Human Rights Watch warns that "environmental defenders face governments' mounting efforts to criminalize peaceful protest."
This statement was originally published on hrw.org on 21 August 2026.
Uphold rights to a healthy environment and freedoms of association, assembly, and expression
As space for environmental advocacy rapidly shrinks, Indigenous peoples, climate activists, and land defenders increasingly face harassment, criminalization, and repression for protecting lands, ecosystems, and communities from environmental harm. The use of violence, intimidation, and threats to silence environmental defenders is an urgent challenge.
Against this backdrop, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to a healthy environment is compiling a report on environmental defenders worldwide, to which Human Rights Watch submitted input on August 19.
In Brazil, HRW has extensively documented how criminal networks engaged in illegal deforestation, mining, and land-grabbing threaten and sometimes kill Indigenous people, small farmers, and environmental agents who stand in their way. HRW also documented police beating defenders peacefully protesting mining in Indonesia.
Environmental defenders face governments’ mounting efforts to criminalize peaceful protest. While the United Kingdom and Australia have in recent years passed draconian laws criminalizing peaceful protests, countries such as Vietnam and Turkey have used broad legislation to harshly punish climate activists. In Indonesia, authorities prosecuted and wrongly punished hundreds of Indigenous activists and those protesting deforestation and environmental damages, including prosecutions for “spreading communism.”
Labeling environmental defenders as terrorists or criminals, governments have also restricted advocacy by attacking civil society. German authorities designated Letzte Generation, a climate activist group known for disruptive protests, a criminal organization in 2024, prompting raids, surveillance, and the seizure of its website. In Uganda, authorities have raided NGOs, revoked licenses, and arrested activists who raised concerns about the environmental risks of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline project.
Countries should protect environmental defenders and ratify regional agreements undertaking to ensure a safe environment for them. The Escazú Agreement of Latin America and the Caribbean obligates states to prevent, investigate, and punish attacks against environmental defenders, while Europe’s Aarhus Convention establishes a Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders to address and prevent abuses. Countries should also ensure that any laws that regulate environmental activism protect the rights to exercise freedoms of association, assembly, and expression.
As climate change intensifies, environmental defenders play a vital role in protecting the right to a healthy environment. Governments should strengthen their protection by condemning abuses, adopting tailored protection plans, coordinating with rights organizations, and providing support to communities protecting the environment.
