Flux continu

L’assassinat du journaliste environnemental Manuel Alejandro Moreno Serna témoigne, une fois encore, de la profonde crise de violence qui touche la presse au Mexique. Reporters sans frontières (RSF) condamne ce crime et exige des autorités mexicaines qu’elles mènent sans délai une enquête indépendante et approfondie, en privilégiant la piste liée à l’exercice de son activité journalistique. Avec ce nouveau cas, RSF recense cinq journalistes tués au Mexique depuis le début de l’année 2026.

The Green Scare created precedents that today reach far beyond radical environmentalism, and threaten anyone willing to engage in direct action.

Après la manifestation pro-Palestine à Berne en octobre 2025, l'identification de suspects recherchés par la police à l'aide de l'intelligence artificielle par des militants d'extrême droite interroge le cadre légal de telles méthodes.

Surveillance démesurées, intimidations fréquentes, procès disproportionnés : depuis quelques années, les militants écolos sont épiés par les renseignements, malmenés par la police, et sévèrement traités devant les tribunaux. D’où cette question, assiste-t-on a une répression du mouvement écolo ? Pour y répondre nous recevons Anthony Cortes, journaliste spécialisé sur les questions écologiques et auteur avec Sébastien Leurquin de l’Affrontement qui vient : de l’éco-résistance à l’éco-terrorisme.

A new report has uncovered the many risks of participating in climate and environmental protests across the world – and how more countries are criminalising and repressing this activity in a bid to keep it in check.

Some Western nations are using old legislation or enacting harsh new laws to restrict the right to peaceful protest and impose disproportionate penalties, a report warns. Governments in democratic countries in Europe and the global north are using overly punitive measures to crack down on environmental activists, according to a new report.

Environmental defenders across Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia are increasingly facing legal pressure, intimidation and attempts to restrict their work. Non-governmental organisations warn about a steady rise in SLAPP lawsuits (1), defamation cases, claims for compensation for alleged damages and other tactics intended to discourage public scrutiny of industrial, mining and development projects with a negative impact on environment. Civic oversight is becoming more difficult, especially for those who challenge powerful economic or political interests.

Yet, as the climate crisis worsens, the civic space for climate protests is shrinking. Instead of focusing on meeting their commitments to reduce climate change, governments are threatening environmental protectors—from Indigenous communities defending their ancestral lands to young activists protesting the expansion of fossil fuels—with intimidation, legal harassment, and at times deadly violence. New forms of attacks are emerging, like the use of counterterrorism laws against climate activists, who are vilified in public and political discourse. And governments have been ratcheting-up their repression of such protests.

The criminalization and repression of climate and environmental activists have intensified globally in the past few years.1 These are forms of backlash against often impactful social movements. The repressive wave has sparked major concerns in many quarters, with the UN secretary general, the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders, and many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), politicians, and social movements speaking out against it.2 In this article I will draw on findings from a University of Bristol project that I led on this topic.3 Driven by a combination of state and corporate actors, the repression of climate and environmental protest is a truly worldwide phenomenon that takes place across the Global North and South.

En visite à Strasbourg, le responsable de l’ONU en matière de droits humains dénonce la multiplication des poursuites, du harcèlement et des violences visant les défenseurs de l’environnement. Un paradoxe, selon lui, au moment où l’urgence climatique s’aggrave sur le continent européen.