Over 300 ‘human rights defenders’ murdered in 2017

The report, launched in Dublin, names the deceased as well as detailing the physical attacks, threats, judicial harassment, and smear campaigns used by state, non-state, and corporate actors to hinder the work of peaceful human rights defenders around the world.

In 2017, 312 defenders in 27 countries were killed for their peaceful work, according to data collected by Front Line Defenders.

More than two-thirds (67 per cent) of those were defending land, environmental and indigenous peoples’ rights, nearly always in the context of mega projects, extractive industry and big business.

Of the cases tracked, only 12 per cent of all murder cases resulted in the arrest of suspects, even though, of the cases for which data on threats was collected, 84 per cent of murdered defenders received at least one targeted death threat prior to their killing.

Andrew Anderson, executive director of Front Line Defenders, said: “Around the world, defenders continue to tell us that police and government officials refuse to respond to requests for protection following death threats to activists.

“Killings almost always occur following a series or pattern of threats, indicating that if preventive action were taken by police, and threats against defenders were taken seriously by authorities, human rights defender killings could be drastically reduced.”