One day last November, the Indigenous leader Julia Chuñil called for her canine companion, her loyal pet, and ventured into the woods near her home to look for lost livestock. The cattle returned but Julia, then aged 72, and her dog did not.
More than 100 people participated with her relatives in a search that continued for multiple weeks in the steep, wet and thickly vegetated landscape of Chile’s pristine Valdivian woodland. A month later, they monitored vultures for any grim clues. But they found no trace of Chuñil.
Chuñil is one of 146 territorial and ecological activists who were murdered or went missing around the world last year, as reported by a study by the campaign group the monitoring entity. Roughly one-third of these cases, similar to her, were from native groups – a significant burden for peoples who together constitute only six percent of the world’s inhabitants.
The activist, a prominent figure of Chile’s indigenous Mapuche, was residing in disputed land. A decade earlier she had moved on to a protected forest area, a 900-hectare section of the age-old Valdivian ecosystem 800 kilometers below Santiago, which her people claimed as an historical territory.
For many years she advocating to obtain land rights over the site for her tribe. However, the legal proprietor of the land, the descendant of settlers, declined to relinquish control. His intention was the area for logging – Chile is a significant supplier of wood to the United States – and he wanted rid of the activist. Before she vanished, Julia told allies: “Should harm come to me, you already know who did it.”
International Documentation on Attacks Against Activists
The organization began recording cases of deaths and disappearances of land and environmental protectors in 2012. From that point, it has collated a total of two thousand two hundred fifty-three cases. Over the last ten years, the most dangerous region has been Latin America. Last year it represented 82% of reported incidents, which involved 45 native individuals.
“Territorial disputes is at the heart of violence against defenders, and native communities are paying the highest price,” stated a senior policy adviser at Global Witness. “Communities with ancestral connections to territory often form the frontline of opposition when their lands are endangered from resource extraction and encroachment. However, regardless of their vital function, they are frequently refused recognition and legal redress, and subjected to grave danger for protecting their rightful lands.”
Nation-Specific Statistics and Unrecorded Cases
Julia’s was the sole case documented in her nation during that period, even though it matched a trend of the targeting of Mapuche activists in Chile. Colombia reported 48 cases, making it the deadliest nation overall for environmental defenders, then came the country of Guatemala with twenty cases, the most dangerous country by population. The country of Mexico had 19 cases, placing it at number three overall.
Under-reporting continues to be a problem, especially in the Asian continent and the African region, which registered 16 and 9 cases each, the monitor noted. In general, the previous year the fewest cases of murders and disappearances of land activists were documented in ten years.
The lead researcher, who led the research for the organization, said: “I would also like to be able to tell you that this suggests a reduction of hostilities and an enhancement in the situation for defenders, but unfortunately that’s not true. Human rights defenders confront realities of brutality that go far beyond murder. Often, aggression is evolve, grow more complex, change its face.”
Continuing Struggle for Accountability
Chuñil’s family have continued to pursue justice but their advocacy has made them a target of intimidation and harassment, as well. During April, two animals from Chuñil’s home that they had intended to sell to finance court expenses were found killed, one murdered by gunfire and one poisoned. “This is primarily, a intentional effort to block us from fighting this legal matter,” her son Pablo San Martín told the watchdog.
The group’s report urges authorities to take steps to halt the lack of punishment of the perpetrators of environmental defenders by tackling the absence of rights activists have over land and territory, reinforcing weak domestic judiciary frameworks, and guaranteeing endangered advocates are provided sufficient state protection.
“Our sole request is a comprehensive, impartial investigation to take place,” the son said of his parent’s situation. “Nearly twelve months have passed since she vanished and we’re still in the dark about what happened. We want the responsible parties to be discovered and prosecuted.”
