The recent murder of Gerardo Keimari Enrique, an Indigenous leader from Peru's Matsiguenka community, has intensified calls for stronger protection of Indigenous land rights, nonprofit Amazon Watch stated in a press release.
Keimari’s body was discovered in the Madre de Dios River on October 7, 2024 near his ancestral land. His death marks the latest in a series of violent incidents against Indigenous defenders in the Peruvian Amazon, the press note stated.
Keimari had been actively advocating for the expansion of his community’s land title, an effort crucial to safeguarding the region from threats posed by illegal mining and drug trafficking. Despite numerous death threats, the Peruvian government failed to offer adequate protection, even after the Shipetiari community appealed to the Ministry of Justice’s Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Amazon Watch claimed.
His murder comes only months after the tortured body of Katakaibo leader Mariano Asacama was found, leading AIDESEP, a representative body of Peruvian Amazon Indigenous peoples, to declare a state of emergency in the region, the press note further stated.
The surge in violence is closely tied to the proliferation of criminal economies, which are contributing to the deforestation of the Amazon, found A recent report entitled Amazon Underworld released by Amazon Watch and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.
Amazon Watch and Indigenous organisations demanded swift investigations into these murders and calling for urgent international attention to the plight of Indigenous land defenders.
As international conferences like the twelfth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity approach, activists are urging governments and global institutions to prioritize Indigenous land rights and take stronger action against illegal land grabs.
The increasingly violent clashes between Indigenous communities protecting their ancestral territories and illegal settlers attempting to expand illegal mining and cocaine production has resulted in land title advocacy becoming one of the most dangerous activities for Indigenous leaders in Peru and the Amazon basin.Ricardo Pérez, Communications Advisor for Amazon Watch in Peru
This reality underscores the importance of focusing on international measures to stop illegal land grabs and protect Indigenous land rights at upcoming international conferences on biodiversity and the climate crisis, Pérez said.