A "deliberate strategy": Amnesty International denounces the repression of climate activists in France

A decade after the Paris Agreement and in the wake of an unprecedented heatwave , French authorities are accused of hampering the work of environmental defenders, in a report published by Amnesty International on Thursday, July 3. The report describes a series of legal, physical, and financial restrictions targeting environmental activists in France. The human rights organization sees this as a "deliberate strategy" that "is part of a global wave of repression and the rolling back of climate commitments made by states."

"It is worrying to see that France, which was a driving force in the fight for climate change ten years ago, is now a prime example of the repression of environmental defenders," warns Margot Jaymond, climate justice advocacy officer at Amnesty International France. The NGO denounces "a system" designed to paralyze the actions of pro-climate activists by attacking in a "targeted and intentional manner" the freedom to demonstrate, of expression, and of association.

Amnesty illustrates its conclusions in particular through the repression of the mobilizations against the mega-basins in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres), in 2022 and 2023, during which the police used reduced-lethality weapons (defense ball launchers) in a manner deemed "disproportionate" .

The NGO also denounces hundreds of police custody cases and around sixty trials following the protests against the A69 motorway project in the Tarn region.

This violence is accompanied by "a legislative arsenal" that "criminalizes" protesters, the report states, citing in particular the so-called "anti-rioters" law of 2019, or the 2021 law "reinforcing respect for the principles of the Republic" known as the "separatism law" , which facilitates the dissolution of associations or the withdrawal of funding. Among the cases mentioned are the Alternatiba movement, deprived of public subsidies, and the collective Les Soulèvements de la Terre , targeted in 2023 by an attempted dissolution deemed contrary to international law.

Amnesty also warns of "stigmatizing rhetoric" against environmental activists, sometimes described as "eco-terrorists" by some politicians, as well as a weakening of media coverage of the climate, to the detriment of the right to information. The NGO calls on the French authorities to "urgently take" measures to protect the rights of environmental defenders and to "publicly recognize" their work as "legitimate and essential."