Canadians across the country call for an end to killings of Colombian rights workers

In Colombia almost 700 rights defenders and over 135 former FARC members have been assassinated since January 2016. Those killed include community leaders, teachers, trade unionists, representatives of victims and survivors groups, and water and forest defenders.On July 26, 2019 CoDev and our Canadian partners joined thousands around the world to draw attention to the wave of violence against Colombian social leaders, and to call for an end to it.CoDev shares this video of some of the actions that took place across Canada to honour the invaluable work that social leaders and human rights defenders do for life and peace in Colombia.

CoDev Exec Director Testifies to Citizenship and Immigration Committee

Last December, CoDev Executive Director Steve Stewart, in his capacity of Co-Chair of the Americas Policy Group (a national coalition of organizations working for human rights and development in the Americas) testified to  the Canadian Parliament's immigration committee on the causes of forced migration from Central America. We recently discovered  an online transcript of his presentation and, since the conditions leading to forced migration from the region have only worsened since last December, we share it here.

Mr. Steve Stewart (Co-Chair, Americas Policy Group, Canadian Council for International Co-operation) at the Citizenship and Immigration Committee

December 4th, 2018 / 3:45 p.m.

Thank you. I'll first tell you very briefly about our organization. I'm here as the co-chair of the Americas policy group. It's a national coalition of 32 Canadian organizations that work on human rights and development in the Americas.

While some of our member organizations, such as Amnesty International, work directly on migration, most of our work is done directly in the countries of Latin America. The majority of our members focus on three regions: Mexico, Central America and Colombia.

Given that we have a fairly limited time for the presentation, I'm only going to touch very briefly on Colombia and Mexico and focus primarily on the Central American countries, particularly Guatemala and Honduras, because I believe that's the area where Canadian policy can play a role.

The focus in this presentation is primarily on the conditions that lead to migration. I think the speaker who preceded me did an excellent job of covering that, so I may jump over some of my points.

Colombia has the highest number of internally displaced people in the world after Syria, with 6.5 million people who are displaced. Despite the demobilization of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia last year and an end to that part of the war, violence and displacement continue. In 2017, violence in the country generated another 139,000 displacements, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. Although sometimes we have the impression that there is peace in Colombia, violence is still generating large numbers of internally displaced people.

There are a number of factors behind these displacements. They're common through all of the countries I'm referring to here. They are the impacts of free trade, extractivism, the drug trade, corruption and organized crime. It's exacerbated, as the previous speaker mentioned, by climate change. In Mexico—and I think you've probably heard these statistics before—large numbers of displacement and violence coincided with the launching of the drug war in 2006, with a total of some 250,000 people believed to have been killed between the launching of the war and last year, while another 37,000 people have been forcibly disappeared.

In Colombia and Mexico, it's not uncommon for local government and security forces to act in collusion with organized crime, but it's in the Central American countries, in particular Guatemala and Honduras, where these networks have also deeply penetrated the national state. Organized crime operates on a number of levels in Honduras and Guatemala, ranging up from the street gangs that you've heard about in earlier testimonies, such as the Mara 18 and the Salvatruchas, who control both urban neighbourhoods and also a number of rural areas in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, often serving as the foot soldiers for more sophisticated criminal networks involved with drug trafficking, but also involved with graft in a large scale at the state level, and sometimes providing security to transnational corporations operating in these countries.

I'm not going to go in depth on statistics, but some rather stark examples have come up recently with the arrest last week of the brother of the Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández on cocaine smuggling charges, and then just last year Fabio Lobo, the son of the former president, Porfirio Lobo, was sentenced to 24 years after being convicted in U.S. courts on similar charges. In both of these cases, testimony indicates that the Honduran presidents were aware of these activities and, at the very least, did nothing.

However, the Honduran government's involvement in organized crime goes beyond links to drug smuggling. De facto President Juan Orlando Hernández, in his previous term, was forced to admit that his party looted the national public health and social security system to fund his 2013 electoral campaign.

We find similar cases in neighbouring Guatemala. In 2015, the president, vice-president and most of his cabinet were forced to resign and were indicted on corruption charges after investigations by the United Nations' international commission against impunity, CICIG, revealed a vast organized crime network within the Guatemalan state.

The president that succeeded him, current president Jimmy Morales, is now also under investigation. In recent times, though, his administration has taken steps to block the effective work of the UN body by preventing its director from entering the country.

The penetration of organized crime into government and state institutions takes place in the context of economic and ecological shifts in the region that are generating significant internal displacement. There are many different factors linked to that, which I mentioned previously.

In the Colombian case, the influx of low-priced basic grains that followed the signing of free trade agreements with North America and Europe in the past 25 years has reduced local food production and made it much more difficult for rural families to earn a living growing basic foods. This is combined with new unpredictability related to climate change, and pressure on farming communities from the expanding agro-industrial frontier—primarily sugar cane and African palm, which is, ironically, often used for the creation of biofuels.

These serve to drive the farmers from the land, either to marginalized communities in surrounding urban areas, or to take the long and dangerous migrant trek.

I know I'm running out of time already—Click here for the full transcript and questions.

CoDev in Solidarity with Colombian Rights Defenders and Social Leaders

Vancouver, Canada, July 26, 2019.

CoDevelopment Canada (CoDev) stands in solidarity with our Colombian partners and the many human rights and social organizations mobilizing today to demand an end to the systematic killing of social leaders and human right defenders and the undermining of the 2016 peace accords.

The number of social leaders assassinated has increased every year since the Peace Accords between the Colombian government and the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC). Between January 2016 and May 2019, 681 community leaders and human rights defenders have been assassinated , as well as 135 former guerrillas. Hundreds more are under threat or are politically persecuted.

The majority of these crimes take place in territories where indigenous and afro-Colombian communities resist state-supported displacement for mining and oil projects and the expansion of agro-industries, as well as the illegal drug trade. Those killed played important roles defending their communities’ territorial rights, denouncing government corruption, or opposing illegal armed groups and illegal economies. They include community leaders involved in land restitution processes, teachers, trade unionists, representatives of victims and survivors’ groups, and water and forest defenders.

The Final Peace Accords were signed in November 2016, but President Ivan Duque’s administration has resisted their full implementation, attempting to dismantle the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, a transitional system to guarantee justice for the victims of mass atrocities and other human rights violations. Under Duque, Colombia has become even more militarized, with the increased use of soldiers to surveil social leaders and communities, and a suspension of the peace process between the government and the National Liberation Army (ELN, Colombia’s other guerrilla movement).

CoDev, joins human rights and social movements in Colombia and around the world to call on Colombian authorities to:

• Protect the life and integrity of social leaders and human rights defenders, and investigate and bring to justice those responsible for their killings.

• Respect and fully implement the 2016 Peace Accords, including the Special Jurisdiction for Peace to guarantee the right to Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Non-repetition.

From Canada, we send our support and our commitment to continue to accompany our Colombian partners in their struggle to defend the human, social and environmental rights of their communities, and to call our own government to denounce the human rights violations in Colombia and support the full implementation of the 2016 Peace Accords.

Letter to Minister Freeland on the Political Crisis in Venezuela

Enjoy a Cup of Café Etico in Your New CoDev Logo Mug!

Mugs are $7 each or 2 for $12.

CoDev was lucky enough to receive a grant from Imprint4, a promotional products company that believes in giving back to the community. In that spirit, the company awarded CoDev $500 in free logo products. It seemed only fitting that we choose coffee mugs to complement Café Etico. We’re grateful to Imprint 4 for their generosity and invite all of you to come in and purchase a mug along with your favorite Café Etico coffee.

Urgent Action: Constitutional Crisis in Guatemala

Since August 2017 when Guatemala President Jimmy Morales attempted to declare Ivan Velasquez, the head of the UN-sponsored International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) persona non grata, the Guatemalan government and economic elite have made multiple attempts to stop investigations of fraud, money laundering, and illicit campaign financing.In August 2018, the President announced that CICIG's mandate would not be renewed and Commissioner Ivan Velasquez was not permitted to enter the country. The Constitutional Court ordered immigration authorities to allow entry to Velasquez, but Morales, speaking through two ministers, said he would defy the court order. The Guatemalan government has violated legal resolutions issued by the Constitutional Court regarding CICIG’s mandate, and on January 7, 2019 illegally detained and denied entry to one of its investigators, Yilen Osorio Zuluaga and gave CICIG 24 hours to leave the country.According to Guatemalan Human Rights organizations these actions against CICIG could lead to a “Technical Coup” putting at risk the country's constitutional order, weakening specialized government investigation units, reducing the struggle against impunity on combating street gangs and empowering the old Illegal Groups and Clandestine Security Organizations.Please send our urgent action to show international solidarity with CICIG’s work in Guatemala.[formidable id="75" title="1"]

Colombian Civic Strike Leaders Visit Canada

In 2017, social organizations launched a remarkable three-week civic strike that forced the Colombian government to negotiate solutions to the city’s pressing social and human rights crisis. Residents literally shut down Colombia’s most important trade route. Many, many activists were called upon to organize and participate in this momentous event with remarkable success.

The strike won important concessions from the 3 levels government to improve community infrastructure and the collective rights and safety of the inhabitants. Yet threats against the community leaders continue to grow exponentially as plans to expand and modernize the port continue. While the Colombian government signed peace agreements in the autumn of 2017, violence connected to large landowners and corporate economic interests remain active throughout the country.

CoDev was pleased (along with other organizations listed below), to host a high level delegation of three of those Colombian social leaders as they toured Canada from October 25 to November 9, 2018. These leaders represent the Buenaventura Civic Strike Committee in Colombia’s principal Pacific port city. Members of the delegation included:

• Maria Miyela Riascos: spokesperson for the Buenaventura Civic Strike Committee. In February 2018, she became one of several strike leaders to receive death threats.
• Victor Hugo Vidal: spokesperson for the Buenaventura Civic Strike Committee, former municipal councillor and an organizer of the Black Communities Process (PCN).
• Olga Araujo: human rights defender and popular educator for the Association for Social Research and Action (Nomadesc).

As part of the tour, CoDev sponsored an International Solidarity Committee Conference. This conference brought together many of our union partner IS Committee representatives for a memorable day of sharing and learning about not just the historic civic strike in Colombia, but how activists in Canada can learn from our brothers and sisters in Latin America and from each other. Workshops included such topics as: Creative Ways to Engage Members (union) in International Solidarity, Dealing with Divisive Issues in International Solidarity and Community/Labour Alliances to Protect Public Services.Andrea Duncan, a member of the BC GEU International Solidarity Committee put it best when she said, “Labour’s battles and human rights have absolutely no borders.” This was a sentiment echoed widely throughout the day.For more information about International Solidarity and how CoDev can provide you and/or your organization with learning opportunities, please contact CoDevelopment Canada at: codev@codev,org or call 604.708.1495.To read more about the Buenaventura Strike Committee and its historic work, read: https://bit.ly/2J9SvTw. You can also listen to a radio interview with Maria Miyela Riascos on Radio Canada Internationale here: https://bit.ly/2PobU9w_{(NOTE: The delegation was organized by Co-Development Canada and the Colombia Frontlines Initiative (includes: Public Service Alliance of Canada, Canadian Union of Postal Workers and the Canadian Union of Public Employees)}

Urgent Action: Killings & Death Threats in Colombia

Call on Colombian authorities to stop the killing, stigmatization and death threats against social leaders and human rights defenders in Colombia.

CoDevelopment’s partner NOMADESC (Association for Research and Social Action), together with other human rights organizations of southwestern Colombia, are requesting support in urging the new government of President Ivan Duque Marquez to take immediate action to prevent the systematic killing of social leaders and human rights defenders in the country.According to Colombian human rights organizations, 123 social leaders were killed and 600 others received death threats between January and July 2018. One such threat was circulated August 9 in the city of Cali by the narco-paramilitary group Aguilas Negras (Black-Eagles). The leaflets declared 10 social organizations and 21 rights defenders military targets, stating: “The Aguilas Negras reiterate our position to counteract at the national level the urban structures of the insurgency, camouflaged as supposed social leaders, and direct our units to stop the advance of the so-called “Colombia Humana,” which promotes progressive “sellout” governments inclined to strengthen leftist organizations, contrary to the political project proposed by Doctor IVAN DUQUE.”Among the organizations targeted are the Valle del Cauca Teachers’ Union (SUTEV, a member of our partner, the Colombian Teachers’ Federation), and Margarita López, president of Valle del Cauca water worker’s union SINTRACUAVALLE, another CoDev partner.Please send our urgent action to Colombian President Ivan Duque:

1. To take concrete steps to stop the assassinations and threats against social leaders and human rights defenders.
2. To make public the new government’s human rights policy to designed to prevent killings and attacks against rights defenders.
3. To thoroughly investigate and identify those persons responsible for the killing, death threats and stigmatization of social leaders and human rights defenders.

[formidable id="73" title="1"]Please also send messages and photos of solidarity with Colombian social leaders and human rights defenders through social media:Facebook:Nomadesc: @AsociacionNomadescFecode: @fecodeSintracuavalle: @sintracuavalle.presenteTwitter, using the hashtags #SerLiderNoEsDelito #NoHayPazSinDefensoresNomdesc: @NomadescFecode: @fecodeSintracuavalle: @SINTRACUAVALLE

Volcano Relief – Guatemalan Women’s Sector

By now many Canadians have heard of the horrendous eruption of the Fuego (Fire) Volcano that began Sunday June 3,destroying several Guatemalan communities, killing at least 110 – hundreds more are still missing - and displacing thousands.

Donate Now!

There has been considerable controversy regarding official aid from the Guatemalan state for the disaster. Guatemalan president Jimmy Morales initially announced that there were no emergency state funds available for victims of the eruption. Although later state officials began to deliver aid, there are also several reports of soldiers or other state officials confiscating donations gathered at voluntary collection centres and then delivering them to emergency shelters as if they came from the local mayor or the national government. These actions have sparked distrust among the population. On June 9, tens of thousands took to the streets in Guatemala City in a torchlight march to protest the perceived ineptitude and corruption of the Guatemalan government during this crisis.Since the Fire Volcano continues to be active, the displaced still don’t know if and when they can return to attempt to rebuild their homes and replant crops.Help from CanadaSolidarity groups and members of the Guatemalan community are organizing activities across Canada to support those affected by the eruption. Contributions can also be directed through CoDevelopment Canada. CoDev is sending all donations to our partner the Guatemalan Women’s Sector, a national alliance of women’s organizations. The Sector is collecting and purchasing food, clothing, bedding and shelter materials to be distributed by their member organization, the Women’s Association for the development of Sacatepéquez (AFEDES) in Alotenango, one of the municipalities most affected by the eruption.Women from AFEDES prepare food and emergency packages for communities displaced by the eruption of Guatemala's Fire volcano.To support this work, either click here: “Canada Helps” and choose “Guatemala Volcano Relief” in the “Apply Your Donation” section; mail a cheque to CoDev with the same words in memo line; or give our financial director Jeffrey a call at 778 874 0539, ext 111 to donate with a credit card. Tax receipts will be issued for all donations $25 and over.

Urgent Action: Mass Arrests in Colombia

Please call on Colombia’s President to release rights defenders arrested April 20-22.

CoDev partner NOMADESC (works to train members of community organizations in southwestern Colombia as human rights promotors able to document and process rights violations. In a sweep of mass arrests April 20-22, Colombian authorities arbitrarily detained dozens of elected community leaders and rights defenders in the communities where NOMADESC works. Among the charges levelled against those arrested is membership in, or association with, the National Liberation Army (ELN), an armed rebel movement currently in peace talks with the Colombian state. The accusations are reminiscent of the “false positives” human rights crimes of the past decade, where the Colombian military abducted and murdered marginalized youth and community activists in order to dress them in military fatigues and claim them as guerrilla “kills.”Please send our urgent action to Colombian President Manuel Santos, urging him to release the detainees and guarantee their safety and rights to a fair and open trial.Follow NOMADESC to learn more about their incredible work: Twitter; Facebook; Instagram; YouTube[formidable id="72" title="1"]

Disaster Capitalism: Hurricane Maria & Puerto Rico’s Schools

To learn more about the role of the teachers federation and other Puerto Rican unions' role in community–based recovery: http://bit.ly/2Ardg7kI just got off the phone with Sofia Feliciano in Puerto Rico. She told me that her father had been arrested yesterday. Sofia’s father is Rafael Feliciano, former president of the Federation of Puerto Rican Teachers (#FMPR) whom I first met during the Tri-National Coalition to Defend Public Education Conference that the BC Teachers’ Federation hosted in Vancouver in May 2016.2017 Oct 23 Declaración de Prensa FMPR (Spanish)Press Release FMPR Oct 2017 (English)I have been calling Rafael and Sofia more frequently since Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in late September, looking for updates on the situation and info on how CoDev and our Canadian partners might assist the teachers’ federation in efforts to rebuild schools and communities. They’ve described the innovative education that is taking place – like classes carried out in neighbours’ kitchens… How many ingredients do we need to feed every person on our block? and on the neighbours’ roofs… How to best build hurricane proof roofs with wood and zinc? But as cleaning up moves forward, they said, communities in Puerto Rico experienced a second blow, the FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and the US federal government are taking advantage of the environmental crisis. It was not long before Puerto Rico’s Education Secretary, Julia Keleher, announced that over 600 schools across the Island would close down and no longer be needing teachers. The FMPR fears they will replace them with charter schools, unloading responsibility for education onto the communities.Sofia and Rafael explained how communities dealing with traumatic effects of the hurricane are now also faced with having to protect their public schools. Over 50% of them remain closed, in spite of having the adequate conditions to receive students.The FMPR believes that it is unacceptable that well over a month after the hurricane, the government denies the right to public education to tens of thousands of Puerto Rican students. The schools belong to their communities, the union says, and they need them open in order to fully recover!In response to Keleher’s plan to privatize public education, teachers organized a civil disobedience action in the Education Secretary’s offices this week, which resulted in the arrest of 21 teachers, including Rafael.Clearly, Sofia was hurt and shocked to see her father arrested. Unfortunately she had to witness the same brutal actions back in June 2017 when fellow university students were also arrested for defending the University of Puerto Rico after the government attempted to pay its debt to international speculators by selling off the post-secondary institution. The students held a 72 day strike against sweeping austerity measures.Rafael Feliciano and other teachers arrested, were released last night at 11pm and are expected to appear before the courts to face charges.In the face of unprecedented devastation and an ineffective response from US disaster relief agencies in the occupied territory, the teachers’ federation has served as a useful network for community-based recovery from an environmental disaster. It is disturbing that Puerto Rico’s teachers must now also fight to prevent the destruction of their public school system.

In Defense of Democracy in Guatemala

PURSUING CORRUPTION,IS FINISHING WITH HISTORICAL PRIVILEGES

We see with great concern that in the face of the fight against corruption in recent years has been the development of a rearrangement of the most conservative powers of the country that are gradually outlining a fascist state in Guatemala. This political crisis is one more moment in this reset and we must not stop seeing it together with the impulse of an extractive economic model that promotes the militarization of the country, the attempt to limit the exercise of rights especially the sexual ones, the lack of recognition of the validity of community consultations in good faith, co-opting justice structures for social criminalization and now the intention to weaken the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, which aims to set precedents to weaken international bodies that uphold human rights.

It therefore seems essential to promote a national articulation that, learning from the process of 2015, sees beyond the moment and that in this crisis resumes as a priority for the observation of human rights of the population, which have been threatened by corruption and impunity of public officials. That is why we call for social mobilization to:

• Respect the process of community consultations that were conducted in good faith by communitiesagainst the imposition of extractive projects in their territories. We resolutely reject the guide that the executive has presented for conducting the consultation.• That the Congress of the Republic is cleansed and the rules of the political game are reviewed, making profound reforms to the Law of Electoral Reform and Political Parties to ensure that no more corrupt politicians reach the Congress of the Republic.

Today, more than ever, the entities of the State must fulfill their functions to deepen democracy:

• We demand that the Supreme Court of Justice bring the case against President Jimmy Morales and against other officials and / or politicians so that their responsibilities can be deduced in cases of corruption• We demand the Congress of the Republic appoint an investigator and approve the investigation once the Supreme Court of Justice moves the case against the President.• That the Supreme Electoral Court continue with the work of policing the political parties to cleanse them internally• That the Public Ministry continue with the role of investigating and maintaining its impartiality in the framework of the strengthening of justice in this country.

We warn of possible attempts to push back the institutionality of the State in favor of the interests of the power groups so that we call on the Constitutional Court to maintain the guaranteeing principals of the Constitution and fulfillment of the rights, in solving the protection that have made evident the levels of corruption by public officials.

Women's Political Alliance (Women’s Sector)Because the future does not come, it is builtGuatemala, September 1, 2017

Transforming Communities Through Education

"I am grateful for the opportunity to have received this scholarship for higher education, both to the team at the Salvadoran Association for Integrated Health and Social Services (APSIES) and to the CoDevelopment family, as I gained the capacity to learn new methodologies and techniques.  Many times, I have been limited for not having a higher degree and unable to obtain salary improvements. 

This year, 2017, I began the fourth year of my Bachelor of Social Work. I have not failed any subject, for my selection of this career was due to my knowledge of problems within family groups and I felt that people have always had trust in me. I looked to support others without having any empiric study, having even prevented suicides in women and youth in my community.

Attending university has helped me so much both personally and professionally, with the use of techniques and scientific knowledge. I have always sought to improve my knowledge so as to be able to transform people and groups of women and youth, now more than ever with the situation that the country is going through at the moment, technical knowledge has served me well.

Something very important for me is that I do not have to wait to get my degree to put into practice what I have learned, but I am applying it and it is giving me good results in my work.”

Felipa de Jesús Cruz, Tom Kozar Fund Scholarship RecipientLolotique, San Miguel, El Salvador 

Struggling for Rights in Maquilas

Rosa Dina Rodríguez is 33 years old and has worked for over 9 years in maquilas, producing goods for brands such as Nike, Under Armour, and Gildan and for stores including Walmart. As a result of maquila workplace conditions, Rosa has a disability in her right shoulder, damage to her spine and both her hands. She has already undergone two surgeries in her right hand and is waiting for a third on her left. 

Because of these injuries, Rosa Dina must relocate to a position where she does not perform repetitive movements of the shoulder, avoids movement of the neck and any lifting of items over five pounds.

Though the Honduran Institute of Social Security qualified Dina Rosa’s hands as occupational disease, after her contesting their opinion that it is common, Gildan has yet to meet these demands and has actually demanded an increase in production.

A Win for Labour Rights in Honduras

Liliam Castillo is 36 years old. She was born in La Paz and at the age of 15 moved to San Pedro Sula, in northern Honduras, in search of employment. She is a single mother of two, a fifteen-year-old daughter and an eighteen-year-old son. Liliam has been working for Gildan Activewear, a Canadian multinational in Honduras, for 10 years. 

In 2010, Liliam began experiencing pain in her left arm, spine, neck, and shoulders. A doctor at the Honduran Institute of Social Security diagnosed her with tendinitis, caused by repetitive movements. In 2012, a co-worker invited Liliam to join the Honduran Women’s Collective (CODEMUH), where she joined the training program and the theater group, “The Rebel Transgressors.” In February of 2013, Liliam was dismissed from Gildan and so she began the process of demanding for reinstatement. During this three-year process, Liliam did what she could to make ends meet, including selling goods and cleaning houses.

The lawsuit went through the entire judicial process, from the First Instance Court, the Court of Appeals, to the Supreme Court. After three years, the Court ruled that Gildan immediately reintegrate Liliam in equal or better conditions than she had been previously working in and also to pay lost wages. Gildan refused to adhere to the Supreme Court’s ruling and CODEMUH developed an approach to pressure the multinational corporation and implemented various strategies to demand Liliam’s reinstatement, including sit-ins in front of the company, the use of social media, local, national and international media, and the international solidarity of individuals and allied organizations.

As a result of these actions, Liliam was reinstated in May 2016. She was relocated to “Hygiene and Safety” where she assists the engineer, delivers safety equipment such as masks, ear plugs, and goggles, and ensures that workers are using them. Liliam kept her salary of 1,900.00 lempiras (approximately $100 Canadian dollars) a week, the same amount she earned when she met the production goal at the time she was fired.

Liliam says: “I am greatly grateful to CODEMUH for everything they have done for me. I have been trained, I have learned about my rights, I am a duly informed woman. Thanks to CODEMUH, I have a job, my self-esteem has improved, and I am proud to be part of the Rebel Transgressors group.”

Victory for Public Education in Colombia

After 37 days of striking, CODEV partner the Federation of Colombian Educators (FECODE) reached an agreement with the Ministry of Education in Colombia.

Teachers were joined by students and parents in organized peaceful actions across the country, in some cases there were serious confrontations between peaceful protesters and police officers, and furthermore in the context of the national strike three teachers were killed and one disappeared.Some of the hard fought agreements are:

1. A structural reform of the General System of Contributions which will make more resources available for public education. This discussion will also include Congress, mayors, governors and other important actors of the educative community. By July 20th, a commission will be created with representatives of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, office of the Procurator General and FECODE to present a proposal for the next ten years.
2. After the teachers’ strike of 2015, the Colombian government had already agreed to an income equalization by 2019 which has not been fulfilled. With the current agreement the government has agreed to establish the proper mechanisms towards income equalization by 2021. At the same time a new allowance for teachers to be paid progressively; teachers will receive the equivalent of 6% of the monthly salary, until reaching 15% after 2020.
3. Defining a road map for the creation of three grades in public preschool by 2024. Although the General Education Law states the importance of universal preschool education, today only one year of preschool is mandatory.
4. Develop the project “Schools as Territories of Peace” across the country in order to transform public education institutions into spaces for education in human rights and peaceful coexistence. You can find out more about this initiative here: (link to our Video Clip “FECODE Schools as territories of peace John Avila”)
5. Other points revolve around education public policy, union rights and teachers’ health.

Update from Buenaventura, Colombia

On Tuesday June 6, Colombian authorities and community leaders in the Pacific port of Buenaventura reached a deal to lift the 21 day civil strike that emphatically demanded the national government and President Juan Manual Santos, to fulfill their commitments with the peoples of Buenaventura signed in 2014.Peoples in Buenaventura were tired of seeing the economic interests of transnationals always placed first, while their basic public needs were shoved aside and communities forgotten and submerged in extreme poverty and violence.Under the deal, President Juan Manual Santos’s government promised to present a bill to Congress to create a 10-year special development plan for Buenaventura, and has pledged to invest US$500 million in Colombia’s most important port city. The government would be investing in the areas of running water 24 hours a day, basic sanitation services, housing and infrastructure, education, employment, the environment, healthcare provision, and access to justice.This hard-won deal comes after three weeks of civil striking that brought violent repression by ESMAD (Mobile Anti-Disturbance Squadrons) against communities in Buenaventura. At least two people have died and countless others have been injured.We greatly value and commend the peoples of Buenaventura, for their organization and perseverance in defending their human rights, territories, and life of communities in Buenaventura.We thank all of our supporters who responded to our urgent call to action and wrote letters calling on President Santos to halt the repression faced by citizens of Buenaventura. Our friends at NOMADESC (Association for Research and Social Action) appreciate your solidarity!

Canada should support democracy, not just condemn the government, in Venezuela

Backing a mediation effort would be a good start.

By JIM HODGSON, STEVE STEWARTPUBLISHED : Wednesday, May 10, 2017 12:00 AM“The Venezuelan people are again dying in the streets as they battle an ongoing coup d’étatbeing carried out by a group of politicians who oppose our government, and who since April 19 have been carrying out acts of violence, killing people and destroying our national patrimony, just as they did in 2002 and 2014.”These are the words of Bishop Elida Quevedo of the Evangelical Pentecostal Union of Venezuela (UEPV), but hers is not a story that you will see in major media. Instead, facts are distorted to make it appear that it is government forces who repress a “pro-democracy” movement. Bishop Quevedo goes on to describe the April 20 attack on a maternal and child hospital, and sniper shootings of pro-government demonstrators and security forces.As a coalition of Canadian civil society organizations long engaged in solidarity, social justice, and development work in the Americas, we call for a more even-handed approach to issues in Venezuela than that shown recently by Canada and several other members of the Organization of American States (OAS).Since early April, opponents of the government of President Nicolás Maduro have participated in demonstrations—some of them peaceful, but many that have included acts of vandalism, arson, and attacks on security forces. Protests began after the Supreme Court suspended some powers of the opposition-dominated National Assembly after it refused to comply with court rulings on electoral corruption and foreign investment. Even though the court decision was almost immediately rescinded, protests continued.Since then, as many as 37 people have been killed. In cases where public security forces have been linked to violence, investigations are carried out and in some cases, charges filed. The dead include trade union leader Esmin Ramírez, killed after being kidnapped April 23 in the southeastern state of Bolívar, and Jacqueline Ortega, an organizer of an alternative food distribution program in greater Caracas.Clearly, the situation in Venezuela is marked by polarization. But instead of building bridges to enable dialogue between the government and sectors of the opposition that reject violence, the government of Canada and the House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights have echoed the voice of the OAS secretary general, Luis Almagro, and taken up the cause of the hardline opposition.On March 28, Almagro had pressed the OAS permanent council to expel Venezuela from the organization. When it was evident he could not rally a majority of members to apply the OAS Democratic Charter against Venezuela, the session ended without a vote.But on April 3, without the presence of either Bolivia (president of the OAS Permanent Council) or Haiti (the vice-president), just 15 of the 35 members (including Canada) approved a resolution “by consensus”—despite opposition from four other members—declared an “alteration of the constitutional order” in Venezuela and resolved to “urge action by the Venezuelan government to safeguard the separation and independence of powers.”On April 28, Venezuela served notice that it would begin a two-year process to withdraw from the OAS. With regard to Venezuela, the OAS has consistently failed to fulfill its role as a space for multilateral dialogue to resolve conflicts.In challenging Venezuela’s democracy, Canada has aligned itself with the governments of Colombia, Mexico, and Honduras—all of which face serious human rights issues themselves—plus several others, including Brazil which, after the removal last year of the democratically elected president, is also facing waves of popular protest.The government of Canada should make clear its support for constitutional government, electoral democracy, and the rule of law in Venezuela. It could support a mediation initiative led by former heads of government from Panama, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Spain. This initiative proposed last year by the Union of South American Nations and has sparked the interest of Pope Francis.Canada should condemn foreign intervention in Venezuela’s internal affairs via the funding and training of groups and individuals seeking regime change through violence or other unconstitutional means, and support dialogue as the only appropriate means of achieving peace and reconciliation in Venezuela.Jim Hodgson is a member of Common Frontiers, a Canadian civil society coalition on trade justice issues. Steve Stewart is executive director of CoDevelopment Canada, a Vancouver-based international development agency.The Hill Timeshttps://www.hilltimes.com/2017/05/10/canada-support-democracy-not-just-condemn-governmentvenezuela/106330

Join CoDev in calling for an independent human rights Ombudsperson for Canada’s international extractive sector

Take action today to call on the Canadian government to ensure communities affected by Canadian oil, mineral and gas corporations have access to justice. Write your MP and the Minister of International Trade to let them know you want Canada to be a leader in protecting human and environmental rights by creating an independent human rights Ombudsperson.For too long Canada’s extractive industry has not been held accountable for its actions overseas. Human rights violations by Canadian mining corporations are widespread and well-documented. Canada needs an independent human rights Ombudsperson with full investigatory powers and the ability to make recommendations for remedies.Almost 10 years ago, industry and civil society leaders recommended creating an independent human rights Ombudsperson to address serious violations of human rights or environmental damage. The Canadian Network for Corporate Responsibility recently proposed draft legislation to create just such an office. During the 2015 election, most parties, including the Liberal party, committed to creating an independent ombudsperson’s office. Such an office is long overdue.As it stands, the offices in Canada responsible for overseeing corporate social responsibility (the Office of the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor and the National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines) lack independence, investigatory powers, and are not mandated to make recommendations for remedies. Communities whose human rights have been violated by Canadian corporations operating in their territory deserve more. It’s time the Government of Canada to take action and make Canada Open for Justice.

Message from CoDev's newest partner "Totlahtol Yoltok" in Veracruz, Mexico

In January 2017, a collective of Mexican indigenous educators in Veracruz began a new project supported by CoDev and the BC Teachers Federation, Aimed at strengthening indigenous education in the  Nahuatl speaking communities of the Altas Montañas region. We share with you a message from Lucia Morales,  coordinator of the Totlahtol Yoltok ("Our Living Word") project: