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On a certain day in November of last year, Julia Chuñil called for her canine companion, her loyal pet, and ventured into the forest near her home to search for lost farm animals. The cattle came back but Julia, then aged 72, and Cholito did not.

More than 100 people participated with her relatives in a search that continued for weeks in the steep, wet and thickly vegetated terrain of the nation of Chile’s ancient Valdivian forest. After a month, they monitored scavenger birds for any disturbing clues. But they discovered no evidence of the missing woman.

Chuñil is one of one hundred forty-six land and environmental activists who were killed or went missing globally last year, as reported by a report by the campaign group the monitoring entity. About a third of these cases, similar to her, were from Indigenous communities – a heavy toll for peoples who collectively constitute only six percent of the global inhabitants.

Chuñil, a prominent figure of Chile’s indigenous Mapuche, was residing in disputed territory. A decade earlier she had settled in a protected forest area, a 2,200-acre section of the ancient Valdivian ecosystem 800 kilometers south of the capital, which her people claimed as an ancestral homeland.

For many years she campaigning to secure land rights for the location for her community. However, the legal proprietor of the land, the heir of settlers, refused to relinquish ownership. His intention was the area for logging – Chile is a significant supplier of wood to the United States – and he sought to remove Chuñil. Prior to her disappearance, Julia told allies: “Should harm come to me, you already know who is responsible.”

International Reporting on Attacks Against Activists

The organization began recording cases of deaths and disappearances of land and environmental defenders in 2012. From that point, it has gathered a overall count of two thousand two hundred fifty-three instances. For the past decade, the riskiest place has been Central and South America. Last year it represented eighty-two percent of cases, which involved 45 Indigenous people.

“Land conflict is at the heart of violence against defenders, and Indigenous peoples are bearing the greatest cost,” stated an expert at Global Witness. “Communities with ancestral connections to territory often lead the opposition when their lands are endangered from exploitation and encroachment. But despite their vital function, they are often denied recognition and justice, and exposed to serious danger for protecting their legitimate lands.”

Country-Specific Statistics and Under-reporting

Julia’s was the sole case documented in her nation during that period, although it fitted a trend of the targeting of Mapuche advocates in the country. The nation of Colombia recorded 48 cases, making it the deadliest country in total for environmental defenders, followed by the country of Guatemala with twenty cases, the deadliest country per capita. The country of Mexico had 19 incidents, placing it at number three overall.

Incomplete data remains an issue, especially in Asia and the African region, which recorded 16 and 9 instances each, Global Witness said. Overall, the previous year the lowest number of cases of killings and disappearances of environmental defenders were documented for a decade.

Laura Furones, who led the research for Global Witness, commented: “It would be gratifying to report that this suggests a reduction of hostilities and an enhancement in the conditions for activists, but unfortunately that’s not the case. Rights advocates face situations of brutality that go far beyond homicide. What violence often does is transform, grow more complex, alter its appearance.”

Ongoing Fight for Justice

Chuñil’s family have continued to pursue justice but their activism has made them a target of threats and harassment, too. In April, a pair of creatures from Chuñil’s home that they had planned to auction to finance court expenses were discovered dead, one shot and another by toxins. “It is, above all, a intentional effort to block us from fighting this legal matter,” her child a family member informed Global Witness.

The group’s report calls on governments to take steps to halt the lack of punishment of the perpetrators of land activists by addressing the absence of legal entitlements defenders have over property, reinforcing weak national legal systems, and guaranteeing defenders at risk are given adequate state protection.

“Our sole request is a full, fair investigation to be conducted,” San Martín said of his parent’s situation. “It’s been almost a year since she disappeared and we’re still in the dark about what happened. We want the responsible parties to be identified and prosecuted.”