Front Line Defenders GLOBAL ANALYSIS report documents that at least 324 HRDs were killed in 2024
Dublin-based Front Line Defenders has released their 124-page GLOBAL ANALYSIS 2024/25 report.
The report notes: “At least 324 human rights defenders from 32 different countries were killed in 2024 in an attempt to silence them and their work.” It also notes: “At the time of publication, the HRD Memorial continued to research and conduct verifications on the additional killings of 77 people in Brazil, Cameroon, DRC, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Lebanon, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Nigeria, Palestine, Tanzania and Ukraine.”
At least 230 of the human rights defenders killed were in countries where Peace Brigades International accompanies HRDs: Colombia (157), Mexico (32), Guatemala (29), Honduras (5), Nicaragua (4), and Indonesia (3).
Among the key findings in the report:
– The five deadliest countries for HRDs were: Colombia (where 157 defenders were killed), Mexico (32), Guatemala (29), Palestine (22) and Brazil (15).
– “20.4% of HRDs killed were land rights defenders.” Those killed were “in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and the Philippines.”
– “17.9% of HRDs killed were Indigenous rights defenders.” Those killed were in “Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Venezuela and another country not listed for security reasons.”
– “Complex dynamics involving state and non-state actors and organised crime meant the environment for HRDs remained extremely dangerous in a number of countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Honduras, Ecuador, Mexico, Guatemala and Peru.”
– “In Guatemala, at least 29 HRDs were killed in 2024, the highest number of killings ever recorded by HRD Memorial partner UDEFEGUA since they started their documentation. The majority of HRDs killed, 21, worked for the protection of the land, the environment and indigenous rights.”
– “Numerous Palestinian HRDs were killed, injured, detained or forcibly disappeared by the Israeli army during the year in both targeted and untargeted attacks. Those in detention were frequently subjected to torture, and had their mobile phones and other electronic devices with which they worked confiscated.”
– “In 2024, the HRD Memorial was able to verify the killing of 59 HRDs directly or indirectly related to their human rights work challenging business or corporate interests.” This included Honduran environmental defender Juan Lopez.
Two references to Canadian companies include:
– “In Ecuador in the territory of Palo Quemado, in the province of Cotopaxi, the Prosecutor’s Office filed charges of ‘terrorism’ against more than 70 community members and HRDs. This followed their protests over a lack of meaningful consultation in relation to the La Plata project to mine gold, silver, copper and zinc on their territory by the [Vancouver-based] Canadian Atico Mining Corp (ATY).”
– “In May, six HRDs in the province of Las Naves [in Ecuador] were sentenced to three years of imprisonment and a $600 fine payable to the Canadian multinational mining company Curimining S.A. The defenders were found guilty of charges of illicit association. …In reality, their actions involved peaceful participation in marches and protests where they carried banners with slogans defending water and nature.”
Curimining S.A. is a joint venture between Canada’s Adventus Mining (whose parent organization is Vancouver-based Silvercorp Metals) and Vancouver-based Salazar Resources.
The full Front Line Defenders GLOBAL ANALYSIS 2024/25 can be read here. That report acknowledges: “For 2024, the HRD Memorial has counted on the invaluable support of the following organisations and individuals to verify and complete its dataset [including] Peace Brigades International – Honduras Project.”
0 Comments