Colombia was the deadliest country in the world for human rights defenders in 2022, accounting for 186 killings – or 46% – of the global total registered last year, according to the latest report from the international human rights group Front Line Defenders.
Front Line Defenders found that killings of rights defenders across the globe increased in 2022, with a total of 401 deaths across 26 different countries, compared with 358 deaths in 38 countries registered in 2021.
Colombia saw more than three times the number of human rights murders than Ukraine last year, which was the country with the second highest number of rights defenders killed in 2022, with 50 registered cases.
In 2021, Colombia also topped Front Line Defenders’ charts registering 138 rights defenders killed.
“In a grim milestone, for the first time we saw more than 400 targeted killings of human rights defenders in 2022. While Latin America remained the deadliest region in the world for human rights defenders, we also saw a more dangerous landscape for defenders in the context of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” said Olive Moore, interim director of Front Line Defenders.
Five countries – Colombia (186 killings), Ukraine (50), Mexico (45), Brazil (26) and Honduras (17) – accounted for over 80% of rights defenders’ deaths registered last year.
Across the different human rights sectors, defenders working on the protection of land, environmental and Indigenous peoples’ rights were the most frequently targeted. Front Line Defenders registered 194 murders of defenders working on these issues, accounting for 48% of the total global killings.
Indigenous rights defenders accounted for 22% of the total global killings across all human rights sectors last year.
“These human rights defenders were deliberately targeted and killed because of their human rights work. Because they choose to speak out and challenge injustice, they paid for it with their lives,” Moore said.
Environmental and Indigenous rights defenders were also disproportionately targeted in Colombia last year. The country recorded the highest number of lethal attacks against these defenders in 2022, with 88 environmental and Indigenous rights defenders killed – 47% of the national total of 186.
Last year, the Colombian congress ratified the Escazú agreement – an international treaty aimed at protecting the environment and granting greater protection to environmental defenders.
Nonetheless, the country continues to struggle with ongoing violence towards environmental and human rights defenders. According to the local NGO Indepaz, 36 rights defenders have been killed in Colombia so far this year.
“This ongoing harassment has failed to deter human rights defenders from continuing their work. If anything, it has galvanised them to keep countering the repression and standing up for justice. The international community must stand in solidarity with them, and do all they can to protect defenders,” Moore said.
Front Line Defenders’ data is based on more than 1,500 threats and violations reported to the organisation.
