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PBI-Guatemala visits the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya camp

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 12, the PBI – Guatemala Project visited the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya camp.

PBI-Guatemala notes, “We remain aware of their security situation in the context of international arbitration between the State of Guatemala and the US mining company Kappes Cassidy & Associates (KCA).”

Residents from the communities of San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc — an area known as La Puya — have been fighting against the Progreso VII Derivada-El Tambor gold mine located just north of Guatemala City since March 2010.

The Peaceful Resistance of La Puya, which is made up of members from these communities, has stated, “[The environmental impact assessment] shows that the gold and silver are contained in arsenopyrite rock, which contains high levels of arsenic. Levels of arsenic in the water increased considerably during the time the mine was in operation.”

They have also expressed concern about the massive amount of water the mine would use in their water-scarce region.

PBI-Guatemala references an international arbitration.

In December 2018, KCA filed a $300 million claim with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a World Bank arbitration mechanism.The company cites community protests and unjust treatment by the state as a violation of the terms of the Free Trade Agreement between the Dominican Republic, Central America and the United States.

Readers in Canada may want to take note that the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) has highlighted, “The company’s 2013 audited financial statements state that three quarters of the cost of the sale transaction will be paid to Radius once gold shipments commence from the property and that Radius also anticipates quarterly payments from KCA based on gold production.”

Radius Gold is a Vancouver-based company.

PBI-Guatemala began providing protective accompaniment to the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya since November 2012.

To help support the writing of more articles like this one, please make a donation to Peace Brigades International-Canada by clicking here.

PBI-Colombia accompanies CCALCP, the lawyers who stopped Canadian fracking in Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
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Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project accompanies the Luis Carlos Perez Lawyers’ Collective (CCALCP) based n northeastern Colombia.

PBI-Colombia has noted, “CCALCP, in conjunction with the Defence of Water, Territory and Ecosystem Corporation (CORDATEC) presented a collective suit against the National Hydrocarbons Agency and two oil companies to protect the collective rights that are at risk from the development of a hydrocarbons exploration contract.”

Those “two oil companies” are Houston-based ConocoPhillips and a subsidiary of Calgary-based Canacol Energy Ltd.

Earlier this week, Petroleum Economist lamented, “This year, two shale pilot projects were shelved by licensing authority ANLA after operators US independent ConocoPhillips (80pc stake) and Canada’s Canacol (20pc stake) failed to meet minimum environmental requirements.”

Reuters has reported, “The companies did not meet minimum conditions for the Piranga project, a source from the licensing authority said, while the Plata project raised possible water protection concerns.”

While that was a significant win, it’s not likely to be the end of the fight.

That same Reuters article, dated March 20, also reported that ConocoPhillips and Canacol “can request to re-open the licensing process for the projects in the future, the source said, adding the decision is not a definitive no.”

There are also several official processes underway.

On June 7, Colombia’s top administrative court (the Council of State of Colombia) began hearings on fracking.

Reuters explains, “While there is no law against the practice, the government says regulations are needed before it can be used.”

That article adds, “Six magistrates could rule [in July] on whether the suspension should continue, [Magistrate Ramiro] Pazos said, while evidence gathering on whether fracking should go ahead will take until the end of the year.”

On that point, Colombia Reports further explains, “President Ivan Duque appointed a commission of experts in December last year to investigate whether the controversial oil extraction technique is desirable.”

On June 7, the Council of State dismissed their pro-industry report and ordered that a new study be conducted.

Colombia Reports notes, “The State Council wants answers to 30 questions that seek to establish the ‘possible risks and benefits of using this hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation technique in unconventional deposits’ within three months.”

That means that report will likely come out this coming September.

Powerful actors in Colombia are lining up behind fracking.

Petroleum Economist has reported, “Last year, throughout the electoral campaign, Duque promised he would not allow any development of fracking, should he be victorious. But, since taking office, he appears to be backtracking.”

In November 2018, Reuters reported that the Colombian Petroleum Association has argued that fracking “could generate $500 million per project per year in taxes, royalties, dividends for shareholders and salaries…”

And just last month, The Bogota Post reported that “pro-fracking” organizations including the state-run Ecopetrol, the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the National Hydrocarbons Agency and ExxonMobil “all argue that fracking is both necessary and feasible.”

Meanwhile, communities are mobilizing to ban fracking.

The UK-based group War on Want has noted that fracking would threaten the Chingaza páramo, a water ecosystem that provides Bogota with four-fifth of its drinking water, the Sumapaz paramo, which is a national park in Colombia, and other wetland ecosystems.

It has also warned that if fracking proceeds much of it could be on the territories of the Indigenous Yupka, Wiwa and Wayúu peoples and cross into territories considered sacred to the Kogi, Wiwa, Kankuamo and Aruaco peoples.

Earlier this week, Petroleum Economist, commenting on the obstacles to moving forward with fracking in Colombia, reduced that to: “Unconventional assets are often near indigenous lands, which could pose further headaches.”

CCALCP continues its work to defend Indigenous rights, uphold the right to water, and protect the environment from fracking and other extractive harms.

Peace Brigades International-Canada will be hosting a representative from CCALCP at public forums in Vancouver, Nanaimo, Toronto and Ottawa this coming November. More details on that November 3-10 speaking tour soon!

PBI-Switzerland calls on Nepal to guarantee the security of women human rights defenders

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 28, Peace Brigades International-Switzerland Advocacy Coordinator Kim-Mai Vu spoke at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Kim-Mai made an intervention on behalf of PBI during the interactive dialogue following a report made by United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women Dubravka Šimonović on her November 2018 fact-finding mission to Nepal.

On November 29, 2018, Šimonović stated, “The limited capacity to guarantee full and effective investigation of cases does little to discourage perpetrators and remains a serious problem in preventing cases of violence against women in Nepal.”

She highlighted, “This must be addressed as a matter of priority.”

At last week’s session, Kim-Mai stated, “The Government of Nepal needs to take all necessary measures to guarantee the security of women human rights defenders that challenge the culture of impunity.”

She then noted, “It is also crucial that all the persons directly or indirectly involved in the Nirmala Panta case including judicial officials, professionals and witnesses be protected.”

Nirmala Panta was a 13-year-old schoolgirl who was raped and murdered on July 26, 2018 in Kanchanpur District, Nepal.

On June 26 of this year, The Himalayan Times reported, “Her rape and murder agitated the entire nation, and right activists and general people organised a series of protests to exert pressure on the government to arrest and initiate action against the culprit(s) to deliver justice to Nirmala and her grieving family.”

That article adds, “Responding to a query by lawmakers in the House of Representative [on June 25, Home Minister Ram Bahadur] Thapa said that the government was still searching for the perpetrator(s).”

The Collective Campaign for Peace (COCAP) has worked closely with Nirmala’s family to seek justice for their daughter.

The organization has facilitated a visit by Nirmala’s parents to Kathmandu in an effort to move the investigation of their daughter’s death forward.

COCAP Chair Badri Sigdel has stated in the media, “It is the government’s duty to protect them and provide accommodation facility. But if the government is not willing to support the family, we definitely will.”

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

The Peace Brigades International 2018 Annual Review notes, “Two international and five Nepali staff members based in Kathmandu coordinated the Nepal Monitor, an initiative established to provide protection and to prevent conflict by mapping security incidents and human rights violations in the country.”

Kim-Mai’s intervention can be seen in this video at the 01:47:14 mark.

#JusticeForNirmala #RageAgainstRape

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PBI-Mexico meets with the State Security Commissioner of Chihuahua

By
Brent Patterson
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The PBI-Mexico Project has met with the State Security Commissioner of Chihuahua to express concern about the risks faced by human rights defenders in the state of Chihuahua, especially in Ciudad Juárez and in the Sierra Tarahumara.

On June 26, the International Day in Support of the Victims of Torture, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) encouraged Mexican authorities to elaborate and implement a national strategy to combat torture.

The OHCHR described the situation as “a chronic and generalized problem”.

PBI-Mexico has accompanied the Paso del Norte Human Rights Centre (Centro de Derechos Humanos Paso del Norte) in Chihuahua since 2013.

The Centre verifies and documents human rights violations by security forces there.

PBI-Mexico has noted on its website, “The Centre’s main areas of work are a comprehensive defence of rights and the accompaniment of victims of human rights violations, with a focus on cases of torture and enforced disappearances.”

On June 6, El Mexicano reported (in Spanish), “From 2011 to May 2019, the Centro de Derechos Humanos Paso del Norte, A.C. has documented nearly 200 cases of torture that occurred in the different police corporations in Ciudad Juarez.”

That article continues, “Organizations such as the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project showed their support for human rights advocates in their fight to combat torture in Juarez.”

The security situation is also serious for Indigenous land and water defenders in the Sierra Tarahumara region of Chihuahua.

In October 2018, Julián Carrillo Martínes, an Indigenous Rarámuri land and water defender, was killed in that region. He was an outspoken defender of Indigenous rights, an opponent of deforestation, and concerned about the impacts of mining.

In January 2017, two other Rarámuri land defenders, Isidro Baldenegro Lóperz and Juan Ontiveros Ramos, were killed in Chihuahua. Lóperz was dedicated to stopping illegal logging, while Ramos was defending his ancestral territory of Choréachi from illegal logging and illegal land grabbing for illicit crop harvesting.

In a June 2018 letter to the editor published in The Guardian, Peace Brigades International (United Kingdom) stated, “Peace Brigades International (PBI) has provided protection to at-risk human rights defenders in the country since 2000, an experience that has shown us that in the federal states where a security strategy based on militarization has been implemented, attacks against activists have increased significantly.”

The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project supports the call for the Mexican government to implement a comprehensive policy to improve the security situation for land and water, human rights, and Indigenous rights defenders so that they can carry out their work without risk of threats, harassment or death.

#PBIAbreEspacios #PBIMakingSpace

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Chinautla Multisector Urban Platform’s struggle for the right to water

By
Brent Patterson
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The PBI – Guatemala Project accompanies the Chinautla Multisector Urban Platform (la Plataforma Urbana Multisectorial Chinautla) that advocates for the human right to water to be respected and that raises concerns about the resource (sand) extraction that endangers homes and a massive garbage dump that pollutes water.

On June 10, PBI-Guatemala posted on Facebook, “Due to the lack of access and pollution of the basins, [the Urban Platform] has requested the Human Rights Ombudsman, the Mayor of Santa Cruz Chinaulta, and other competent authorities to carry out the appropriate actions to guarantee the right to water in the short, medium and long term.”

PBI-Guatemala has previously posted on its website, “Since 1989, the Chinautla Multisector Urban Platform has defended its right to be consulted on the projects of several sand companies operating in its territory (Arenera La Primavera, Arenera El Pino, San Luis Piedrinera and San Fernando Arenera).”

That web-page adds, “The region has been a sand area for decades, but it was in 1995 when large-scale sand extraction began with heavy machinery” with major consequences.

In May 2018, the Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre reported that the extraction of sand from the channel of the Chinautla River and the confluence of the Tzaljá and Las Vacas tributaries, in an area where there are already geological faults, accelerates the cracking of walls and the sinking of some homes in the community.

That newspaper notes that there are three sandpits in the area. Those operations were authorized for 25 years by the Ministry of Energy and Mines and then-Mayor Arnoldo Medrano.

That May 2018 article also highlighted that those licences could expire in about three years (likely meaning around 2020-21).

Chinautla Multisector Urban Platform member Martín Catalán stated that in 2016 that the group had called for the extraction of the sand to be moderated to stop the erosion of the soil, but that their proposals were not taken into account by local authorities.

Catalán says, “This area is dying and the authorities have been indifferent to the problem.”

Prensa Libre has also noted that the residents of Santa Cruz Chinautla are additionally impacted because during rainy season the floods from three rivers drag trash from Guatemala City into their community.

PBI-Guatemala has explained this as, “This population is also affected by the pollution of the river, which comes from the dump in zone 3 of the Capital City, a problem that increases during the rainy season.”

The Urban Platform has stated, “There is no will to administer and distribute to guarantee the human right to water” and that the cause of this is the “corruption of authorities”.

Their proposal is to “Create a water law and government and municipal agreements that guarantee community and indigenous peoples’ participation to guarantee equal rights to water” within a two year period.

This demand has a constitutional context.

In August 2017, Oxford Human Rights Hub explained, “Guatemala’s constitution has several provisions that provide for or implicate the right to clean and safe water. Despite this, Guatemala remains the only country in Central America, along with El Salvador, not to have proper legislation that protects the right to water access and that regulates its use.”

That article adds, “In April 2016 there was nationwide mobilization by rural and indigenous communities to demand a stop to the theft and contamination of water. This led to a proposal for a new law (5070) which seeks to give the greatest possible power to communities to manage their water resources and to enforce the right of communities to be consulted on any agribusiness or mining project in their area.”

Furthermore, the degradation of the Chinautla river basin has also been characterized as an “eco-ethnocide” against the Poqomam Maya People of Guatemala.

The PBI – Guatemala Project has accompanied la Plataforma Urbana Multisectorial Chinautla since December 2018.

PBI-Honduras accompanies the Association of Defenders of Common Goods in Quimistán

By
Brent Patterson
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The PBI – Honduras Project accompanies the Association of Defenders of Common Goods in Quimistán (Asodebicoq).

It is an association that defends the environment and common property in the municipality of Quimistán in the department (province) of Santa Bárbara, near the border with Guatemala.

PBI-Honduras highlights that, “Among other activities, ASODEBICOQ provides information workshops on human rights and environmental rights to the inhabitants of this remote area.”

ASODEBICOQ is opposed to the construction of the Santa Lucia I and Santa Lucia II dams on the Cuyamel River by Hidroeléctrica Cuyagual S.A.

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

PBI-Honduras has accompanied ASODEBICOQ since May 2018.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Human Rights Law Firm to a hearing for the Indigenous human rights defender Samuel Choc

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 13, the PBI – Guatemala Project accompanied the Human Rights Law Firm (Bufete de Derechos Humanos – BDH) at a hearing for the Indigenous human rights defender Samuel Choc.

Choc was arrested in March 2018 and charged with “usurpación agravada” (aggravated usurpation).

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

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.”

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

Yesterday they noted, “The BDH and PBI-Guatemala Project will continue to monitor the legal situation of Samuel and the other defenders who are criminalized.”

The UN Special Rapporteur’s report (dated August 2018) where she comments on how states use the charge of usurpation against Indigenous peoples can be found here.

PBI-Honduras accompanies the Broad Movement (Movimiento Amplio) to a court hearing

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 10, the PBI – Honduras Project accompanied the Broad Movement (Movimiento Amplio) and observed the judicial process against nine members of the San Francisco Locomapa tribe who live in Yoro department, Honduras.

The Broad Movement has previously explained, “Nine Tolupanes indigenous comrades are accused by the INMARE company and the Public Ministry for allegedly obstructing a management plan that has served to loot [extract wood from] the tribe’s forest.”

The Broad Movement further notes, “[The nine] face a judicial process because of the denunciation of a businessman who for years and years has plundered the common goods of the tribe leaving them only poverty, confrontation and pain.”

It adds, “His main accomplices have been the institutions of the state that have deaf ears, blind eyes and mouth closed to leave in impunity all the outrage against the Tolupán people.”

In terms of further context, the Organization of American States (OAS) has noted, “In Honduras, the IACHR [the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the UN Human Rights condemned the murder of Salomón Matute and his son Juan Samael Matute in February 2019.”

The OAS explains both were Tolupanes indigenous members of the San Francisco Locomapa tribe and the Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice in the department of Yoro.

And the OAS highlights, “Solomon Matute was a beneficiary of precautionary measures granted by the IACHR since 2013, due to threats, harassment and acts of violence in the framework of his work as an environmental and indigenous peoples defender.”

The Broad Movement says that “defending the forest and the ancestral territory is not a crime.”

It also notes in its Facebook post on June 10 that, “PBI – Honduras Project, made up of people from different parts of the world, are part of the delegations that participate as observers in this unfair [judicial] process against indigenous people.”

Photo by Movimiento Amplio Por la Dignidad y la Justicia.

PBI-Honduras accompanies National Union of Rural Workers on an environmental march

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 5, the PBI – Honduras Project accompanied the CNTC (the National Union of Rural Workers) on a march in La Paz to mark the international day of the environment.

PBI-Honduras notes, “Approximately 500 people from different organizations and backgrounds gathered at this peaceful demonstration for the protection of the land and the environment.”

The CNTC, which was founded in 1985, is a small-scale farming and trade union organization that fights for the distribution of land. It is affiliated to the Unitary Confederation of Honduran Workers (CUTH) and is part of La Vía Campesina – Honduras.

On May 27, PBI-Honduras observed the forum where the “cultivate without risk” campaign was launched.

The CNTC participated in that meeting.

The newspaper La Tribuna has reported (in Spanish), “Currently the situation in agriculture is dramatic, because there is food insecurity, there is no good winter, there is repression, there is climate change and hunger, among other difficulties.”

Last month, PBI-Honduras also accompanied the CNTC to observe the court appearance of five of its members accused of illegally occupying their land. For lack of evidence, all received a definitive dismal of the charges.

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs has noted, “Since the coup [in 2009], peasants have suffered from increased repression, with death squads threatening and assassinating hundreds of campesinos while palm oil and hydroelectric companies accumulate land by dispossession.”

The environmental and human rights organization Global Witness has stated, “Nowhere on earth are you more likely to be killed for protesting the theft of land and destruction of the natural world than Honduras.”

PBI-Honduras has been accompanying the CNTC since May 2018.

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