At the beginning of September 2024, Global Witness published their Annual Defenders Report entitled “Missing Voices: The violent erasure of land and environmental defenders”. Colombia remains the world’s deadliest country for land and environmental defenders.
In 2023, 196 land and environmental defenders were killed globally, 79 (40%) of which were in Colombia. This is the highest annual total for any country since Global Witness started documenting the killings in 2012. Brazil was the country with the second-highest number of killings, with 25 deaths registered in 2023.
“Murder continues to be a common strategy for silencing defenders and is unquestionably the most brutal” – Global Witness
Around 47% of those killed in Colombia were Indigenous or Afro-Colombian peoples, who continue to be disproportionately affected by climate change, environmental exploitation, conflict and violence. These communities rely on their territories for survival, using the land for food production, as well as sites of spiritual importance. It is therefore crucial for them to be able to protect these territories from largescale extractive projects, coca cultivation or from being controlled by illegal armed groups to ensure their rights to life and integrity.
So far, in 2024, there has been no improvement. According to the Comisión Colombiana de Juristas, there were 119 murders of human rights defenders in Colombia between the 1st of January and 31st of August 2024, with August being the deadliest month of the year with 22 murders registered.
Comisión Colombiana de Juristas
INDEPAZ reports similar numbers, listing the murders of 120 social leaders as of 23 September 2023.
After President Petro took office in 2022, the heightened violence against human rights and environmental defenders was acknowledged, and new measures were proposed for defenders’ protection. This included the Plan de Emergencia(emergency protection plan), which contained measures for addressing the situation, including the establishment of Puestos de Mando Unificados por la Vida (Unified Command Posts for Life) to integrate national and local responses in areas of increased violence. However, so far this emergency protection plan has not impacted the situation facing defenders in Colombia, and the violence has increased.
In their 2023 report, Amnesty International highlighted how the Colombian government had adopted measures aimed at addressing the long-standing violence– including reactivating collective protection mechanisms like Decree 660 of 2018 and reinitiating the National Commission on Security Guarantees.[i] Lack of improvement to date has been attributed to institutional failures and issues with the implementation of the emergency protection plan.
As Colombia prepares to host COP16 in October 2024, there is a crucial opportunity to look collectively at actions to safeguard the lives of land and environmental defenders who are key to the preservation of biodiversity and preventing deforestation. With the alarming rise in violence, it is imperative that the Colombian government prioritises the full implementation of the existing measures to protect land and environmental defenders. By prioritising their safety, the Colombian government will demonstrate its dedication to protecting human rights and the environment on a global stage.
[i] Colombia: Esperanza bajo riesgo: La falta de un espacio seguro para defender derechos humanos en Colombia, https://www.amnesty.org/es/documents/amr23/7248/2023/es/ p4.