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At least 207 land and environmental rights activists were killed in 2017 in twenty-two different countries, according to the British NGO Global Witness.
The World
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• Updated
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By Rémi Barroux
The names of the victims and statistics follow one another throughout the pages. Chilling testimonials complete the macabre tableau. In 2017, at least 207 land and environmental rights defenders were killed in twenty-two different countries, almost four a week. What makes this year, according to the British NGO Global Witness, which publishes its report Tuesday, July 24, "the worst year recorded so far" .
The victims are customary chiefs, activists … murdered "while trying to protect their homes and communities against mining, agribusiness and other destructive industries", explains Global Witness.
In the field of these murders mostly go unpunished – especially since, according to the NGO, the government forces are badociated for more than a quarter of them, when nearly half would be, them, « committed by non-state actors like criminal gangs " – statistics are hard to come by. And the collection of information often complex. It is therefore likely that the actual figure is much higher.
Nevertheless, the experts of Global Witness are able to deliver the cartography of a planet where defending the environment and the right to land may cost the life. "Brazil has recorded the worst documented year in the world, with 57 murders committed in 2017" reads in the report. Forty-eight activists were killed in the Philippines, "the highest figure ever recorded in Asian countries" . With Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Nicaragua – "the most dangerous place with four murders per capita" – Latin America concentrates 60% of these murders.
" Local activists are being murdered because governments and corporations give more weight to quick profit than to human lives. The shelves of our supermarkets are filled with products from this carnage. But courageous communities that resist corrupt officials, destructive industries and environmental devastation are brutally silenced. " Global Witness campaigner Ben Leather says
NGO says for the first time agribusiness was the most deadly sector, with "at least 46 murders" . Those related to mining increased from 33 to 40, compared to 2016 and 23 killings are attributable to the slaughter sector.
By titling his report "At What Cost" ("The Price to Pay" in French) Global Witness wants to show that this deadly violence is directly related to the products we consume. The offending sectors, agribusiness, mining extraction, logging, poaching produce the ingredients that "are used in the manufacture of products sold in supermarkets such as palm oil for shampoos, soybeans for cattle or wood. for furniture " details the authors of the report.
" Attacks and threats "
And to quote the example of Hernan Bedoya, in Colombia, shot fourteen bullets by a paramilitary group because he protested against the extraction of palm oil and banana plantations on land stolen from his community. Or the mbadacre of eight villagers in the Philippines who opposed a coffee plantation on their land.
Latin America, Asia, Africa … few continents escape this deadly violence. But Global Witness also denounces all the threats aimed at hindering the struggle of environmental defenders: judicial harbadment, arrests, threats against families, badual violence, illegal surveillance, death threats, kidnappings …
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This is, without necessarily resorting to badbadination, to discourage activists and representatives of indigenous communities. "The vast majority of human rights defenders in Honduras are unable to act in a safe environment. In most parts of the country, they are victims of attacks and threats, they criminalize their activities and the impossibility of resorting to justice " denounces for example Michel Forest, expert of the defense of the rights at the United Nations
However, says Global Witness, these militants do not falter. "This global community is gaining strength and visibility. So, the NGO turns to the consumers of the whole world to lead these fights "to the doors of the power and the rooms of the boards of directors of the big companies" . Governments and investors must support and protect these defenders, by strengthening laws, enforcing them, promoting access to justice for these communities, fighting corruption and ensuring that in a responsible way ", insist the authors of the report.
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