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Defending Land and Environmental Rights Has Become an Increasingly Deadly Endeavor:
chamerionwrites:
In a new report released Tuesday, the anti-corruption watchdog organization [Global Witness] says that 2017 was the deadliest year for land and environmental defenders since it began keeping track in 2012, with a total of 207 defenders killed worldwide. The report attributes this increase to a surge of killings related to agribusiness opposition, as well as better reporting on the issue. Global Witness says the true number of deaths is even higher, and “many, many more were attacked, threatened, and criminalized.”
The highest number of killings was recorded in Brazil, which accounted for more than a quarter of reports. Brazil was followed by the Philippines, as well as Colombia and Mexico. Agribusiness was the most dangerous industry to oppose, a first since reporting began, although resistance to mining, poaching, and logging continued to be risky as well. Indigenous people remained a disproportionate target of attacks.
Although Global Witness identified government actors as the suspected perpetrators in 56 of the deaths, governmental culpability likely plays a role in many more. Officials are often in league with business interests, cutting local communities out of decision-making and creating a “culture of impunity,” according to the report.
“Perpetrators feel emboldened by the cumulative impact of these murders. Government is guilty by omission because they’re not prosecuting these crimes, and a lot of times, they’re guilty by collusion,” Ben Leather, one of the authors of the report, told The Intercept. Thus, deaths attributed to local militias, gangs, or businesses themselves still often involve government complicity. “Tackling impunity is possibly the only way to really end this in the long term,” Leather added…
Agribusiness — large-scale farming, processing, and manufacturing — has replaced mining as the deadliest industry for land and environmental defenders, according to the report. “Agribusinesses is land intensive,” said Ana Zbona, a project manager with the Business and Human Rights Resource Center. “Over the last decade or so, investors and companies, encouraged by governments, pushed increasingly into remote rural areas as they seek new lands.” Businesses typically make deals with governments that cut out the local community, leaving them on a “collision course,” according to Leather. “Communities have to become defenders because they’ve been excluded from proper channels,” he told The Intercept.
Although mining has been overtaken as the most dangerous sector to protest, Leather says this isn’t because of any improvement in the industry. Rather, the number of killings related to mining opposition has reached a new high as well.
The report concedes that it is most likely underreporting its figures in African countries, at 19 deaths last year, mainly from opposition to poaching and mining. The authors say this is a result of their methodology, which relies on local news and civil society reports for verification. When those sectors are underdeveloped or stifled, researchers say that they are unable to verify many deaths. As reporting improves and investment floods the continent, those numbers could rise.
Because of this verification process, and the focus on deaths over other outcomes, the report says the 207 killings are the “tip of the iceberg.” Other underreported areas include Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Russia, and China, where journalism and civil society are suppressed, and reports are few and far between. “We can safely assume that if defenders are unable to speak out, that they could well be facing other risks as well,” Leather said.
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Defending Land and Environmental Rights Has Become an Increasingly Deadly Endeavor:
chamerionwrites:
In a new report released Tuesday, the anti-corruption watchdog organization [Global Witness] says that 2017 was the deadliest year for land and environmental defenders since it began keeping track in 2012, with a total of 207 defenders killed worldwide. The report attributes this increase to a surge of killings related to agribusiness opposition, as well as better reporting on the issue. Global Witness says the true number of deaths is even higher, and “many, many more were attacked, threatened, and criminalized.”
The highest number of killings was recorded in Brazil, which accounted for more than a quarter of reports. Brazil was followed by the Philippines, as well as Colombia and Mexico. Agribusiness was the most dangerous industry to oppose, a first since reporting began, although resistance to mining, poaching, and logging continued to be risky as well. Indigenous people remained a disproportionate target of attacks.
Although Global Witness identified government actors as the suspected perpetrators in 56 of the deaths, governmental culpability likely plays a role in many more. Officials are often in league with business interests, cutting local communities out of decision-making and creating a “culture of impunity,” according to the report.
“Perpetrators feel emboldened by the cumulative impact of these murders. Government is guilty by omission because they’re not prosecuting these crimes, and a lot of times, they’re guilty by collusion,” Ben Leather, one of the authors of the report, told The Intercept. Thus, deaths attributed to local militias, gangs, or businesses themselves still often involve government complicity. “Tackling impunity is possibly the only way to really end this in the long term,” Leather added…
Agribusiness — large-scale farming, processing, and manufacturing — has replaced mining as the deadliest industry for land and environmental defenders, according to the report. “Agribusinesses is land intensive,” said Ana Zbona, a project manager with the Business and Human Rights Resource Center. “Over the last decade or so, investors and companies, encouraged by governments, pushed increasingly into remote rural areas as they seek new lands.” Businesses typically make deals with governments that cut out the local community, leaving them on a “collision course,” according to Leather. “Communities have to become defenders because they’ve been excluded from proper channels,” he told The Intercept.
Although mining has been overtaken as the most dangerous sector to protest, Leather says this isn’t because of any improvement in the industry. Rather, the number of killings related to mining opposition has reached a new high as well.
The report concedes that it is most likely underreporting its figures in African countries, at 19 deaths last year, mainly from opposition to poaching and mining. The authors say this is a result of their methodology, which relies on local news and civil society reports for verification. When those sectors are underdeveloped or stifled, researchers say that they are unable to verify many deaths. As reporting improves and investment floods the continent, those numbers could rise.
Because of this verification process, and the focus on deaths over other outcomes, the report says the 207 killings are the “tip of the iceberg.” Other underreported areas include Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Russia, and China, where journalism and civil society are suppressed, and reports are few and far between. “We can safely assume that if defenders are unable to speak out, that they could well be facing other risks as well,” Leather said.
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