The Disappeared Territorial Defender and the Deadly Cost of Land Dispute on Indigenous People

One day last November, the Indigenous leader Julia Chuñil called for her canine companion, Cholito, and ventured into the woods near her residence to look for missing farm animals. The animals returned but Chuñil, then aged 72, and her dog did not.

More than a hundred individuals joined her relatives in a search that continued for multiple weeks in the steep, wet and thickly vegetated landscape of the nation of Chile’s ancient Valdivian woodland. After a month, they even kept an eye on vultures for any grim clues. But they discovered no evidence of the missing woman.

Chuñil is one of one hundred forty-six land and environmental defenders who were killed or went missing around the world in the previous year, according to a study by the advocacy organization the monitoring entity. Roughly one-third of those, similar to her, were from native groups – a significant toll for peoples who together make up only 6% of the global population.

The activist, a prominent figure of the Mapuche Indigenous community in Chile, was residing in contested land. A decade earlier she had moved on to a protected forest area, a 2,200-acre section of the age-old Valdivian forest 800 kilometers south of the capital, which her community claimed as an historical homeland.

She spent years campaigning to secure property titles over the site for her tribe. But the legal proprietor of the land, the descendant of settlers, declined to surrender ownership. His intention was the site for timber extraction – the country serves as a significant exporter of wood to the US – and he sought to remove the activist. Prior to her disappearance, Julia told supporters: “If anything happens to me, you already know who did it.”

International Reporting on Attacks Against Defenders

The organization started documenting incidents of deaths and disappearances of land and environmental defenders in 2012. From that point, it has collated a overall count of 2,253 cases. For the past decade, the most dangerous place has been Latin America. Last year it accounted for eighty-two percent of reported incidents, which involved 45 native individuals.

“Territorial disputes is at the heart of violence against activists, and Indigenous peoples are bearing the greatest cost,” said an expert at Global Witness. “Populations with ancestral connections to territory often form the frontline of opposition when their lands are endangered from resource extraction and invasion. However, regardless of their vital role, they are frequently denied recognition and justice, and exposed to serious risk for protecting their rightful territories.”

Country-Specific Data and Under-reporting

Chuñil’s was the sole case documented in her country during that period, although it fitted a trend of the singling out of Mapuche activists in Chile. The nation of Colombia reported forty-eight cases, making it the deadliest country overall for environmental defenders, then came the country of Guatemala with twenty cases, the most dangerous nation by population. Mexico had 19 incidents, putting it in number three in the ranking.

Under-reporting remains an issue, particularly in Asia and Africa, which recorded sixteen and nine cases respectively, the monitor noted. In general, the previous year the lowest number of incidents of murders and disappearances of environmental defenders were registered in ten years.

Laura Furones, who led the research for the organization, commented: “I would also like to be able to tell you that this suggests a decrease in violence and an improvement in the situation for activists, but unfortunately that’s not true. Rights advocates confront realities of brutality that extend well past homicide. Often, aggression is transform, become more sophisticated, alter its appearance.”

Ongoing Struggle for Justice

Chuñil’s family have persisted in seeking justice but their activism has exposed them to intimidation and harassment, too. During April, two animals from her property that they had planned to auction to finance legal costs were discovered dead, one murdered by gunfire and another by toxins. “This is primarily, a intentional effort to prevent us from pursuing this legal matter,” her child Pablo San Martín told Global Witness.

Their analysis calls on authorities to take steps to halt the impunity of the killers of land activists by tackling the absence of rights defenders have over property, reinforcing weak national legal systems, and guaranteeing defenders at risk are given sufficient state protection.

“All we are asking for is a comprehensive, impartial probe to take place,” the son said of his mother’s situation. “It’s been almost a year since she vanished and we’re remain unaware about the events. We want those behind this to be identified and charged.”