Activists face deadly risks in protecting lands from global agribusiness

07.08.2019

Global Witness report documents dangers for world’s land defenders as 164 activists murdered in 2018 with almost 20 per cent of killings linked to commodity-driven cultivation disputes

Vigil held for the nine sugarcane plantation workers who were murdered in the Philippines in October 2018. Photo: Creative Commons

Environmental defenders and activists are paying the highest price in attempting to protect their land and communities with more than three people killed on average every week during 2018.

new report by anti-corruption NGO Global Witness has said 164 people were murdered globally last year trying to defend forests, homes, water supplies and families from destructive industries.

21 deaths were related to agribusiness disputes and accounted for almost 20 per cent of killings where a sector was identified. It means that 67 individuals railing against agribusiness have been killed since the start of 2017, according to the last two reports. Mining was the cause of most deaths with 43 documented in 2018.

The Philippines saw the highest per country figures. 30 deaths – half of which were linked to agribusiness – were recorded last year.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s government has ramped up its campaign of “red-tagging” rights activists as communist sympathisers, terrorists or supporters of armed insurgents, the report said. One of the most shocking cases was in October 2018 when nine sugarcane plantation workers were shot dead on a farm on the island of Negros as they protested new land reform policies in the country.

Colombia, where 24 deaths were documented, was second among the 19 countries named, while there was a five-fold increase in Guatemala where 16 environmentalists were murdered. However, the report stated that as many deaths go unrecorded the global figures documented are ‘almost certainly a sizeable underestimate’.

“As demand for products like timber, palm oil and minerals continues to grow, governments, companies and criminal gangs are routinely stealing land and trashing habitats in pursuit of profit,” the Enemies of the State? report said.

“When the ordinary people who live on these lands take a stand, they come up against companies’ private security, state forces, contract killers, or in less violent confrontations, teams of aggressive lawyers.”

164 people were murdered globally last year trying to defend forests, homes, water supplies and families from destructive industries, according to the new report. Photo: Global Witness

Journalists are also being silenced. Muhammad Yusuf, an Indonesian journalist who had investigated illegalities in the country’s palm oil industry, was found dead in police custody in June after being detained for more than five weeks by authorities.

Although deaths recorded in Brazil dropped from 2017, the report stated that at least eight defenders involved in land and agricultural disputes were killed in 2018 in the state of Pará alone.

The deaths are part of a much larger wave of intimidation, threats and abuse being waged against land defenders. In Pará, for example, human rights campaigners were threatened by representatives from the soy industry during a November meeting with indigenous leaders.

Killings recorded in Africa were lower (14) given the number of land conflicts that exist and the scale of the continent, reflecting a difficulty in access and verifying cases, the report stated. The murder last month of a Congolese activist linked to a disputed palm oil project highlights the risks faced by local defenders.

“While there are hotspot countries that are particularly badly affected, the data shows that this is a definitively global problem,” the report added. “No region is unaffected by the growing pressure on natural resources and the bloody competition it brings with it.”

More from Blog

The bulldozers were just about to switch off their engines. Now the European Commission wants to re-fuel them

Continue reading
Planned clearance for timber plantation underlines critical importance of EUDR

Continue reading
Under threat / The EU must stand firm to help protect the world’s forests

Continue reading
Sanctions / EU finally bans Belarusian furniture

Continue reading
Revealed / Former Better Cotton employee exposes scheme’s fundamental flaws

Continue reading
Sanctions breached / Evidence of laundering of finished Russian plywood found

Continue reading
Russian Sanctions / US sanctions should cover blood timber

Continue reading
Paraguayan leather / Are Italian tannery’s pledges on deforestation enough?

Continue reading
EU Deforestation Regulation / Success of landmark deforestation law far from assured 

Continue reading
EU Law / MEPs must strengthen planned corporate sustainability due diligence law

Continue reading

Stay up to date with all Earthsight news & updates

Receive email updates for the latest news and insights from Earthsight and be among the first to read our new investigations.

We keep your data secure and don’t share anything with third parties. Read full terms.