...As people took to the streets to protest authoritarianism, extractivism and genocide, many governments responded by detaining human rights defenders and framing dissent itself as a threat to national interests. In this context, Indigenous Peoples, youth, environmental groups and others demanding climate action faced intensified retaliation by state authorities and private sector actors.

Across 2023 and 2024, Indigenous, land and environmental defenders (ILEDs) confronted persistent threats, arbitrary arrests, violence and killings, alongside a rise in digital attacks. These trends raised urgent concerns about how online harm fuels offline violence, as well as the responsibility of social media companies and how regulators should respond

Humanitarian and environmental crises, continued resource extraction and collusion between governments and corporations further deepened defenders’ vulnerability. In many regions, conflict eroded already fragile protections, exposing communities to displacement, land expropriation and systematic violence. Such dynamics were stark in Palestine and the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also in Myanmar, the Philippines, Sudan and Ukraine – contexts where land rights violations both drive and result from conflict, creating self-reinforcing cycles of insecurity and ecological destruction.

Despite the severity of these trends, state monitoring of attacks against defenders remains profoundly inadequate. In many contexts, civil society organizations are the primary actors documenting abuses, identifying patterns of escalation and pressing for accountability. In this context, initiatives like ALLIED and the data collectors contributing to this effort are indispensable – strengthening the global evidence base, filling critical reporting gaps, and enabling more effective protection for Indigenous, land and environmental defenders at a moment when they are urgently needed...