Human Rights Watch Accuses UK of Undermining Democratic Rights With Crackdown on Climate Protesters

The United Kingdom’s crackdown on climate protesters is setting a “dangerous” global precedent, according to the UK Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) Yasmine Ahmed, reported The Guardian.

British authorities are undermining democratic rights, particularly the right to protest peacefully, according to HRW’s World Report 2025.

“Many of us had hoped that an incoming Labour government would have repealed the undemocratic anti-protest legislation introduced under the previous administration, especially given Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s background as a human rights lawyer,” Ahmed said in a press release from HRW. “That they have chosen not to, and are instead defending these measures in court, beggars belief. Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of a healthy and functioning democracy.”

The 546-page report examined human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In many places, governments took action to stop, wrongfully arrest and imprison activists, political opponents and journalists. Civilians were unlawfully killed by government forces and armed groups and driven from their homes while access to humanitarian aid was blocked.

“In many of the more than 70 national elections in 2024, authoritarian leaders gained ground with their discriminatory rhetoric and policies,” HRW said.

In “a huge victory for democracy” in May of 2024, the UK’s High Court deemed some anti-protest measures unlawful. However, the incoming Labour government appealed the ruling in December.

“We’re at a stage where we’re talking about the… dangerous hypocrisy of what the UK government is saying and doing, and also the fact that the international community and the UN have [raised] and continue to raise the alarm about how this UK government responds to protest, and in particular climate protest,” Ahmed said, as The Guardian reported.

The new Labour government has not amended or repealed the Public Order Act 2023, which has been called “deeply troubling legislation” by Volker Türk, United Nations high commissioner for human rights, the press release said. Nor has it amended or repealed the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. Both laws give the police much greater authority, while at the same time undermining democratic rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of speech.

The overall effect of the laws has been to make participating in climate activism progressively more risky, so that fewer people want to take the chance of potential legal consequences, reported The Guardian.

“They have introduced laws which mean that the circumstances where the police can interfere and stop protesters are now much more expansive than they were,” Ahmed said, as The Guardian reported. “So for example, lowering thresholds around what is considered serious disruption; introducing noise level thresholds and disruption levels around noise; introducing orders that, before any crime has actually been committed, essentially prevent protesters from being able to engage with others that may be involved in protests, [from] engaging online; and then also changing penalties [for some offences] from what would have been fines to now possible imprisonment.”

A total of 34 climate protesters were jailed in the UK in 2024, said Tim Crosland, co-founder of Defend Our Juries. Five Just Stop Oil activists were given the longest jail sentences ever for non-violent protest actions — four and five years — for “conspiracy to cause a public nuisance,” following a video call concerning a protest on the M25 expressway, reported The Guardian.

The sentences came just after the Labour government was elected, and on the heels of what HRW said was “more than a decade of backsliding on human rights” by the Labour government’s Conservative predecessors.

According to HRW, additional human rights concerns include hate speech and xenophobia; failure to sufficiently address racial discrimination along with continuing colonial legacies, the cost of living crisis and challenges to the establishment of a “humane and rights respecting migration system.”

“We live in incredibly uncertain times and now, more than ever, we need leaders who are going to stand up for the rule of law and our rights and freedoms,” Ahmed said in the press release. “How can the UK expect to be taken seriously when criticizing crackdowns in Moscow, Beijing, or Tehran, while spending thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money to clamp down on peaceful protests at home, including on climate protesters.”