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PBI-Mexico accompanied defender Nuria Yamada speaks about mining, avocados, the Protection Mechanism and Maria Cruz Paz at the UN in Geneva

By
Brent Patterson
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On September 22, Nuria Yamada addressed the 22nd Meeting of the 63rd Session of Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

Yamada is a member of the Movement for the Defense of the Forest and Water Basins of Tancítaro (MODEBOCU) based in Tancítaro, Michoacán, Mexico.

She is currently on an advocacy tour of Europe accompanied by the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project.

Her presentation can be heard here (starting at 37:25).

Yamada stated:

“Thank you, Mr. Vice-President. I am here to speak to you on behalf of the Defenders of Human Rights in Mexico, and especially in Michoacán, in the context of mining and agricultural activities. We are the main producers of avocado in the country, and in fact we are trying to defend the forests against mega-projects of extraction.

Several of our colleagues have been made possible, in particular Maria Cruz Paz has been put in detention. She has been in prison for more than two years. For us, access to justice is almost non-existent, which leads to disappearances and other violations of our human rights.

Criminality has reached a macro scale, and it is obviously exacerbated by the activities of the organized group that lays anti-personnel mines or other explosive devices. But we should be able to aspire to a larger civic space. We also urge the legislators and relevant mechanisms to do something.

The Law for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists should therefore be implemented. Thank you.”

Avocados and mining

Hass avocados are grown in 31 municipalities across Michoacán, including Tancítaro, Uruapan, Tacámbaro, and Zitácuaro. These municipalities constitute the core of the country’s avocado export region.

Global News has reported that Michoacan is “Mexico’s top avocado-producing state, where organized crime groups have extorted growers and exporters”. That article adds: “The CFIA [Canadian Food Inspection Agency] said the volume of avocado imports has been generally consistent year over year, though it noted a slight increase in imports from Mexico in the past three years.”

In 2020, Canada imported 91,932.59 tons of avocados from Mexico. Overall, Canada imported 106,651 tons of avocados that year, making Mexico the top supplier of avocados to the Canadian market.

Image: “Canada imports 110+ million kg of avocados every year. 95% comes from Mexico.”

Rosendo Caro, director of the Forestry Commission of Michoacán State (COFOM), has told Mongabay: “P’urhépecha women have a fundamental role in the richness of Indigenous territories’ preservation: they are the custodians of the plant wisdom used for medicine, ritual, and food. Their legacy is endangered by avocado development in the region. This business consumes the water previously used for the ekuarho [a pre-Hispanic agroforestry system typical of the P’urhépecha population], deteriorates soils with agrochemicals, and has long-term consequences on water resources.”

Mining

Natural Resources Canada says there are 114 Canadian mining companies in Mexico holding $13.0 billion in assets. In July 2026, Bnamericas reported: “According to the most recent figures, Canadian mining companies account for around 65% of foreign investment in the [mining]sector [in Mexico], with more than 150 active projects in the country, mainly in gold, silver, and copper.”

Key Canadian mining projects in Michoacán include Defiance Silver Corp. and its subsidiary Minera Santa Remy; Solaris Resources and Teck Cominco with the La Verde Project; and Canadian Silver Hunter Inc.

In October 2024, in an article about María Eugenia Gabriel Ruiz, El Pais reported: “Michoacán has become the deadliest Mexican territory, with eight murders recorded in 2023. Most of the victims were fighting against mining.” That article notes official figures from December 2018 that indicated there were six foreign mining companies operating in the state. All six of those companies were Canadian.

María Cruz Paz Zamora

Indigenous P’urhépecha forest defender María Cruz Paz Zamora, from the community of Ocumichom in the state of Michoacán, has been in prison since June 2024. The Supreme Council of Indigenous Women of Michoacán (CSMIM) and the Supreme Indigenous Council of Michoacán (CSIM) have denounced this criminalization.

en15días reports: “One of the main questions raised by the organizations refers precisely to Paz Zamora’s first statement, when she was still participating in the investigation as a witness and, according to the statement, did not have a P’urhépecha interpreter or legal accompaniment.”

Additional reading

–PBI-Mexico amplifies RSDH call for the release of Indigenous Ocumicho environmental defender María de la Cruz (PBI-Canada, June 10, 2024)

–PBI-Mexico accompanied lawyer María Eugenia Gabriel Ruiz interviewed by El Pais, speaks about avocados and mining (PBI-Canada, October 25, 2024)

–The work continues one year after PBI-Mexico and Espacio OSC visited Ottawa to strengthen the Protection Mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists (PBI-Canada, September 20, 2026).

Seniors Climate Witness members arrested on Parliament Hill as they call on the Government of Canada to reject new pipelines

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo by Seniors Climate Witness.

Eleven members of the Seniors’ Climate Witness were arrested on Parliament Hill in Ottawa today as they called on “the Government of Canada to reject new fossil fuel pipelines, uphold its climate commitments, respect Indigenous rights, and invest instead in a safe, clean and livable future.”

The Canadian Press reports: “Several seniors were arrested on Parliament Hill and charged with trespassing Tuesday [September 22] as they called for stronger government action to address climate change. Members of a self-described ‘climate caravan’ tried to deliver hundreds of photos and stories about the effects of wildfires and flooding to MPs’ desks in the House of Commons.”

Shortly before being arrested, Eric Schiller stated: “I have solar panels on my roof. I’ve got an electric car. I ride my bike. We’ve all got to do this. We can do something, but it’s got to be massive change. And the government — some government in the world — has got to take hold of this and say, ‘Hey guys, we can’t go as usual.’ ‘We’ve got to take the bull by the horns and say, this has got to change.”

Video still of Eric Schiller.

Earlier this month, CTV News reported: “Co-founder Michael Polanyi helped organize the caravan – an idea that first came about during the peak of Canada’s wildfire season. Around the same time, Ottawa announced it would refer Alberta’s West Coast Oil Pipeline proposal to the Major Projects Office, Polanyi said.”

Polanyi has also previously noted: “[The climate caravan] grew out of widespread concern this summer about the wildfires. …The stark juxtaposition of seeing those devastating climate impacts on Canadians, and then also seeing the federal government moving ahead to spend billions on a new pipeline that will make the climate crisis worse, is what got a few of us together on a call two months ago.”

In an interview with Joan Baxter, Polanyi explains: “We have over 200 photos [of the people, places, communities, and living things we love and want to protect from climate change] and we want to deliver those to the House of Commons. We want them put on the desks of MPs so that when they’re debating whether to spend billions of dollars to construct a new pipeline that will lock us into fossil fuels for decades and exacerbate the climate crisis, they have in front of them the vivid reality of loss and struggle and harm that’s being caused by the climate emergency.”

Corporate Knights has noted: “The [West Coast Oil Pipeline] announced in July by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith [would cost between $35.2 billion to $43.7 billion]. The two governments would hold it as equal partners, with development led by the federally owned Trans Mountain Corporation along the existing Trans Mountain corridor and would carry about 90% of the cost.”

The Government of Canada’s Major Projects Office (MPO) says: “The proposed pipeline would transport one million barrels per day of crude oil.” The Canadian Climate Institute estimates the West Coast Oil Pipeline would produce an average of 20 megatonnes a year in new emissions.

Earlier this month, the United Nations Environment Program reported the world will soon exceed the safe limit of 1.5 C above mid-19th century temperatures agreed upon at the COP21 climate summit in Paris in 2015 meaning decades of increased weather-related disasters, rising seas, extinctions and melting ice and glaciers.

The UN said it wants policymakers to limit excessive warming and then bring the temperature back down to the agreed-upon threshold.

Last year, Mary Lawlor, then the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, stated: “People all around the world have been calling for climate action for decades. As they have been ignored, and the climate crisis has spiralled, they have found new ways to organise and advocate, including through civil disobedience.”

You can find the Seniors Climate Witness on Facebook here.

PBI-Honduras witnesses eviction attempt by police contingent, continues to accompany OFRANEH encampment on Cayo Menor

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has posted on social media:

“OFRANEH [the Honduran Black Fraternal Organization] continues to camp on the public beaches of Cayo Menor in the Cayos Cochinos archipelago (Bay Islands department). They state that they are ‘exercising their rights and protecting the nesting grounds of the #HawksbillTurtle’.

They oppose the production of the show *@supervivientestv*—from the Spanish network @telecincoes—accusing the production team of causing environmental damage.

Authorities continue to monitor the campsite, and there was even an attempt to evict the community, despite the March 2026 ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in favor of the Garifuna community.

PBI has witnessed this eviction attempt and has observed the structures installed by the production company.”

We further highlight that Radio Progreso reported (on September 17) when a “contingent of police and an executing judge arrived at Playa Uva or Cayo Menos, in the archipelago of Cayos Cochinos, to evict the residents”. That article highlighted: “Mabel Robledo, one of the leaders in the community of Nueva Armenia, denounced the actions of the authorities, reminding them that the beaches, according to Honduran law, are public, so she does not understand why an eviction order came when they are protesting peacefully.”

PBI-Canada met with Robledo, who told us about the situation on Cayos Cochinos, during a visit to Honduras in October 2024.

Additional reading

–PBI-Honduras issues ALERT warning of the imminent eviction of the Garifuna communities of Cayos Cochinos (PBI-Canada, September 17, 2026)

–PBI-Canada monitors the situation on Cayos Cochinos as Garifuna leader Mabel Robledo denounces TV show on ancestral territory (PBI-Canada, September 19, 2026).

SINMCO media workers union in Mexico seek law to protect journalists and communicators in the state of Oaxaca

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: On September 19, the independent SINMCO union held a “road rally” on the Cristóbal Colón International Highway to remember journalist Alejandro Leyva Aguilar who was was murdered on July 22, 2026, in Oaxaca.

One year ago, PBI-Mexico accompanied a delegation from Espacio OSC to Ottawa to call for a strengthening of Protection Mechanisms in Mexico for threatened journalists and human rights defenders.

The following year, on April 10, 2026, Elizabeth Mosqueda, the co-director of Consorcio Oaxaca who participated in that advocacy delegation to Ottawa, highlighted that Oaxaca has the second highest number of people incorporated into the Federal Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists,

Now, this September 21, Es Primera MX reports on a meeting of the independent National Union of Media Workers (Sindicato Nacional de Medios de Comunicación – SINMCO) in Oaxaca, Mexico that had the security and protection of media workers, as well as freedom of expression, and justice on its agenda.

The article notes that SINMCO general secretary Froylan Mendez Ferrer spoke about a protection policy built for media workers whether they work for “a large company, a small portal or independently.”

“Independent journalists and representatives of the delegations presented their positions on a law to protect journalists and communicators. In the end, the representative assembly unanimously approved the launch of the leyperiodistaoaxaca.org platform, scheduled for October 5, 2026.”

“The platform will serve to participate in the construction of a new law for the journalistic guild and to give it public follow-up.”

It then comments: “The path, however, has risks. A law only protects if it is approved, funded and enforced. [The union also recognizes] that useless institutions only add bureaucracy. [At the same time] SINMCO has proposed to the state government, in working groups, to install a state protection committee.”

Oaxaca Politico further reports: “The meeting served to review proposals ranging from the creation of state security protocols and evacuation routes for communicators at risk, to the proposal of emergency funds, insurance and training in digital security. Among the proposals were also the demand for specialized attention from the Oaxaca Prosecutor’s Office and coordination mechanisms with the General Secretariat of Government for rapid responses. Union representatives pointed out that many of the measures already exist on paper, but fail to be implemented: without a budget, without deadlines and without follow-up, the proposals remain up in the air.”

The El Primera MX report concludes: “The measure for the next months will be whether the union’s proposals reach the offices where it is decided and if they manage to protect someone before the next aggression.”

Journalist Francisco Alejandro Leyva Aguilar was murdered on July 22, 2026, in San Pablo Etla in the state of Oaxaca. Reporters Without Borders notes that he was the seventh journalist killed in Mexico in 2026.

The full Es Primera MX article can be read in Spanish here.

Additional reading

–Two months after the murder of journalist Alejandro Leyva, peaceful protest is held in Oaxaca (El Universal Oaxaca, September 22, 2026)

–Participation of national and international organizations defending freedom of expression legitimizes Oaxaca’s Law for the Protection of Journalists (Libertad Oaxaca, September 21, 2026).

WEBINAR: PBI-Canada to help recruit PBI-Honduras field volunteers, October 14 (save the date)

By
Brent Patterson
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Peace Brigades International-Canada is collaborating with the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project to hold a webinar on Wednesday October 14 at 1:00 pm ET to encourage people to be a field volunteer.

The date and time of this webinar is currently being confirmed, but please save the date if you are interested!

The deadline for applications is two weeks later, October 30.

The PBI-Honduras website highlights: “From the PBI Honduras Project we are looking for new volunteers to join our team on the ground.”

A high-level of spoken and written Spanish is required.

The downloadable PDF on their website adds there will be a “training week” from February 12-15 and February 19-22, 2027, and that “joining the team is not immediate; it can sometimes take several months” before arriving in Honduras.

Applications are to be sent to formacion@pbi-honduras.org by October 30.

To find out more about the organizations, defenders and communities that PBI-Honduras accompanies, click here. They include ARCAH, ARCOÍRIS, ASOPODEHU, CEHPRODEC, CNTC, COPINH and SOMOS CDC.

To follow their work, you can find PBI-Honduras on Instagram here.

AFB calls for funding to be rescinded for the promotion of arms exports as groups call for EU Due Diligence Directive to cover the arms sector

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Germany will host its first DSEI arms fair in Hanover on March 9-12, 2027. Canada and CADSI will have an official presence there.

Peace Brigades International-Canada contributed to the writing of the “Defence chapter” in the recently-published Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Alternative federal budget 2026-27: Bridge to independence report.

That proposed Alternative federal budget (AFB) would “rescind Defence Industrial Strategy funding for military exports and trade shows” estimated at approximately $30 million over the 2027-28 to 2029-30 period.

The AFB states: “The government has now committed to increase the export of Canadian-made military goods by 50 per cent by hiring a ‘new dedicated team for export promotion’ and appointing ‘new trade commissioners in the United Kingdom and key European Union markets to support Canadian business abroad and ramp up Canada’s presence at major global defence and aerospace trade shows’.”

This clearly suggests the Canadian government has prioritized increasing arms exports to European Union countries. In 2025, Canada exported more than $896 million in military-related “strategic goods and technologies” to European Union countries. A 50 per cent increase would bring that to well over $1 billion a year.

This agenda could be advanced by the current proposal for Canada to become an associate member of the European Union.

EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive

According to the European Commission, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) “requires companies to identify and address human rights and environmental risks, as well as prevent and mitigate adverse impacts throughout their global value chains.”

In March 2023, numerous human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, stated: “The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive must fully cover the arms sector.” They added: “The arms sector must be listed as a high-risk sector and subject to enhanced human rights due diligence obligations.”

Those organizations further noted: “Four EU Member states are among the world’s top ten arms exporters: France (3rd), Germany (5th), Italy (6th) and Spain (9th). Together in the period 2017-2021, they were responsible for over 21% of global arms exports.”

In 2025 alone, Canada exported more than $478 million in military goods to those four EU countries: France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Arms exports to Israel

In April 2026, Amnesty International stated: “The European Union and its member states should immediately suspend all transfers and transit of arms, munitions, equipment, technology, parts and dual-use goods to Israel. This obligation is not discretionary but arises under both EU and international law.”

Significantly Germany continues to export arms to Israel. Amnesty International notes: “Germany is Israel’s second-largest supplier of arms after the United States. According to the German government, it has issued export licences worth more than €485 million – from 7 October 2023 to 12 May 2025, including anti-tank weapons and gearboxes for Merkava tanks used in Gaza.”

In the 2023 to 2025 period, Canada exported more than $669.5 million in military goods to Germany. During that same period, Canada exported more than $64.218 million in military goods directly to Israel.

Front Line Defenders and the Committee to Protect Journalists have implicated Israel in the killing of Palestinian human rights defenders, medical workers and journalists.

Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Algeria

Beyond these exports to Europe, the Canadian government’s pledge “to increase the export of Canadian-made military goods by 50 per cent” raises additional concerns given current exports to countries that repress human rights defenders.

In 2025, Canada exported $404 million of military goods were exported to Saudi Arabia. That year, Amnesty International reported: “Authorities continued to severely restrict freedom of expression and association, with critics and human rights defenders facing long prison terms, grossly unfair trials, and arbitrary travel bans including for those recently released from detention.”

Canada also exported $60.76 million of military goods to Türkiye in 2025. Amnesty International documented for that year: “Baseless investigations, prosecutions and convictions of human rights defenders, journalists, opposition politicians and others intensified.”

And Canada exported $27.63 million of military goods to Algeria in 2025. Amnesty International has noted in that year: “Authorities continued to curtail exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. They used arbitrary arrests, unfair trials based on unfounded terrorism and other charges, and travel bans to punish peaceful dissidents. Authorities hindered the activities of trade unions and political parties and obstructed peaceful gatherings.”

Human rights violations

The Alternative Federal Budget 2026 states: “When Canadian military equipment is exported to governments implicated in human rights violations or in situations marked by serious violations of international law and human rights norms, it undermines Canada’s international reputation, as well as peace and security.”

We continue to follow this.

What could the Bill C-39 promise of speed for major projects mean for Indigenous land and environmental defenders?

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) C-IRG officers on Wet’suwet’en territory in November 2021. Photo by Michael Toledano.

The Government of Canada has introduced Bill C-39 to bring “speed, certainty, and predictability” to the building of major projects “so investors know that when Canada says it wants something built, Canadians will get it built.”

Previous reporting on Bills 14 and 15 in British Columbia reveals that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Critical Response Unit-British Columbia (CRU-BC) participates in provincial government committees to respond to opposition of Indigenous land and environmental defenders to major projects.

The Canadian government has already recommended to the Major Projects Office the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline, that would cross approximately 50 kilometres of Gitanyow territory and 120 kilometres of Gitxsan territory; LNG Canada Phase 2, that would bring the construction of massive compressor stations on Wet’suwet’en territory; and the West Coast Oil Pipeline, that would cross 518 kilometres of Secwepemc territory, as major projects “of national interest by conditionally approving them to further streamline federal review and approval processes”.

While reported timelines are subject to change, the final investment decision (FID) on LNG Canada Phase 2 could be made as early as October 2026, the FID for the PRGT pipeline is targeted by the end of 2026, while construction on the West Coast Oil Pipeline could start as early as September 1, 2027.

The CRU-BC is already the subject of a “systemic investigation” by the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission related to its enforcement of “the Coastal GasLink Ltd injunction on Wet’suwet’en traditional territory”.

That long-delayed report could be released by mid-October 2026.

Bill C-39

On September 21, 2026, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government tabled the 246-page Bill C-39, the Building Canada Strong Act, in the House of Commons.

The Toronto Star reports: “Government officials and cabinet ministers touted the legislation — which was applauded by at least one major business organization — as a way to create certainty for investments in development projects.”

That article adds that Bill C-39 includes “new rules to allow companies to pay offset fees if their projects harm fish habitats”, rules that would “allow construction to begin before a project is approved”, and the ability to “create special zones called ‘regions of national interest’ where approvals for projects can be ‘streamlined’.”

CBC News further reports: “Construction of projects with a national interest designation, or projects within the national interest zones, would be allowed to start before receiving all the necessary federal permits.”

Julia Levin of Environmental Defence says: “[Bill C-39] would make it practically impossible for the government to meaningfully consult Indigenous communities on major projects, which is constitutionally required.”

Bills 14 and 15 in British Columbia

In August 2025, Shiri Pasternak and Tia Dafnos wrote in The Breach about the relationship between CRU-BC and Bills 14 and 15, provincial legislation in British Columbia designed to fast-track major projects that are likely to be opposed by Indigenous land and environmental defenders.

Pasternak and Dafnos write: “An internal RCMP background document lays out how the rebranded unit is participating in two secretive provincial committees—the Critical Incident Secretariat and the Civil Disobedience/Public Order group—that coordinate intelligence between police, government, and industry and respond to opposition around major resource and infrastructure projects.”

They add: “One of the key roles of the unit on these two committees is intelligence coordination. The unit now has dedicated resources to monitor opposition to proposed and active infrastructure projects. Weekly reports from the RCMP to the BC government, obtained by The Breach, show that in 2024 CRU-BC was keeping tabs on opposition to the controversial LNG and gas projects across the province.”

Images of Critical Incident Secretariat (CIS) Situational Awareness Update (January 2026) from The Tyee.

Bill C-39 and the RCMP

While the Canadian government does not appear to have a Critical Incident Secretariat or Civil Disobedience/Public Order group as in British Columbia, it does have an Incident Response Group; a Government Operations Centre (GOC), that has previously labelled one of the Unist’ot’en land defenders as an “aboriginal extremist”; and a National Cross-Sector Forum (NCSF) consultation group.

Further research and analysis is required to discern the rights implications of Bill C-39 and RCMP CRU-BC surveillance and actions against Indigenous land and environmental defenders opposed to major projects deemed in the national interest.

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Mexico accompanies MODEBOCU and Pueblo Unido defenders at advocacy meetings at European Union institutions, with civil society in Brussels

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: María Auxiliadora Haro and Nuria Yamada in Brussels.

The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project is accompanying Nuria Yamada, a member of the Movement for the Defense of the Forest and Water Basins of Tancítaro (MODEBOCU), and María Auxiliadora Haro, a member of United People in Defense of the Sonora River Basin on an advocacy tour in Europe.

PBI-Mexico explains: “During the week of September 14, 2026, an advocacy, exchange and learning trip of Mexican women defenders was carried out in the city of Brussels that has been accompanied by PBI Mexico.”

They further explain that MODEBOCU is a community-based organization dedicated to socio-environmental monitoring, the accompaniment of citizen projects of public interest and mediation between the local population and agricultural producers.

PBI-Mexico also notes that United People emerged in defense of the Sonora River (which has been impacted by pollution originated since 2014 by toxic discharges related to mining activities – by the Grupo México Buenavista del Cobre mine) due to its opposition to the construction of water storage dams on the Sonora River itself.

In Brussels, the defenders met with the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), as well as with civil society organizations and defenders from other territories.

European Union policies, such as the Global Gateway investment strategy and the implementation of the European Union’s Guidelines to Support Human Rights Defenders, were discussed. The Protect Their Voices Initiative was also discussed.

Global Gateway is a strategy to mobilize €400 billion in investments by 2027. Peace Brigades International recently signed a letter calling for Global Gateway to “create independent oversight, complaints, accountability and reparation mechanisms accessible to communities, organizations and human rights defenders affected by EU backed investments, and adopt specific measures to prevent, monitor and respond to the risks faced by defenders of land, environment and human rights in the context of development and infrastructure projects.”

The European Union Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders were established in 2008. In April 2026, the Human Rights and Democracy Network (HRDN) commented: “While the EU and its Member States have established valuable relocation and protection mechanisms, these remain fragmented, short-term, unavailable to those most at risk and inconsistent as reports and studies have shown.” An Amnesty International report in 2019 also found “an apparent lack of overall strategy and consistency in EU efforts to support HRDs, insufficient visibility of EU actions and channels of support and the absence of a targeted and impact oriented approach to public action.”

And Protejamos sus voces (Let’s protect their voices) began in 2021. A European Commission article notes: “Implemented in cooperation with 11 EU Member States, the initiative is held within the framework of the EU–Mexico High-Level Dialogue on Human Rights. …The initiative seeks to bring recognition and to increase engagement with human rights defenders and journalists, most of whom are women, who work in high-risk contexts to promote truth, justice and freedom of expression.”

The European Union and Canada

On September 16, 2026, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed in her 2026 State of the Union address that Canada should become an associate member of the European Union.

The next day, September 17, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed the proposal during his address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

It is not clear what associate membership would mean, but Politico has suggested it could be “something deeper than a free-trade agreement, less politically demanding than full EU membership, and potentially broad enough to cover trade, defence, energy, artificial intelligence, research and education.”

At PBI-Canada we are studying the implications of this for human rights defenders as well as the advocacy opportunities related to the plan for the European Parliament to open an antenna office in Ottawa to further strengthen parliamentary relations between the European Union and Canada.

To read the full PBI-Mexico article, go to: Newsletter #1: PBI Mexico accompanies Advocacy Tour of Europe (September 21, 2026).

Additional reading

–She leaves for Europe to spread the movement in defense of the Sonora River basin (article about María Auxiliadora Haro Romo, September 11, 2026)

–What the Earth Tells Us (a conversation with Nuria Yamada, April 2024).

PBI-Colombia amplifies CREDHOS urgent action about AGC paramilitary structures in Cantagallo and Yondó

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has amplified on social media an Instagram post by the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) about AGC paramilitary structures in populated areas.

That post states in part:

“NAMING NAMES: IT IS THEM, AND THE AUTHORITIES KNOW WHO THEY ARE

We are sounding the alarm regarding the grave situation facing rural communities in Cantagallo (southern Bolívar) and Yondó (Antioquia) due to the continued presence and operations of *Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia* (AGC) structures within populated centers, hamlets, and rural areas.

We are not talking about an unknown presence.

Communities have reported the locations and operations of these groups, while CREDHOS has pointed out that their units and bases are known to the military authorities with jurisdiction over the territory.

What is concerning is that, despite this knowledge, there is currently no evidence of effective action to address this situation, protect the civilian population, or restore security conditions in these territories.”

We further note that the 6-page “Urgent Action” from CREDHOS highlights:

“TO INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS BODIES: In particular, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia and the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia, to monitor this urgent action and demand that the Colombian State fulfill its obligations to guarantee rights.

We request that all authorities to whom this urgent action is addressed inform this organization in writing—within the fifteen (15) business-day period stipulated in Article 14 of Law 1755 of 2015—of the measures adopted in response to the requests made herein.”

Accompaniment

Peace Brigades International has accompanied CREDHOS since 1994.

To see the full post from CREDHOS, click here.

Filipino human rights defender Cristina Palabay speaking at the Kapit Bisig conference in Toronto

By
Brent Patterson
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The Kapit Bisig international conference in Toronto this coming Friday September 25-Saturday September 26 will feature as a speaker Filipino human rights defender Cristina (Tinay) Palabay from Karapatan.

The conference is being organized by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP), in partnership with the Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle (FFPS) and the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL).

The KARAPATAN website explains: “KARAPATAN is an alliance of individuals, groups and organizations working for the promotion and protection of human rights in the Philippines. Its founders and members have been at the forefront of the human rights struggle in the Philippines since the time of Marcos’ martial law regime.”

Front Line Defenders has also previously noted: “Cristina Palabay is the Secretary General of KARAPATAN or the Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights-Philippines. …Palabay has been with KARAPATAN since 2010 [and] has joined numerous quick reaction, fact-finding and humanitarian missions to document and investigate human rights violations, conduct advocacy activities and lead mass actions, and assist the victims of rights violations and their families.”

Thirteen KARAPATAN members killed

In August 2020, Human Rights Watch documented that KARAPATAN legal worker Zara Alvarez was shot dead in Bacolod City that month.

They further noted: “Alvarez is the thirteenth Karapatan member killed during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte [2016-2022], the group said. Many others have been killed during previous administrations, which shows the risks of human rights work in the Philippines.”

Photo: Zara Alvarez.

KARAPATAN denounces aerial bombings

In January 2026, KARAPATAN called on independent national and international monitors of International Humanitarian Law to “immediately investigate the aerial strafing and bombings carried out by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Barangay Cabacao, Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro on 1 January 2026, which left several civilians dead and one person missing.”

At that time, Palabay stated: “They dropped bombs from the skies and fired indiscriminately from helicopters. The military is solely responsible for these deaths.”

Just a few months later, on May 26-27, a delegation from the Philippines was in Ottawa for CANSEC, “Canada’s largest defence, security & emerging tech tradeshow where $1B+ in business deals happen every year.”

KARAPATAN and Palabay “red-tagged”

Human Rights Watch has also previously warned: “The military and police, along with other government agencies, have for years been ‘red-tagging’ Karapatan [that Global Witness explains is when legitimate activists are falsely branded as terrorists]. And the reality is that people who are ‘red-tagged’ are at heightened risk, including of being targeted for killing. This includes Karapatan’s secretary-general [Cristina Palabay], who herself has been subjected to ‘red-tagging’.”

On July 20, 2026, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was arriving in the Philippines, Palabay stated: “For years, successive Philippine governments have followed [the US counterterrorism] framework through security agreements, military cooperation, and legislation such as the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 and the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act. These measures have been used to red-tag, surveil, arbitrarily arrest, detain, and prosecute activists, trade unionists, peasant and indigenous leaders, humanitarian workers, journalists, lawyers, church people, and human rights defenders because of their people’s rights advocacies and dissent.”

“Really little daylight”

On the same day that KARAPATAN was criticizing the US counterterrorism framework, Canadian defence minister David McGuinty told reporters at the Farnborough Airshow in the United Kingdom that that there’s “really little daylight” between Canada and the United States on military and intelligence affairs.

Commemoration of martial law

Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos was signed on September 21, 1972, and announced to the public on September 23, 1972.

Today, September 21, Rappler reports: “Human rights alliance Karapatan connected the commemoration [of the 54th anniversary of the imposition of martial law by then-president Marcos in the Philippines] to present-day concerns such as corruption, red-tagging, arrests, and restrictions on dissent.”

That article quotes Palabay who says: “The legacy of Martial Law remains because the same atrocities continue, more than five decades after.”

Land and environmental defenders under attack

Global Witness has documented that at least 318 land and environmental defenders have been killed in the Philippines between 2012 and 2025.

Global Witness and Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) have also reported: “Since 2012, the Philippines has been ranked as the deadliest country in Asia for people protecting land and the environment, with mining linked to a third of all killings documented by Global Witness. …The military has been linked to the highest number of documented killings and detentions of land and environmental defenders in the Philippines over the past decade.”

Despite this, in November 2025, Canadian defence minister McGuinty commented: “The Philippines has shown true leadership in upholding international law … and for that [it has] Canada’s greatest and deepest respect.”

PBI-Canada looks forward to hearing KARAPATAN Secretary-General Cristina Palabay speaking in Toronto on September 26 and perhaps being able to ask her how the international community can better help protect human rights defenders in the Philippines from threats, harassment and attacks.

PBI recently launched a Southeast Asia Project to accompany human rights defenders in the Philippines, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand.

Image: ICHRP promotion on Palabay speaking in Toronto.

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