Colombia and Brazil – the world’s deadliest countries for environmental activists

Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

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Colombia and Brazil – the world’s deadliest countries for environmental activists

Cândida Schaedler on 12 February 2025 asks whether anything can be done to protect them. In 2023, 196 land and environmental defenders were murdered around the world – the vast majority of them in Latin America. In fact, just four countries – Brazil, Colombia, Honduras and Mexico – accounted for over 70 percent of those killings. Colombia was by far the deadliest country, with 79 murders, followed by Brazil, with 25. We spoke with some of these …