Joannah Stutchbury had “tree sap running through her veins”. She was a tree lover, permaculture practitioner and a “full-on environmentalist” and conservationist.
“She had an ardent and unwavering passion for the planet and was wonderfully bonkers,” wrote Tracy West, the chief executive of Word Forest, in a new Global Witness report.
In July 2021, the 67-year-old, who had received multiple death threats, was shot dead as she returned to her home on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya.
Her name is among the 200 land and environmental defenders which Global Witness, an environmental and human rights watchdog, has recorded who were murdered in 2021.
For several years, Stutchbury had spoken out “with passion and determination” against land-grabbers and well-known private developers who had begun destroying the Kiambu forest nearby, said West.
In 2018, she made headlines when she single-handedly confronted them. “In the months before she was killed, she had rightfully won a legal case against a developer wanting to build on the forested land.”
Four people slain a week
The 200 people who were killed last year translates to nearly four a week, the report said. “These lethal attacks continue to take place in the context of a wider range of threats against defenders who are being targeted by government, business and other non-state actors with violence, intimidation, smear campaigns and criminalisation. This is happening across every region of the world and in almost every sector.”
Joannah Stutchbury. Photo: Facebook.
Each and every death of a defender “is a sign that our economic system is broken”, the report said. “Fuelled by the pursuit of profit and power, there is a war over nature and the frontlines are the earth’s remaining biodiverse regions. The integrity of these systems is under attack from organised crime and corrupt governments who want to exploit timber, water and minerals for short-term, often illegal, profits.”
Most of these crimes happen in places that are “far away from power” and are inflicted on those “with, in many ways, the least amount of power”.
In many regions, indigenous communities, Afro-descendants and other traditional forest dwellers, supported by civil society organisations, journalists, lawyers and academics, are “leading the pushback” against irresponsible government and corporate actions”.
“As a consequence, they are disproportionately affected, making up over a third of all the defenders killed.”
Latin America hotspot of killings
According to the report, Mexico had the highest recorded number of killings, with defenders killed every month, totalling 54 killings in 2021, up from 30 the previous year.
More than 40% of those killed were indigenous people, and over a third of the total were forced disappearances, including at least eight members of the Yaqui community.
While Brazil and India saw a rise in lethal attacks from 20 to 26, and from four to 14, respectively, Colombia and the Philippines recorded a drop in killings to 33 in 2021 from 65, and 19 from 30 in 2021, respectively. “Yet overall they remain two of the countries with the highest numbers of killings in the world since 2012.”
Climate activists hold up signs next to portraits of slain Philippine environmental defenders as they take part in a Global Day of Action for Climate Justice protest on November 06, 2021 in Quezon city, Metro Manila, Philippines
Over three-quarters of the attacks recorded took place in Latin America. In Brazil, Peru and Venezuela, 78% of attacks occurred in the Amazon.
Ten killings were documented in Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo remained the country with the highest number of attacks – eight defenders were killed there in 2021, all in the Virunga National Park, “which remains extremely dangerous for the park rangers protecting it”. Verifying cases from across the continent “continues to be difficult and it is possible cases are widely unreported”, the report said.
Resource exploitation
Where a sector could be identified, just over a quarter of lethal attacks were reportedly linked to resource exploitation – logging, mining and large-scale agribusiness – and hydroelectric dams and other infrastructure. “However, this figure is likely to be higher as the reasons behind attacks on land and environmental defenders are often not properly investigated nor reported on.”
Land conflicts were a key driver of the attacks against defenders. Mining was linked to the most killings with 27 cases – most attacks took place in Mexico (15), the Philippines (6), Venezuela (4), Nicaragua (1) and Ecuador (1).
Last year, the “disproportionate number” of attacks against indigenous peoples continued, with over 40% of all fatal attacks targeting indigenous people, who make up 5% of the world’s population. These were documented predominantly across Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, Peru and the Philippines.
Mass killings
Global Witness recorded 12 mass killings, including three in India and four in Mexico. In Nicaragua, criminal groups massacred 15 indigenous and land rights defenders “as part of systematic and widespread violence” against the Miskitu and Mayangna indigenous peoples.
Fifty of the victims slain in 2021 were small-scale farmers, highlighting how the “relentless commodification and privatisation of land” for industrial agriculture is putting small-scale farmers increasingly at risk as land deals ignore local tenure rights.
Among them was Ángel Miro Cartagena, a small-scale farmer “with a big dream”.
“He wanted to be part of the transformation of land in the Department of Antioquia [in Colombia]. He was actively contributing to a development programme aimed at producing high-quality coffee. Local militias are trying to take control of land in this area at any cost. He went missing in June 2021 and was found dead in a river. His body displayed signs of torture.”
About one in 10 of the defenders recorded killed in 2021 were women, nearly two-thirds of who were indigenous.
Grim toll
In the decade since Global Witness started its reporting, 1 733 defenders have been killed “trying to protect their land and resources” – an average of one defender killed about every two days over 10 years.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo remained the country with the highest number of attacks – eight defenders were killed there in 2021, all in the Virunga National Park, “which remains extremely dangerous for the park rangers protecting it”.
“… Our data on killings represents the tip of the iceberg. That’s because conflict, restrictions on a free press and civil society, and lack of independent monitoring of attacks on defenders can lead to underreporting.
“We know that beyond killings, many defenders and communities also experience attempts to silence them, with tactics like death threats, surveillance, sexual violence or criminalisation – and that these kinds of attacks are even less well reported.”
Lack of justice
Few perpetrators of killings are “ever brought to justice” because of the failures of governments to properly investigate these crimes. “Many authorities ignore or actively impede investigations into these killings often due to alleged collusion between corporate and state interests.”
Still, some progress has been made by governments and corporations, “at least superficially”. According to the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, at least 30 businesses have policies on human rights defenders and civic freedoms.
“However, it’s important to note that these are voluntary commitments and they are not implemented consistently. Some governments, predominantly in Europe, either have or are in the process of introducing mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence for companies. And the Escazú Agreement brought into force in 2021 is the first legally binding instrument in the world to include provisions on environmental human rights defenders.”
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