UN Experts Warn of Alarming Rise in Enforced Disappearances of Eco-Defenders

In its latest report to the Human Rights Council, the Working Group described the situation as a “clear and present danger” to those on the front lines of environmental and climate justice.

The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has sounded the alarm over a disturbing global trend: the targeting of environmental defenders, land rights activists, and natural resource protectors through enforced disappearances.

A Wake-Up Call for the Global Community

In its latest report to the Human Rights Council, the Working Group described the situation as a “clear and present danger” to those on the front lines of environmental and climate justice. “These are not isolated incidents, but a growing trend fueled by impunity,” the experts stressed.

Disappearances are increasingly being used as a tool to silence individuals and communities who oppose extractive industries, agribusiness ventures, and development megaprojects. Such abductions, often committed in secrecy and denial, leave families without answers and communities terrorized.

Systemic Discrimination and Criminalization

The report underscores how environmental defenders are often branded as “anti-development,” “terrorists,” or “eco-terrorists” by States, corporations, and media outlets. This labeling, the experts noted, is used to delegitimize legitimate human rights work, justify intrusive surveillance, and even initiate spurious terrorism-related prosecutions.

By framing defenders as threats, governments and businesses create conditions where disappearances become more likely — especially in regions already plagued by systemic discrimination, corruption, and weak rule of law. Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant communities, and rural women are disproportionately affected, facing layered vulnerabilities in contexts of climate emergency.

Collusion Between States, Corporations, and Criminal Networks

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the report is its finding of collusion. According to documented cases, disappearances frequently involve cooperation or tacit complicity between State security forces, business enterprises, and organized criminal groups.

These networks, often linked to extractive industries such as mining, oil, gas, and large-scale agribusiness, seek to protect profits by neutralizing opposition. Energy ventures and infrastructure development projects, particularly those financed by transnational corporations and international financial institutions, are also implicated in creating conditions that enable disappearances.

Businesses and Financial Institutions Called to Account

The report calls on private sector actors to step up their human rights responsibilities. This includes conducting rigorous due diligence, respecting the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and ensuring that their supply chains and investments are not complicit in enforced disappearances.

Financial institutions, in particular, were urged to scrutinize the human rights impacts of projects they fund and to provide redress mechanisms for communities harmed by their investments.

Protecting the Protectors

“These defenders are ultimately safeguarding all ways of life on this planet, and we must protect them from enforced disappearance,” the experts emphasized. The report frames environmental defenders not as obstacles to development, but as essential guardians of ecosystems, biodiversity, and climate stability.

Their disappearance not only violates fundamental human rights but also undermines global efforts to address the climate crisis and achieve sustainable development.

Recommendations and Next Steps

The Working Group issued several recommendations aimed at States, businesses, and international organizations, including:

• Prevention: Strengthen legal frameworks, criminalize enforced disappearance, and ensure protection programs for human rights defenders.

• Accountability: Investigate allegations of collusion, prosecute perpetrators at all levels, and end impunity.

• Reparations: Provide holistic reparations to victims’ families and communities, including truth-seeking and guarantees of non-recurrence.

• Business conduct: Mandate due diligence processes and hold corporations accountable for complicity in human rights abuses.

• International cooperation: Increase monitoring, share best practices, and enhance global frameworks to address transnational aspects of disappearances.

Upcoming Discussion at the UN

The findings will be further debated at a side event scheduled for 22 September 2025 at 15:30 CET in Room IX of the Palais des Nations in Geneva, where civil society groups, affected communities, and international stakeholders are expected to push for stronger protections.

A Global Struggle for Justice

The report reinforces a growing consensus that the defense of land and the environment is among the most dangerous forms of activism today. According to rights organizations, hundreds of environmental defenders are killed or disappeared annually, with Latin America, Asia, and parts of Africa being particularly high-risk regions.

For the UN experts, the message is clear: the international community must treat enforced disappearances of environmental defenders as a crisis demanding urgent action. Protecting those who protect the planet is not only a human rights obligation but also essential for the survival of future generations.