One day in November of last year, Julia Chuñil called for her canine companion, Cholito, and ventured into the forest near her residence to search for lost livestock. The animals returned but Julia, then aged 72, and her dog never reappeared.
Over a hundred individuals participated with her relatives in a search that continued for multiple weeks in the steep, rain-soaked and densely overgrown terrain of Chile’s ancient Valdivian woodland. A month later, they monitored vultures for any grim signs. However, they found no trace of Chuñil.
Chuñil is among 146 land and environmental defenders who were murdered or disappeared around the world last year, according to a report by the advocacy organization the monitoring entity. Roughly one-third of these cases, similar to Chuñil, were from native groups – a heavy burden for peoples who collectively make up just six percent of the global population.
The activist, a leader of the Mapuche Indigenous community in Chile, was living on disputed land. Ten years ago she had moved on to a protected forest area, a 900-hectare portion of the ancient Valdivian forest 800 kilometers below the capital, which her people claimed as an ancestral territory.
For many years she advocating to obtain land rights over the location for her tribe. However, the site’s nominal owner, the descendant of settlers, declined to surrender ownership. His intention was the area for timber extraction – the country serves as a significant supplier of lumber to the US – and he wanted rid of Chuñil. Prior to her disappearance, Chuñil told supporters: “If anything happens to me, it will be clear who did it.”
International Reporting on Violence Against Defenders
The organization started documenting cases of killings and vanishing acts of land and environmental protectors in 2012. Since then, it has collated a total of 2,253 instances. For the past decade, the riskiest place has been Central and South America. Last year it represented 82% of cases, including 45 native individuals.
“Territorial disputes lies at the core of aggression against defenders, and Indigenous peoples are bearing the greatest cost,” stated an expert at the group. “Communities with ancestral connections to land often form the frontline of opposition when their lands come under threat from exploitation and encroachment. However, regardless of their vital role, they are often denied recognition and legal redress, and subjected to grave danger for protecting their legitimate territories.”
Nation-Specific Data and Under-reporting
Julia’s was the sole case recorded in her nation during that period, although it fitted a trend of the targeting of Mapuche advocates in Chile. The nation of Colombia recorded forty-eight cases, making it the most lethal country overall for ecological activists, then came the country of Guatemala with 20 cases, the most dangerous nation by population. The country of Mexico had nineteen incidents, putting it in number three in the ranking.
Under-reporting remains an issue, especially in the Asian continent and Africa, which recorded 16 and 9 instances each, the monitor noted. Overall, the previous year the lowest number of incidents of murders and disappearances of land activists were documented in ten years.
The lead researcher, who conducted the investigation for the organization, said: “It would be gratifying to report that this suggests a decrease in violence and an improvement in the conditions for activists, but sadly that’s not true. Human rights defenders confront realities of brutality that extend well past homicide. What violence often does is transform, become more sophisticated, alter its appearance.”
Ongoing Struggle for Justice
Chuñil’s family have persisted in seeking justice but their activism has made them a target of threats and harassment, as well. In April, two animals from her property that they had intended to sell to fund court expenses were discovered dead, one shot and one poisoned. “This is primarily, a deliberate effort to prevent us from fighting this legal matter,” her child Pablo San Martín told Global Witness.
The group’s report urges governments to act to end the lack of punishment of the killers of environmental defenders by addressing the lack of legal entitlements activists have over property, reinforcing weak domestic judiciary frameworks, and ensuring endangered advocates are provided adequate state protection.
“All we are asking for is a comprehensive, impartial probe to take place,” San Martín said of his mother’s case. “Nearly twelve months have passed since she disappeared and we’re remain unaware about what happened. We want those behind this to be identified and prosecuted.”
