Two hundred people were killed in 2021 for their status as defenders of the environment and the rights of indigenous populations, according to the annual report by the international organization Global Witness. The deadly attacks claimed an average of four people per week and are the most tragic part, though not the only part, of the constant and persistent threats against peaceful defenders of nature by "governments, companies and other non-state actors, who they act with violence, intimidation, smear campaigns and criminalization", highlights the Globla Witnes report, which this year marks the tenth anniversary of its publication dedicated to reviewing the deaths of nature activists.
Last year, Mexico was the country with the highest number of murders in this category registered, with a total of 54 deaths, compared to 30 murders in 2020.
More than 40% of the people killed were indigenous and more than a third of the total were enforced disappearances, including at least eight members of the Yaqui community. India and Brazil saw an increase in fatal attacks, from 4 to 14 and 20 to 26 respectively; while Colombia and the Philippines registered a decrease in murders, going from 65 in 2020 to 33, and from 30 to 19 respectively.
More than three quarters of the attacks recorded in the Global Witness report occurred in Latin America. In Brazil, Peru and Venezuela, 78% of attacks occurred in the Amazon.
Global Witness documented 10 murders in Africa, where the Democratic Republic of the Congo continued to be the country with the highest number of attacks, with eight defenders killed in 2021. All eight murders occurred in the Virunga National Park, which remains extremely dangerous for defenders. park rangers who protect it.
Case verification is often difficult, but Global Witeness estimates that more than a quarter of fatal attacks were related to resource exploitation (large-scale logging, mining, and agribusiness) and hydroelectric dams and other infrastructure. However, this figure is likely to be higher, as the reasons behind attacks on land and environmental defenders are often not properly investigated and reported.
Mining was the sector linked to the most murders with 27 cases, with the most attacks in Mexico (15), followed by the Philippines (6), Venezuela (4), Nicaragua (1), and Ecuador (1). In 2021, the disproportionate number of attacks against indigenous peoples continued once again, with more than 40% of all fatal attacks targeting indigenous peoples, even though they only make up 5% of the world's population. These cases were predominantly documented in Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, Peru, and the Philippines.
Global Witness recorded 12 mass murders, including three in India and four in Mexico. In Nicaragua, criminal groups massacred 15 indigenous people and land rights defenders as part of the systematic and widespread violence against the Miskitu and Mayangna indigenous peoples.
Fifty of the victims killed in 2021 were small farmers, underscoring how the relentless commodification and privatization of land for industrial agriculture increasingly puts small farmers at risk, as land deals ignore local tenure rights.
Small-scale family farming, on which the majority of the world's rural poor still depend, is threatened by large-scale plantations, export-oriented agriculture and the production of staples rather than food . Around 1 in 10 registered defenders killed in 2021 were women, almost two-thirds of whom were indigenous. Gender-based violence rooted in misogyny and discriminatory gender norms is disproportionately used against women human rights and environmental defenders to control and silence them, and to suppress their power and authority as leaders.
