A Missing Territorial Activist and the Lethal Toll of Land Conflict on Native People

One day last November, Julia Chuñil called for her canine companion, Cholito, and ventured into the woods around her home to search for lost livestock. The cattle returned but Chuñil, who was 72 at the time, and her dog did not.

More than 100 people participated with her relatives in a hunt lasting multiple weeks in the rugged, wet and densely overgrown terrain of Chile’s ancient Valdivian forest. After a month, they even kept an eye on scavenger birds for any disturbing clues. But they found no trace of the missing woman.

Julia Chuñil is among 146 territorial and ecological activists who were killed or went missing globally in the previous year, as reported by a report by the campaign group the monitoring entity. About a third of those, similar to her, were from Indigenous communities – a significant toll for populations who together make up only six percent of the world’s inhabitants.

The activist, a leader of the Mapuche Indigenous community in Chile, was residing in disputed land. A decade earlier she had settled in Reserva Cora, a 900-hectare section of the ancient Valdivian ecosystem 800 kilometers below Santiago, which her people asserted as an historical territory.

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 logging – Chile is a major exporter of wood to the US – and he sought to remove Chuñil. Before she vanished, Chuñil informed supporters: “Should harm come to me, it will be clear who is responsible.”

Global Reporting on Violence Against Activists

Global Witness started documenting cases of killings and vanishing acts of land and environmental protectors in the year 2012. From that point, it has collated a total of two thousand two hundred fifty-three instances. For the past decade, the riskiest place has been Latin America. Last year it accounted for eighty-two percent of cases, including 45 Indigenous people.

“Territorial disputes is at the heart of violence against activists, and native communities are bearing the greatest cost,” said an expert at Global Witness. “Communities with historical ties to territory often lead the opposition when their territories come under threat from resource extraction and encroachment. However, regardless of their critical role, they are often denied recognition and justice, and exposed to grave danger for protecting their rightful territories.”

Nation-Specific Data and Unrecorded Cases

Julia’s was the sole incident recorded in her country during that period, although it matched a pattern of the targeting of Mapuche advocates in Chile. The nation of Colombia recorded 48 instances, making it the deadliest country in total for environmental defenders, then came Guatemala with twenty cases, the most dangerous country per capita. Mexico had nineteen incidents, putting it in third place overall.

Incomplete data remains an issue, particularly in the Asian continent and Africa, which registered 16 and nine cases each, the monitor noted. In general, the previous year the fewest incidents of killings and disappearances of land activists were registered for a decade.

The lead researcher, who led the investigation for the organization, commented: “I would also like to be able to tell you that this suggests a reduction of violence and an enhancement in the situation for defenders, but unfortunately that’s not true. Rights advocates confront situations of brutality that extend well past murder. What violence often does is evolve, grow more complex, alter its appearance.”

Continuing Struggle for Accountability

Julia’s relatives have continued to pursue legal resolution but their activism has made them a target of intimidation and intimidation, too. During April, two animals from Chuñil’s home that they had intended to sell to finance court expenses were found killed, one shot and another by toxins. “It is, above all, a intentional effort to prevent us from pursuing this legal matter,” her child a family member informed the watchdog.

Their analysis urges authorities to act to halt the lack of punishment of the perpetrators of land activists by tackling the absence of legal entitlements activists have over property, strengthening weak domestic judiciary frameworks, and ensuring endangered advocates are given sufficient government security.

“Our sole request is a comprehensive, impartial probe to be conducted,” San Martín remarked of his parent’s case. “It’s been almost a year since she disappeared and we’re still in the dark about what happened. Our demand is those behind this to be identified and prosecuted.”