Brazil has been the most dangerous country in the world for environmental and land defense activists for the past decade, underlines the annual report by the non-governmental organization Global Witness.
At least 1,733 activists were murdered worldwide between 2012 and 2021, which represents, on average, one homicide every two days, with Brazil registering the highest figure, according to the report released this Wednesday.
Last year alone, some 200 activists were killed around the world, with more than two-thirds of the killings taking place in Latin America.
Mexico has registered 54 murders of activists, 24 more than in 2020, the third consecutive year that the death toll has increased.
In Brazil, 26 murders were identified, more than the previous year.
Colombia (33) and Nicaragua also recorded more than ten activists killed.
Earlier this year in June, British journalist Dom Phillips, 57, of The Guardian, and Brazilian indigenous activist Bruno Pereira, 41, were reportedly murdered in the remote western region of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest.
“There is increasing pressure on natural resources around the world and this battle is playing out particularly in the Brazilian Amazon,” said a Global Witness researcher.
According to British television BBC, Shruti Suresh stressed that 85% of the murders of activists in Brazil occurred in the Amazon.
“It is about territorial inequality, where defenders are fighting for their land and in this growing race to get more land to acquire and exploit resources, the victims are the indigenous communities, the local communities, whose voices are being repressed,” he warned.
“Most crimes take place in places far from power and are inflicted on those with less power,” the report stresses.
Global Witness acknowledged that the data is “likely to be underestimated, as many murders go unreported, particularly in rural areas and in certain countries.”
Conflicts related to land disputes and the exploitation of mineral resources caused 27 deaths worldwide, the highest figure for any sector. Fifteen of the murders took place in Mexico.
Global Witness has called on governments to enforce laws that protect activists and require the approval of indigenous communities, as well as requiring companies to be accountable for all their operations around the world and have a zero-tolerance policy for attacks against the defenders of the land.
“Activists and communities play a crucial role as the first line of defense against ecological collapse, as well as pioneering the campaign to prevent it,” Global Witness Executive Director Mike Davis said in the report.
Source: TSF
