- Front Line Defenders and Human Rights Defenders Memorial analyzed the data to determine that there were at least 358 murders in 2021 of human rights activists around the world.
- Nearly 60% of those totals were land, environment, or Indigenous rights defenders.
- Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil had the highest death rates.
- Advocates claim that the number is likely to be much higher because attacks on land and environmental defenders in Africa often go undetected.
2021 saw the deaths of at least 358 human right defenders. According to an analysisFront Line Defenders (FLD), and the international consortium Human Rights Defenders Memorial. Nearly 60% were Indigenous rights defenders and more than 25% were land, environmental, or Indigenous rights defenders. Researchers who compiled the data stated that the high number of activists killed fighting for community land and natural resource threats was a continuation of a long-standing trend.
Andrew Anderson, director of FLD, stated that there is a complete impunity in most, if not all, of these attacks.
Colombia was the most dangerous country for human rights defenders in 2020. There were 138 confirmed killings, more than a third of global total. Mexico, with 42 deaths, was second, followed by Brazil, which had 27 killings, 19 being land rights defenders.
Anderson explained to Mongabay how many of those murdered activists were targeted because they opposed dams, illegal logging, mining operations, or other extractive projects that are linked to powerful interests.
He said that activists who work to document what is happening and challenge government-driven narratives face extreme danger.
In 15 countries, there were murders of Indigenous rights defenders and land, environment, and land defenders: Argentina (Burkina Faso), Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Guatemala.
For years, Colombia has been ranked among the most dangerous countries for human rights defenders. This is partly due to violent conflicts over remote smuggling routes. Also, land that was previously held by FARC (guerrilla group), was disbanded in 2016 after a peace agreement with the government. Paramilitary organizations have attempted to fill the FARC’s vacuum by targeting Indigenous groups resisting warring factions on their traditional territories.
Five Indigenous land and water defenders from Paso de la Reyna, Oaxaca, Mexico were killed in the first three month of 2021. Fidel Heras CruzThe man who worked to expose the threats to the Verde River due to a hydroelectric dam, and illicit rock quarrying. FLD claimed that in recent years, the Mexican government has given more power to the military in the implementation and monitoring of development projects. This is partly to intimidate Indigenous communities and other communities that object to these projects.
Many of the people who died were subject to harassment and threats for years. It is possible that their deaths could have been prevented if their governments had been more aggressive in their support. Jose de Jesus Robledo Cruz, Maria de Jesus Gomez, and Jose de Jesus Robledo Cruz were killed in the Mexican state Sonora. April 2021 – DeathsAfter organizing a campaign against Mexico’s largest gold-mining firm. It wasn’t the first time that the married couple was targeted. In 2017, they were kidnapped by unknown assailants in army fatigues and tortured. A note with 13 names was attached to one of their bodies after their bodies were discovered last January.
Nearly three quarters of Mexican human rights defenders were protecting land, the environment, or Indigenous rights.
As shocking as the death toll may seem, the real figure is likely much greater. Front Line Defenders relies upon local partners to report on murders. Generally, they look for at least two sources to verify the identity, background, as well as the cause of death of each victim. Sometimes, death and other forms retribution against defenders are not recorded because there are limitations in the ability of local human rights organizations to gather and publish data.
On the whole continent of Africa, there were 20 deaths that were less than half the number for Mexico. Advocates on the continent claim that this is almost certainly an undercount.
Alfred Brownell, a Liberian activist, stated that it is difficult to find information due to the remoteness of these people’s lives and the way they live. He won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2019 two years after he fled his country.
Anderson stated that human rights reporting networks in Central and South America are stronger than in Africa. In Africa, coverage of rural areas where extractive projects are taking place is often limited.
You can find a network that represents human rights defenders in every country of Latin America. Sometimes there are multiple networks, but in West Africa, these entities do not exist yet, he said.
The report highlighted Joannah Stutchburry’s death. She was a 67 year-old environmental activist who was killed last year in Kenya after she campaigned against development in Kiambu forest national parks. Police and military forces were deployed in northern Uganda. Shot and wounded16 members of the Paten family protested against an irrigation project they claim is threatening their farmland.
Brownell said that these are our first response teams who are responding to the crisis in a very efficient manner. These are our democracy heroes, who strive for transparency and accountability and are exposing these violations. We must secure and protect this firewall.
Banner image:U.S. land rights activists organized a giant puppet and a road closure outside the Brazilian Consulate in California to send a message in 2019 to Jair Bolsonaro (President of Brazil). Image by Peg Hunt via Flickr (CC BY -NC 2.0).
