Concerns about ‘repression’ of environmental activists in France

Stéphane Mandard writes on the Le Monde website this week about a report published on July 3rd that Amnesty International expressed concern about ‘growing attacks’ on freedoms of expression, protest and association, warning of a ‘deterrent effect’ on climate action.

Amnesty International condemns ‘repression’ of environmental and climate activists in France

On Wednesday, July 2, the prefect of France’s southern Tarn administrative department banned any gathering of opponents of national highway A69, a controversial proposal to link the cities of Toulouse and Castres, ahead of protests planned for July 4 to 6, citing “clear risks of serious public disorder.” The previous day, a court in Castres handed suspended fines of €400 to €500 to 16 anti-A69 activists, some of whom had perched in trees to prevent their felling in 2024, for “opposing the execution of works of public utility.” The two decisions could have easily been included in Amnesty International’s first report on the rights of climate activists. Published on Wednesday, July 3, the report denounced “the repression of environmental and climate defenders” in France.

“It is worrying to see that France, which led the fight for the climate with the Paris Agreement 10 years ago, is today a striking example of the global wave of repression targeting environmental defenders,” said Margot Jaymond, a climate justice specialist at Amnesty International France. “A whole system exists to prevent their action, to criminalize them and to repress them. Targeted and deliberate attacks are not only against freedom of protest, expression and association, but also against the right to information and citizen participation when it comes to climate issues.”

The human rights NGO listed “growing attacks” against climate activists. It criticized restrictions on freedom of expression and the right to protest through the implementation of a “strategy of judicialization of public order maintenance,” which has been applied to all social movements and increasingly to environmental activists. As with the decision of the prefect of Tarn, many protests have been banned in recent years, whether against the A69 or megabasins, after demonstrations led to violence at a proposed site for large water reservoirs in the southwest village of Sainte-Soline in March 2023. The NGO pointed out that, in contradiction with international law, French law punishes the failure to declare a protest with up to six months in prison and a €7,500 fine for organizers.

Deterrent effect

Amnesty also criticized the prosecution of activists for criminal offenses originally created to combat organized crime. The charge of “participation in a group with the aim of planning violence” was used against eight activists who entered a factory of industrial group Arkema in 2024 to denounce the massive discharge of forever chemicals into the Rhône river. They were eventually found not guilty on appeal in May. The same charge was applied to 200 activists held in police custody after protesting at the general assembly of Amundi, one of the main shareholders of oil giant TotalEnergies, in May 2024.

Arrests, legal proceedings and trials have also targeted protesters who removed chairs from agencies of the bank BNP Paribas to condemn tax evasion at the expense of funding the energy transition; who took down official portraits of President Emmanuel Macron from town halls to denounce France’s inaction on climate change; and, in the case of activists from Extinction Rebellion and Attac, who  the ultra rich in the climate crisis.

Even though these procedures have not always resulted in sentences, they have “a deterrent effect on climate action,” according to Amnesty International. Jaymond added, “Forced to devote time and financial resources to these legal battles, organizations see their capacity for action weakened.”

Attacks on the right to information

The NGO also highlighted violations of the right to freedom of association, pointing to the emblematic case of environmental activist network Les Soulèvements de la Terre. Former interior minister Gérald Darmanin ordered the dissolution of the network, labeling it “ecoterrorist” in the wake of protests in Sainte-Soline. The Conseil d’Etat, France’s highest administrative court, overturned the order, ruling it was “not an appropriate or proportionate measure.” The NGO also said

France’s “separatism law” (which requires neutrality on the part of organizations that work with public services) was “misused” to withdraw funding or deny grants to organizations, as was the case following civil disobedience actions by the group Alternatiba in 2022 and 2023.

Amnesty International also warned of threats to the rights to information and participation in public affairs. France Nature Environnement, a federation of environmental groups, has reported a growing trend in the “simplification” of industrial projects, which exempts them from environmental assessments that are meant to inform and guarantee public participation. In addition, as was the case for public environmental agencies including the French Biodiversity Agency, the CNDP, a national commission for public debate, has come under attack. During debates on the bill to simplify economic functioning, some elected officials called for the elimination of the consultative body and for industrial projects to be excluded from its remit.

Faced with growing threats to environmental activists, the United Nations created the position of special rapporteur on environmental defenders in 2022, naming former Amnesty International France head Michel Forst to the position. “The environmental emergency that we are collectively facing, and that scientists have been documenting for decades, cannot be addressed if those raising the alarm and demanding action are criminalized for it,” Forst reiterated in his most recent report, published in February 2024.

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