South America, the most dangerous continent for climate activists. This is the assessment of the report by the NGO Global Witness, published this Tuesday, September 10. Around 85% of the 196 murders of environmental defenders were committed in this region.
At the top of this gloomy ranking is Colombia, where 79 murders were recorded, according to the international association which has been producing its annual report since 2012.
Most of these crimes occurred in regions located in the southwest of the country. Criminal organizations are suspected of having perpetrated at least half of them. From October 21, Colombia hosts the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP16). An organization that raises concerns for the safety of the participants.
Activists “wiretapped and tracked” in France
Still in South America, the report also highlights the grim record of Honduras, which recorded 18 murders, the highest homicide ratio per capita.
In Asia, the Philippines remains the most dangerous country, with the NGO recording 17 murders of environmental activists in 2023. Global Witness points to the increasing number of kidnappings in the region.
“Since our release, the threats have not stopped,” Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano, two activists opposed to land reclamation projects in Manila Bay in the Philippines, testified in the report.
The latter accuse the army of having kidnapped them, although the authorities claim that the two women belonged to a communist insurgency, which they later left.
In Africa, Global Witness recorded only four deaths, but warned that this figure was likely to be “a significant underestimate” given the difficulty of collecting information.
In France, environmental activists “were manhandled and injured by riot police.” Global Witness also denounces the surveillance implemented in these cases. “There are reports that authorities have wiretapped and tracked activists in France and Germany using legal powers normally reserved for extremist groups and organized crime.”
The NGO also denounces British and American legislation that provides for harsher sentences for protesters and activists. For Great Britain, it mentions in particular the case of three environmental activists who were prohibited by the courts from invoking the climate crisis in their defense, and were detained for having ignored it.
This figure of 196 murders of environmental defenders in 2023 is a slight increase compared to 2022, when the NGO counted 177.
- BFMTV.com
