Condemnation of the terms “eco-terrorists”, “eco-zealots”, “eco-vandalism”, a reminder of the irrefutable nature of the climate emergency, and above all, firm condemnation of the repression of environmental demonstrators... Dunja Mijatović, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, speaks out forcefully in her latest “Human Rights Comment”, published on 2 June.
She believes that environmental human rights defenders and climate activists “deserve our sympathy and support, not repression and resentment”.
Europe has always been a place where environmental activism and climate action have been expressed in a variety of ways, the Commissioner points out, but in recent years there has been a growing sense of powerlessness, particularly among young people, in the face of “inadequate government action in the face of an impending climate catastrophe”.
Many then turned to “non-violent environmental direct action”, launching new methods such as spraying paint or food on works of art or cultural sites protected by glass panels.
These disruptive actions, presented as “a last resort in the face of an urgency to act” have been “with very rare exceptions, peaceful and non-violent”, emphasises Dunja Mijatović, who stresses the role played in the history of humankind by “civil disobedience” to “challenge the status quo, insist on respect for human rights, and demand reforms”.
However, “in many places across Europe” (e.g. Austria, Germany, France, Georgia, Finland, the Netherlands and Serbia), they are met with “heavy-handed policing, physical violence, detention – at times, preemptive – and criminalisation of protesters”.
Recalling her previous statements on the threats to environmental activism in Europe (2019 and 2021), the Commissioner deplores the fact that “this repressive trend appears to keep intensifying” and recalls the Council of Europe’s standards on the protection of the right of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.
These include the right to demonstrate and protest in defence of the environment, allow citizens to hold their governments to account and stimulate public debate. They must be facilitated, not stifled, says the Commissioner, referring to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.
We need to put an end to repression, she concludes, “we must urgently give way to more genuine, quality social dialogue on environmental matters” and “give environmental defenders a seat at the policy table”.
Not to mention the urgent need for governments to take “more decisive, genuine, and ambitious government action on climate change and environmental pollution”.
Link to the Human Rights Comment: https://aeur.eu/f/77u (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)