 1,400 letters from across Canada and across Latin America expressing dire concern for his safety. But its communications with Mexican state officials, as revealed in the Access to Information release, were instead oriented toward protecting the company’s interests.”

That website also notes, “Even after Abarca’s murder, and after the mine was shut down on environmental grounds, the documentation shows that the Embassy still provided support to the company, advising it about how it could sue the Mexican state under the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).”

The Toronto Star article continues, “In February 2018, [Shin Imai, law professor at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto] requested that [Canada’s public sector] integrity commissioner investigate the events around Abarca’s murder.”

Among Imai’s stated concerns: “The Canadian Embassy ignored warnings that Mr. Abarca’s life and safety were in danger, while actively advocating on the company’s behalf with the government of the State of Chiapas.”

On July 29, this MiningWatch Canada media release stated, “In a decision published on July 18th, Federal Justice Keith Boswell conceded that ‘perhaps Mariano Abarca would not have been murdered’ if the embassy ‘[had] acted in a certain way’.”

“Despite Judge Boswell’s admission of the significance of the embassy’s influence, he refused to order the Commissioner to investigate the embassy’s conduct.”

Following that ruling, Mariano Abarca’s son, José Luis Abarca Montejo, commented, “We are very disappointed by this decision. …It is baffling to us that the judge could recognize that the embassy could have made a difference in the life of my father by acting otherwise, and yet refused to order an investigation.”

The media release further notes, “the Abarca family together with Otros Mundos Chiapas, the Human Rights Centre of the Autonomous University of Chiapas, the Mexican Network of Mining Affected People (REMA by its initials in Spanish), and MiningWatch Canada … are preparing to exercise their right of appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal.”

Last March, the Toronto Star Business Columnist Jennifer Wells commented, “The case could boil down to this: is it the role of an embassy to be a corporate advocate or is it to uphold fundamental human rights and facilitate dialogue?”

This past June, Global Affairs released its “Voices at Risk” guidelines for Canadian diplomats to support human rights defenders. More on that “practical advice” and the response to it from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and several Canadian civil society groups in this PBI-Canada overview.

Photo by MiningWatch Canada of a February 2018 rally at the Human Rights Monument in Ottawa with Mariano Abarca’s son and Canadian civil society groups calling for justice for the slain human rights defender.

PBI-Colombia present at the “march for life and the defence of social leaders”

By
Brent Patterson
-

On July 26, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project was present for the “march for life and the defence of social leaders” in Bogota, Barrancabermeja and Apartado, the three cities where PBI-Colombia volunteers are based.

An Al Jazeera article reports, “Thousands have marched in cities across Colombia to protest against the alarming rate of killings of activists and human rights defenders since the country’s 2016 peace deal.”

La Jornada adds, “According to statistics from the Ombudsman’s Office, between January 2016 and June 2019, at least 486 social leaders and defenders were killed in Colombia. But the Attorney General’s Office maintains that the deaths only total 292, while organizations such as the Institute for Peace and Development Studies document 734 homicides in the same period.”

From the rallies, PBI-Colombia tweeted:

Barrancabermeja: “All the flowers may disappear but the spring cannot disappear. And the first one is the social organizations” … An impression from the stand for life and against the murders of social leaders in Barrancabermeja in which PBI was present.

Apartado: #26deJulioDespertemos PBI present in the #Apartado plant for the defense of the lives of defenders of #ddhh and social leaders.

Bogota: #26JMiGritoEs for the defense of life, the right to defend human rights in #Bogota; the mobilization is huge with a single shout towards a true society in peace with democracy and social justice.

El Espectador reports, “Hundreds of protesters gathered in the oil port [Barrancabermeja]. From the Camilo Torres square, the Truth Commission and social organizations like Poderpaz spoke in favor of the defence of social leaders.”

The Al Jazeera article noted above continues, “Protesters in Bogota blew horns and pleaded with President Ivan Duque’s government and the international community to take action over the killings. …Local media estimates 10,000 protesters arrived in Bogota’s main public square, Plaza Bolivar, during the march.”

Colombia Reports adds, “The event [in Bogota] was attended by the leftist opposition and the center right parties that have supported the peace process, victims organizations, labor unions and students. The crowd in Bogota was [also] accompanied by foreign embassies and the United Nations, which monitors the peace process and on multiple occasions has criticized the government’s failures to implement the peace deal.”

Last year, 27 PBI-Colombia volunteers accompanied members of 13 organizations and 2 individual human rights defenders working on business and human rights and forced disappearances.

#DefendamosLaVida #26deJulioDespertemos #26JMiGritoEs

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