Community Peacemaker Teams

Hundreds of people rallied today in Thunder Bay to say NO to burying nuclear waste in Treaty 3 Territory! CPT was once again honoured to join members of Grassy Narrows for this important protest.
narrows.solidarity

Externalisation of borders.

The new EU agreement with the eastern Libyan forces

A week ago, Statewatch made public a leaked document from the Council of the European Union to extend collaboration with eastern Libya. In January 2026, a journalistic investigation made public the intention of creating a EU-funded Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Benghazi, an area controlled by General Khalifa Haftar. Until now the EU has refrained from collaborating with Haftar, recognising the “western” Government of National Unity, based in Tripoli, instead. Now this new document formalises the agreement between EU and Haftar’s government to build up the eastern forces capacity to control and coordinate maritime operations over the search and rescue zone around the stretch of the coast.

For the past ten years, the EU has been collaborating with the Government of National Unity of Libya, supporting them in training and materially, including the donation of multiple boats for the purpose of controlling the borders.

There have been multiple reports on the human rights violations by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard and the Libyan Government against people on the move. For years they have kidnapped, detained, tortured and killed migrants on both, at sea and on land in their detention camps. Lately, there have also been direct attacks on rescue ships, threats and shootings. Only two weeks ago, there was another shooting and a threat to abduct the Sea Watch 5, an NGO rescue ship, by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. Civil Society organizations and MEPs have long called for the suspension of the collaboration with Libya, instead the EU is expanding this collaboration further, now with the “eastern” Libyan forces.

This agreement comes after an increase of people trying to cross from the eastern part of Libya to Europe, mostly to Crete and Gavdos, an agreement that officially recognises for the first time Haftar and the eastern forces of Libya by the EU, although Greece has long officially recognised the Benghazi Government with whom they have a strong military cooperation.

Haftar is at the same time involved in smuggling people across the Mediterranean and conducting pull-backs to Libya, where people are detained and exploited in camps controlled by the same actors. Is known that Haftar has control of the smuggling networks in the east of Libya, as testimonies of the survivors of the Al Mutawakkil, a boat carrying around 750 people that had sailed from Tabruk and capsized 47 nautical miles southwest of Pylos with clear involvement of the Hellenic Coast Guard, have stated, explaining that their arrival in eastern Libya was facilitated by men belonging to the Tariq bin Ziyad brigade, which is under the control of Saddam Haftar, son of Khalifa Haftar.

Since Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011 Libya has become a fragmentated state controlled by different armed groups. Haftar is in control of some of them that are de facto governing the eastern part of Libya, militias and warlords that with this new agreement will receive money, weapons and power that will most probably only further destabilise the region.

With the implementation of the new EU pact on migration in just a few days, and the Return Regulation being discussed and on its way for approval, the externalisation of borders have become a central point of the EU “migration policies", founding and arming States to control migration before arriving to Europe, enabling abuse, exploitation, detention and torture.

This agreement is only a step further on the already deadly "migration policies” in a year that has been so far one of the deadliest in the Mediterranean sea, while the cooperation with Libya and the criminalisation of search and rescue NGOs continue, detaining their ships and, lately, charging captains under the facilitation law, further preventing them from rescuing. The EU “migration management" is being built on detention, deterrence, and, ultimately, death.

CPT-IK Report: Three Months of Iran-Linked Attacks on the Kurdistan Region of Iraq:
751 Attacks, 22 Killed, 112 Injured

Since the outbreak of the war involving the U.S., Israel, and Iran on 28 February 2026, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) has experienced a sustained wave of attacks by Iranian forces and Iran-backed Iraqi militia groups.

Community Peacemaker Teams – Iraqi Kurdistan (CPT-IK) documented 751 attacks during this three-month monitoring period, resulting in 22 killed and 112 injured.

📊 Overall Attack Patterns (Feb 28 – May 28)
Total Attacks: 751 (647 occurred in the first 40 days before the April 8 ceasefire).

Responsible Actors: Iran-backed Iraqi militia groups (60.3%), Iranian forces (39.7%).

Type of Attacks: Su***de drones accounted for 78.4% of all incidents.

Geographic Focus: Erbil Governorate remained the primary target area, receiving 78.3% of all attacks.

Targeted Locations: U.S. diplomatic and military facilities (37.4%), civilian infrastructure (31.7%), and Iranian Kurdish opposition groups (30.9%).

📉 The Ceasefire Shift (Apr 8 – May 28)

Despite the April 8 ceasefire, attacks did not stop. CPT-IK documented 104 additional attacks, revealing a significant tactical shift:

Target Shift: Attacks shifted overwhelmingly toward Iranian Kurdish opposition groups and camps (82.7% of ceasefire attacks).

Actor Shift: Iranian forces became the principal actor, carrying out nearly 89% of documented incidents during this period.

Casualties: All 5 killed and 17 injured during the ceasefire period were members of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups.

📌 Recommendations

To All Parties: Reach a binding agreement ensuring a full cessation of hostilities within KRI territory.

To the Government of Iraq: Uphold territorial sovereignty and hold the Government of Iran and domestic armed groups accountable.

To the KRG & Iraqi Government: Ensure timely compensation for affected civilians under Iraqi Law No. 20 of 2009 and amended Law No. 57 of 2015.

To read the full report, click the link below👇🏼

https://cptik.org/reports-1/3-months-iranian-attacks-260530

Colombia's presidential election will go to a runoff on 21 June after a campaign reportedly "plagued with violence".

Iván Cepeda, an ally of incumbent left-wing president Petro, is known for his advocacy on behalf of victims of state violence during Colombia's decades-long conflict. He has pledged to continue the government's emphasis on peace implementation and negotiated solutions with armed groups. At the other end of the spectrum, Abelardo de la Espriella advocates a far more security-focused approach, emphasizing military and law-enforcement measures over negotiations.

The central question facing Colombians is whether they wish to continue a strategy that seeks to address the root causes of violence through dialogue, inclusion, and social reform, or embrace a more coercive approach centered on military force and state security.

Colombia leftist faces pro-Trump rival in presidential election runoff Left-wing senator Iván Cepeda will face Trump admirer Abelardo de la Espriella at the final ballot on 21 June.

Friday Bulletin, May 29, 2026

This Sunday, Colombians will go to the polls to elect a new president. Gustavo Petro, elected four years ago as Colombia’s first left-wing president, has presided over one of the country’s most polarized administrations in recent history. Supporters view Petro as a reformer seeking to address Colombia’s deep inequalities, while critics argue that his ambitions have often exceeded his ability to govern effectively.

Central to Petro’s presidency was his commitment to implementing the 2016 Peace Agreement signed between the Colombian state and the FARC, one of the world’s longest-running insurgent groups. The name of his political coalition, Pacto Histórico (Historic Pact), reflected his ambition to reshape Colombia’s political landscape. His administration sought to advance implementation of the agreement despite sustained opposition from sectors that questioned both its terms and its broader vision for peace. At the heart of these debates were competing ideas about what a just and lasting peace for Colombia should look like—and whose voices should be centered in building it.

Continue reading: https://cpt.org/2026/05/29/peace-at-stake-this-sunday

We're hiring an Executive Director and Program Director. If you or someone you know could bring leadership to a consensus-based organization working for peace and justice through nonviolence, please share this.

Find the full job description at https://cpt.org/job-vacancies

Apply by June 15, 2026

Join Grassy Narrows on September 23rd, 12pm Toronto River Run Rally 2026 🌊🌊🌊

RSVP: https://freegrassy.net/river-run-2026-rsvp

Grassy Narrows youth and community members will travel 1,700km to bring their demands directly to FordNation who continues to ignore the community

Grassy Narrows is demanding that Premier Ford
• Compensate everyone in Grassy Narrows fairly for the mercury crisis
• End the pollution by stopping the Dryden mill and ending mining and nuclear waste plans that threaten Grassy Narrows
• Support Grassy Narrows in restoring their community and way of life from the damage mercury has done

Family-friendly event. Rain or shine. ✊🏽

🚨🇨🇺 Statement by CODEPINK’s Medea Benjamin regarding an alleged government investigation into March Cuba trip

Contrary to rumors, I have not received any subpoena from the U.S. government. Perhaps one is on the way. But let me be clear: we did nothing wrong during our March 2026 trip to Cuba. On the contrary, we acted as moral U.S. citizens trying to bring some relief to a population being deliberately starved by the cruel policies of our own government.

We traveled to Cuba under the U.S. government-authorized category of providing humanitarian aid to the Cuban people. We brought desperately needed medicines and medical supplies at a time when Cuba is suffering catastrophic shortages caused by the crippling U.S. blockade. We stayed in hotels explicitly permitted under U.S. regulations: Spanish-owned hotels approved for U.S. travelers.

It is outrageous that the U.S. government would target people for bringing humanitarian aid to suffering Cuban children. But even more disturbing is the cruel and deeply immoral policy the United States continues to impose on Cuba — a policy designed to strangle the island economically, deprive people of food, fuel, medicine, and basic necessities, and make daily life unbearable.

This policy has contributed to catastrophic shortages of medicine and electricity, massive blackouts, transportation collapse, and a public health crisis that has hurt the most vulnerable, especially children and the elderly. It is a policy that is, literally, killing babies, as we have seen in the recent tragic doubling of the infant mortality rate. This is why we focused our donations on medical supplies for pediatric hospitals.

In addition to the immense human suffering these U.S. policies are causing, we are now hearing reckless threats about an invasion of Cuba — a path that would bring chaos, violence, and a massive migration crisis.

Year after year, the global community overwhelmingly condemns the U.S. blockade at the United Nations. The United States should lift the blockade, normalize relations with Cuba, and allow the future of Cuba to be determined by the Cuban people themselves — not by ambitious U.S. politicians or a small group of hardline Cuban-American extremists in Miami.

President Trump already has his hands full trying to disentangle himself from the disastrous U.S. war with Iran. He should not start another one in Cuba. The American people are tired of endless wars, interventions, sanctions, and suffering imposed in our name.

https://www.codepink.org/subpoenacubastatement

Prisons are not always surrounded by walls and iron bars. Sometimes, prison is a life lived under endless restrictions, where even the simplest choices are no longer yours to make. Imagine waking up every morning knowing that your movement, your safety, and even your future are controlled by others. For many Palestinians, this is not a metaphor; it is daily life.

Read more from Community Peacemaker Teams - Palestine: https://cpt.org/2026/05/22/is-freedom-just-a-word