The only possible path to solutions: Protecting environmental and human rights defenders

What is happening to environmental and human right defenders in Latin America?

In its 2024 Annual Report, Global Witness found that 85 per cent of the recorded killings of environmental and human rights defenders in 2023 were in Latin America. The organisation described the situation as “a violent erasure of land and environmental defenders”.

We’re seeing an increase in lethal and systemic violence. Drug cartels, illegal and legal mining, agribusiness and other industries are not just driving the climate crisis and destroying the environment, they are also using violence to displace indigenous peoples; they are taking land by force, killing those who stand up for their rights and the rights of our common home.

“The truth is that Indigenous and tribal peoples face major obstacles in practice. The territories of these peoples continue to fuel the development of the richest countries at the cost of their present and the embargo of an uncertain future.” Report on Human Rights Violation in the Pan Amazon (REPAM)

Who is at the highest risk of violence in Latin America?

CAFOD works in Colombia, Brazil and Honduras – three of the four countries that accounted for more than 70 per cent of the killings of defenders in 2023 globally.

In Colombia, 79 land and environmental defenders were killed in 2023 (40 per cent of all reported cases). This adds to the 461 defenders killed in just over a decade and makes Colombia the country with the highest number of documented killings of environmental and human rights defenders between 2012 and 2023. In 2023, over 11 per cent of human rights defenders killed in Colombia were women.

Violence against women activists is often reported, and thus disguised, as “regular” criminal violence against women, as way to hide the political intent.

Brazil is the second deadliest country for environmental and human rights defenders globally, with 25 people killed in 2023, and a total of 401 defenders killed between 2021 and 2023. Most defenders killed were from indigenous or afro-descendant communities.

The Brazilian government has “so far failed to put the structures in place to provide them with better protection and tackle the root causes of the risks they face”, said Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.

Lawlor also expressed her concern about the reality of Brazilian women defenders in Pará, Bahia, São Paulo, and Mato Grosso do Sul: “Indigenous women, quilombola [a descendant of Afro-Brazilian slaves who escaped from plantations in Brazil before the abolition of slavery in 1888] and rural labourers are leading the movements for rights to be respected in their communities. They told me how they are following in the footsteps of their mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers. The risks they run for doing so are immense. Their families and children are targeted. They suffer abuse and sexual harassment. I am extremely concerned about their situation in Brazil.”

Honduras accounted for 18 killings of defenders in 2023 and a 125 per cent increase in aggressions to women defenders was recorded, with over 76 per cent of these aggressions being against afro-descendant and indigenous women.

Why is CAFOD support in Latin America so important?

CAFOD supports over 40 organisations in Latin America. These organisation work with (and are formed by) defenders and their communities. Through training, our partner organisations help communities to analyse the risks they face and plan strategies to protect themselves. We help to provide funding to prevent security incidents and to respond to urgent needs to improve safety and well-being. We also provide legal and psychosocial support to defenders.

Indigenous people in Colombia’s highly biodiverse region of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta are seeking to protect this special location that they view as the Heart of the World. CAFOD supports its partner CINEP to care and protect this ‘Heart of the World’ from armed threats.

In Honduras, we continue to support our partner ERIC as they provide psychological and legal support to defenders in northwest of the country. ERIC also supports local defenders to strengthen their livelihoods with better farming practices, and to ensure that their access to land is legally recognised.

In Brazil, Fr Valdenia Aparecida Paulino Lanfranchi, from CAFOD’s partner, Justica nos Trilhos, explains why their work is so important:

“The Catholic Church has a key role in protecting human rights defenders in Latin America because, firstly, the defenders and local leaders trust the Church. They know them because we are in the territory. Secondly, the speed with which the Church responds, because state programmes take a long time and involve very long processes to demonstrate the risk, turning the defenders into victims. [...] Thirdly, the relationship of affection and care there between the church and the communities, as governmental programmes isolate and leave defenders in distress. Finally, joining a governmental protection scheme involves a lot of risk, as the state agents involved are directly and indirectly involved in the crimes and persecution, especially governmental security agencies and security companies.”