From 3 to 4 June 2026, the Council of Europe Headquarters in Strasbourg will host a critical milestone: the First European Forum on Environmental Human Rights Defenders (EHRDs). Held inside the historic Hemicycle of the Palais de l’Europe, this gathering brings together grassroots defenders, civil society organisations, and international human rights bodies to confront the alarming rise of intimidation, criminalisation, and legal harassment, including strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), targeting those defending the planet and a liveable future.

Protection International (PI) is proud to stand as a core co-organiser of this event. We spearheaded the development of the Forum’s comprehensive Safe Space Protocols and community agreements. These operational guidelines are explicitly designed to ensure the meaningful, safe inclusion of all participants, in particular considering EHRDs with disabilities. By enforcing clear security frameworks, we ensure that defenders can share their testimonies and demands free from the fear of surveillance, corporate backlash, or state reprisals.

Our Head of Policy, Advocacy and Research, Mauricio Angel Morales, will be on-site in Strasbourg. He will ensure PI’s support to the event by facilitating interactive thematic groups, ensuring that EHRDs’ can address the risks they face and develop actionable structural recommendations to shape regional protection policies over the coming years.

The defence of environmental rights is vital to securing a healthy, sustainable future for all. PI recognises that environmental defenders at the forefront of this struggle must enjoy the right to defend these rights without fear.

Interested in research on the protection of environmental HRDs? Check out our latest piece – A Critical Approach to the Protection of Environmental Human Rights Defenders (available in English, Spanish and French).