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One day last November, Julia Chuñil called for her dog, Cholito, and ventured into the forest near her home to search for lost farm animals. The animals returned but Chuñil, then aged 72, and Cholito never reappeared.

Over 100 people participated with her family in a search lasting multiple weeks in the rugged, wet and thickly vegetated landscape of the nation 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 one of 146 territorial and ecological activists who were killed or disappeared around the world last year, as reported by a study by the advocacy organization Global Witness. Roughly one-third of these cases, like Chuñil, were from Indigenous communities – a significant burden for peoples who together make up just 6% of the world’s population.

Chuñil, a leader of the Mapuche Indigenous community in Chile, was living on contested territory. Ten years ago she had moved on to Reserva Cora, a 2,200-acre section of the age-old Valdivian ecosystem 800 kilometers below the capital, which her people claimed as an ancestral territory.

For many years she advocating to obtain land rights over the site for her tribe. However, the legal proprietor of the land, the heir of colonizers, declined to surrender ownership. He wanted the site for logging – the country serves as a major supplier of lumber to the US – and he sought to remove the activist. Before she vanished, Chuñil informed supporters: “If anything happens to me, it will be clear who did it.”

Global Reporting on Violence Against Defenders

The organization began recording cases of deaths and disappearances of land and environmental protectors in 2012. From that point, it has collated a total of two thousand two hundred fifty-three cases. For the past decade, the riskiest region has been Central and South America. In 2024 it represented eighty-two percent of cases, which involved 45 Indigenous people.

“Land conflict is at the heart of aggression against activists, and Indigenous peoples are paying the highest price,” said a senior policy adviser at Global Witness. “Communities with historical ties to land often lead the resistance when their territories come under threat from resource extraction and encroachment. But despite their critical role, they are frequently refused acknowledgment and justice, and exposed to serious danger for defending their rightful lands.”

Country-Specific Statistics and Under-reporting

Chuñil’s was the sole incident recorded in her nation during that period, although it fitted a pattern of the targeting of Mapuche advocates in Chile. The nation of Colombia reported 48 instances, making it the deadliest country in total for environmental defenders, followed by the country of Guatemala with 20 cases, the deadliest country per capita. Mexico had nineteen cases, putting it in number three in the ranking.

Under-reporting continues to be a problem, especially in the Asian continent and Africa, which registered 16 and 9 cases respectively, Global Witness noted. In general, the previous year the lowest number of cases of killings and disappearances of land activists were documented in ten years.

Laura Furones, who conducted the research for Global Witness, said: “It would be gratifying to report that this implies a decrease in hostilities and an improvement in the conditions for activists, but sadly that’s not the case. Rights advocates face realities of brutality that go far beyond murder. Often, aggression is transform, grow more complex, alter its appearance.”

Continuing Struggle for Justice

Chuñil’s family have persisted in seeking legal resolution 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 another by toxins. “It is, above all, a intentional effort to prevent us from fighting this case,” her child a family member told Global Witness.

Their analysis calls on authorities to act to end the lack of punishment of the perpetrators of environmental defenders by tackling the absence of legal entitlements activists have over property, strengthening weak domestic judiciary frameworks, and ensuring endangered advocates are given adequate state protection.

“Our sole request is a full, fair investigation to be conducted,” San Martín said of his parent’s case. “It’s been almost a year since she disappeared and we’re remain unaware about the events. Our demand is the responsible parties to be discovered and charged.”