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One day last November, the Indigenous leader Julia Chuñil called for her canine companion, her loyal pet, and ventured into the woods near her residence to look for missing livestock. The animals came back but Julia, then aged 72, and Cholito never reappeared.

More than a hundred individuals participated with her relatives in a search lasting multiple weeks in the steep, wet and thickly vegetated landscape of Chile’s ancient Valdivian woodland. A month later, they monitored scavenger birds for any grim clues. However, they discovered no evidence of Chuñil.

Chuñil is among one hundred forty-six territorial and ecological activists who were murdered or disappeared globally in the previous year, as reported by a report by the advocacy organization Global Witness. About a third of these cases, similar to Chuñil, were from Indigenous communities – a significant toll for populations who together constitute only six percent of the global inhabitants.

Chuñil, a leader of Chile’s indigenous Mapuche, was residing in contested territory. Ten years ago she had settled in a protected forest area, a 900-hectare section of the age-old Valdivian ecosystem 500 miles below the capital, which her community claimed as an ancestral homeland.

She spent years advocating to secure property titles over the site for her tribe. However, the legal proprietor of the land, the descendant of colonizers, refused to surrender control. He wanted the site for timber extraction – the country serves as a major supplier of wood to the United States – and he wanted rid of Chuñil. Prior to her disappearance, Chuñil informed supporters: “Should harm come to me, it will be clear who did it.”

Global Reporting on Violence Against Defenders

Global Witness began recording cases of deaths and disappearances of territorial and ecological protectors in the year 2012. Since then, it has gathered a overall count of two thousand two hundred fifty-three cases. Over the last ten years, the riskiest place has been Central and South America. Last year it represented 82% of reported incidents, which involved forty-five native individuals.

“Land conflict lies at the core of aggression against defenders, and Indigenous peoples are paying the highest price,” said a senior policy adviser at the group. “Communities with ancestral connections to land often form the frontline of resistance when their territories are endangered from resource extraction and invasion. But despite their vital role, they are often refused recognition and legal redress, and subjected to grave danger for protecting their rightful lands.”

Country-Specific Data and Under-reporting

Julia’s was the only case documented in her nation last year, even though it fitted a pattern of the targeting of Mapuche activists in Chile. Colombia recorded forty-eight cases, making it the most lethal nation overall for environmental defenders, then came Guatemala with twenty cases, the deadliest country per capita. The country of Mexico had nineteen incidents, putting it in third place in the ranking.

Incomplete data remains an issue, particularly in Asia and the African region, which recorded sixteen and nine cases each, Global Witness said. In general, last year the fewest cases of killings and disappearances of land activists were documented for a decade.

The lead researcher, who conducted the research for the organization, commented: “I would also like to be able to tell you that this implies a decrease in hostilities and an improvement in the conditions for activists, but unfortunately that’s not the case. Human rights defenders face situations of brutality that extend well past homicide. Often, aggression is evolve, grow more complex, alter its appearance.”

Continuing Struggle for Justice

Chuñil’s family have continued to pursue legal resolution but their activism has made them a target of intimidation and intimidation, too. In April, a pair of creatures from Chuñil’s home that they had planned to auction to finance legal costs were found killed, one murdered by gunfire and another by toxins. “It is, above all, a intentional attempt to prevent us from pursuing this case,” her child a family member informed the watchdog.

The group’s report calls on governments to take steps to end the impunity of the perpetrators of land activists by addressing the lack of legal entitlements defenders have over land and territory, reinforcing weak national legal systems, and ensuring defenders at risk are provided adequate state protection.

“All we are asking for is a comprehensive, impartial investigation to take place,” San Martín remarked of his parent’s situation. “It’s been almost a year since she disappeared and we’re still in the dark about the events. Our demand is the responsible parties to be identified and prosecuted.”