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One day last November, the Indigenous leader Julia Chuñil called for her canine companion, her loyal pet, and ventured into the forest around her residence to look for missing farm animals. The animals returned but Julia, 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 thickly vegetated terrain of Chile’s pristine Valdivian forest. A month later, they even kept an eye on scavenger birds for any grim clues. However, they found no trace of the missing woman.

Chuñil is among one hundred forty-six territorial and ecological activists who were murdered or disappeared globally last year, as reported by a study by the advocacy organization the monitoring entity. About a third of those, similar to her, were from native groups – a significant toll for peoples who together constitute only six percent of the world’s population.

Chuñil, a leader of Chile’s indigenous Mapuche, was residing in contested territory. A decade earlier she had settled in a protected forest area, a 2,200-acre portion of the ancient Valdivian forest 500 miles below Santiago, which her community asserted as an historical homeland.

She spent years campaigning to obtain land rights for the location for her tribe. However, the site’s nominal owner, the descendant of colonizers, refused to relinquish ownership. He wanted the site for timber extraction – the country serves as a significant supplier of lumber to the United States – and he sought to remove the activist. Before she vanished, Chuñil informed supporters: “If anything happens to me, you already know who did it.”

Global Reporting on Violence Against Activists

Global Witness started documenting cases of deaths and vanishing acts of territorial and ecological defenders 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 most dangerous place has been Latin America. In 2024 it accounted for eighty-two percent of reported incidents, which involved 45 Indigenous people.

“Territorial disputes is at the heart of violence against defenders, and Indigenous peoples are paying the highest price,” said an expert at Global Witness. “Populations with historical ties to territory often form the frontline of resistance when their lands are endangered from resource extraction and encroachment. However, regardless of their vital function, they are often refused recognition and justice, and subjected to grave risk for defending their legitimate lands.”

Country-Specific Data and Unrecorded Cases

Chuñil’s was the sole incident recorded in her nation during that period, although it fitted a trend of the singling out of Mapuche advocates in Chile. Colombia reported 48 instances, making it the most lethal country in total for environmental defenders, followed by Guatemala with 20 cases, the deadliest country by population. The country of Mexico had 19 cases, placing it at third place overall.

Under-reporting remains an issue, particularly in the Asian continent and the African region, which recorded sixteen and 9 cases each, the monitor noted. Overall, the previous year the fewest cases of murders and disappearances of land activists were documented in ten years.

The lead researcher, who conducted the investigation for Global Witness, commented: “It would be gratifying to report that this suggests a decrease in violence and an enhancement in the situation for activists, but unfortunately that’s not true. Human rights defenders confront situations of violence that extend well past murder. What violence often does is evolve, become more sophisticated, change its face.”

Ongoing Struggle for Justice

Julia’s relatives have continued to pursue justice but their activism has exposed them to threats and harassment, as well. During April, two animals from her property that they had intended to sell to finance legal costs were found killed, one murdered by gunfire and one poisoned. “It is, above all, a deliberate effort to prevent us from pursuing this case,” her son a family member told the watchdog.

The group’s report urges governments to act to halt the impunity of the perpetrators of land activists by addressing the lack of rights defenders have over land and territory, strengthening ineffective domestic judiciary frameworks, and ensuring endangered advocates are provided sufficient government security.

“Our sole request is a full, fair investigation to take place,” the son remarked of his parent’s case. “Nearly twelve months have passed since she vanished and we’re still in the dark about the events. We want those behind this to be identified and prosecuted.”