One week, 4 killings of environmental activists

Without a doubt, last year was the deadliest for environmental advocates and the right to land around the world, with a record number of at least 207 murdered, nearly four a week, in 22 different countries, mainly in Latin America, denounced Tuesday in Paris the civil organization Global Witness, which presented its annual report "At what price" (" At what price? "), Which states that 2017 was" the worst "" According to Rémi Barroux, of the French newspaper Le Monde "the victims are community leaders to militants, killed trying to protect their life. homes and their communities against the mining, agribusiness and other destructive industries, "adds Global Witness.

Adds that not only do most of the dead go unpunished, but "statistics are a difficult thing to establish, in addition to which information gathering is often complex when, in addition, government forces are associated in about half of the cases "with the crimes."

"Thus, it is probable that the current figure will be higher", adds the report.

However, Le Monde puts Evidently, Global Witness's experts are able to report mapping a planet "where defending the environment and the right to land can cost the lives." With "Brazil, Colombia, the Mexico, Peru and Nicaragua top the list of cases, "report says" Latin America accounts for 60% of deaths. "

Report says" Brazil has had the worst year ever " deaths, while 48 activists were killed in the Philippines, "the highest figure never registered in an Asian country ".

Ben Keather, leader of the Global Witness campaign, said in Paris that "local activists have been killed because governments and corporations agree to give priority to quick profits on human lives." And the brave communities that confront corrupt officials, predatory industries and environmental devastation are brutally silenced. "

According to the NGO, for the first time it is the agribusiness that focuses the sector the more deadly, with "at least 46 dead", followed by mining sites, where murders increased from 33 to 40 compared to 2016 figures.

Global Witness also points out that it is ready to demonstrate that this deadly violence is directly related to the products we consume: "The offending sectors, agribusiness, mining, logging produce the i ngredients that go into the manufacture of products sold in supermarkets such as palm oil for shampoos, soybeans to feed cattle. and wood for furniture. "

On Colombia, with the second place of the dead in the region (54), the report cites the case of Hernán Bedoy, killed 14 shots by a paramilitary group to protest against the extraction of drugs. palm oil and banana plantations on land stolen from the community.

"Latin America, Asia, Africa … some continents escape this murderous violence", says Le Monde and note all the threats to hinder the struggle of environmentalists, namely "judicial persecution" arrests, threats against families, sexual violence, illegal surveillance, death threats and kidnappings ", according to his energetic report Global Witness.

He adds that resistance to illegal hunting became equally dangerous in 2017, with another record of 23 murders, the majority of rangers on the African continent.