Photo: Jani Silva receives peace prize at the Hessian State Parliament. Photo by Stefan Krutsch.
Colombian environmental defender Jani Silva has been awarded the Hessian Peace Prize in the Hesse state parliament in the city of Wiesbaden (which is located about 30 kilometres west of the city of Frankfurt).
The parliament’s media release highlights: “For her commitment [to social justice, environmental protection and social cohesion in the Putumayo Amazon region for more than 40 years, 62-year-old], Silva has been exposed to death threats from armed militias for years, who are trying to kill her and her family.”
Stern now reports: “The German ambassador to Colombia, Martina Klumpp, said in her laudation: ‘Jani Silva shows children and young people on the ground how important the protection of life is and how short-lived and dangerous the path of supposedly easy money as a member of armed groups is.’”
The article continues: “The diplomat referred to more than 100 local leaders who have been murdered in Colombia this year alone: ‘Those who defend human rights are under enormous pressure in Colombia: For years, it has been considered the most dangerous country in the world for environmental activists.’”
And the Spanish news agency EFE notes: “The Colombian activist for the environment and peace has made a decisive contribution to the creation of a protected area in the Amazon that allows small farmers access to agricultural land and offers them a perspective away from the war on drugs and violence, says the Parliament of the federal state of Hesse. where the ceremony took place, in a statement.”
That article also explains: “Silva, 62, president of Adispa, the Perla Amazónica Association for Integral Sustainable Development, an organization based in the La Perla Amazónica reserve, inhabited by small farmers, expressed her gratitude for the award and said that the granting of this award, endowed with 25,000 euros, is a recognition of all women in her region and even throughout Colombia.”
“Caught in a battleground”
In an essay published in the Global Witness “Roots of Resistance” report this week, Silva comments: “Over the years, we’ve found ourselves caught in a battleground where control over land and resources is the goal. I have long resisted the intrusion of mining and oil companies, as well as armed groups seeking to control our territories and drug corridors in the southwest of Colombia.”
Silva further notes: “ Foreign fossil fuel giants – like Amerisur Exploración Colombia Limitada, a Colombian subsidiary of UK-headquartered Amerisur Resources – have sought to drill oil from the reserve. In 2009, Amerisur Exploración Colombia Limitada secured a license to exploit 55 oil wells in our territory, before selling it to GeoPark Limited – a Chilean oil company.”
The Royal Bank of Canada is among the institutional investors in GeoPark Limited (with about $667,000. in shares in August 2025).
Last year, Silva also explained: “The threats we confront as an organization that defends our territory and environmental rights are due to the denunciations we make against pollution and exploitation in our territory. We can’t deny the evident complicity between armed groups and oil companies, through the company’s sub-contractors. The threats continue against peasant, Afro and Indigenous leaders that share the objective of defending their territory.”
After learning of an assassination plot against her, Silva was forced to leave her community in July 2021.
She says: “Being away from my community has made everything harder. Challenging corporations and illicit actors is hard enough. Having to do that far from my community while consistently watching my back is emotionally draining. I miss the tranquillity, the fresh air, being surrounded by nature. I also miss my neighbours – people who are attached to the land, as I am. They have also been harassed and threatened.”
Photo: Silva discusses the risks of travelling back to her home in the Perla Amazónica Peasant Reserve Zone after receiving threats from illegal armed groups operating in the Putumayo region. Photo by Erika Piñeros / Global Witness.
Accompaniment
Jani is accompanied by the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission, which in turn has been accompanied by Peace Brigades International since 1994.
Photo: Jani Silva with Hereditary Chief Na’Moks and Sleydo’ on Wet’suwet’en territory in northern British Columbia, June 2025.
