Environmental Defenders are Being Assassinated in Colombia
We are activists of the organisation Catapa, which supports communities in Latin America in their resistance against extractivism. Our most important mission in Belgium is to raise awareness about the origin of nonrenewable resources (like metals), as well as the social and environmental consequences of mining.
As part of Catapa Colombia, we are also closely collaborating with different grassroot organisations in the country, in an attempt to support them as much as we can. In the last few months, especially after the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, some really worrying news has been reaching us and we feel we cannot remain indifferent.
The most recent report of the British NGO Global Witness “Defending Tomorrow” revealed that in 2019 alone, 64 environmental activists have been murdered in Colombia, because of protecting their land, their communities and their natural environment. This number is the highest Global Witness has ever recorded in the country, which makes Colombia the most dangerous region worldwide for people defending the environment. The situation has not improved over the last months: In the week of the 21st of October in just two days four social leaders were killed.
The violations towards environmental defenders and their territories should come to an end.
For these reasons we have decided to launch a campaign called #WhoIs KillingThem to raise awareness about the impacts of mining and the increasing number of environmental and social activists being assassinated in Colombia. This campaign starts at the beginning of November 2020 and will end in January 2021. It will include seminars, online events, posts on social media and public actions.
If you are interested in learning more, please check out our current agenda here.
We hope you will join us in raising awareness and standing in solidarity with the environmental defenders on the frontlines.
Anybody interested in collaborating with us as a volunteer or participating in our events can follow us or send us a private message on Facebook and Twitter (@CatapaColombia), as well as write us an email (colombia@catapa.be).
You can also join to our informative WhatsApp Group through the following link
Joins us already this week on 12. November!
Online Cooking Evening “ArePaZ” where the Colombian activist Dayana will teach you how to make traditional arepas while she talks about the current situation for environmental defenders in Colombia.
