Comment of the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights: Crackdowns on peaceful environmental protests should stop and give way to more social dialogue
Environmental pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss are among the most urgent existential threats to humankind and to human rights. In response, many people in Europe and beyond have seen fit to take to the streets and to try new, often disruptive, forms of peaceful protest to demand more resolute government action on issues relating to the protection of nature and the environment, health, and climate change. However, their legitimate demands and concerns are increasingly being met with repression, criminalisation, and stigmatisation.
