Environment and human rights

Human rights and the environment are interdependent. The Commissioner promotes the growing recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment among member states, assists them in upholding the organisation’s human rights standards with regard to environmental protection, and supports the work of environmental human rights defenders.

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. full article