Almost half of all land and environmental defenders killed in 2023 were indigenous or black, according to a recent report by the non-governmental organization Global Witness (GW).
Of the 196 environmentalists killed, 85 were from indigenous communities and 12 were from black communities (49 percent in total). This highlights the particular vulnerability of these population groups as the main victims. 85 percent of all recorded murders in 2023, i.e. 166 out of 196 cases, were committed in Latin America.
Most murders in Colombia, Brazil, Mexico and Honduras
The deadly attacks are particularly concentrated in four countries where more than 70 percent of the attacks took place: Colombia, Brazil, Mexico and Honduras. GW has been pointing out these trends in the region for years.
Colombia tops the list with 79 murder cases. It is once again the country with the highest murder rate of environmentalists in a single country that GW has examined in all of its reports. Brazil follows with 25 crimes, followed by Mexico and Honduras with 18 each and the Philippines with 17 cases.
Many murders related to
What characterizes mining in Latin America is the weak regulation of this economic sector implemented as a result of neoliberal policies. This generates hardly any revenue for the region’s governments, while transnational corporations record high profits and industrialized nations continue to exploit scarce raw materials. Colombia, for example, is the fourth largest coal exporter in the world and is one of Germany’s most important suppliers. People who live near the mining areas suffer from respiratory diseases and a lack of economic prospects. In Peru it is similar with copper mining. Despite mining, the population in the mining areas lives in poverty, has little access to public services and struggles with negative health and environmental consequences.
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Although it is still difficult to establish a direct connection between the murders of environmentalists and economic interests Global Witness (GW) in 2023 prove that mining was by far the most relevant cause of these crimes. This can be attributed to the fact that 25 environmental activists were killed after opposing mining activities.
With the 196 murder cases registered in 2023, Global Witness has counted a total of 2,106 murders of environmental activists worldwide since 2012. Global Witness is a global non-governmental organization committed to a sustainable and just world. The organization focuses primarily on those who are particularly affected
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“We will continue to take action against the systematic silencing of land and environmental defenders,” he concludes Message. The report emphasizes that its findings so far probably do not capture the full extent of the problem. It is known that many murder cases are not even reported for fear of reprisals. Only in a few cases are the perpetrators held accountable and the families receive justice.
This article appeared on September 10, 2024 npla.delicensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 international. Original article: poonal / Translation: Valerie Sy
Cover photo: Environmentalists demand a stop to oil spills / Photo: @gsalcedo_gv/Globovisión/Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)
