Following the UNFCCC Secretariat’s outrageous letter urging Brazil to escalate security forces after the Indigenous Peoples’ protest, more than 200 organisations, including the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH-OMCT), have prepared an open letter to Simon Stiell calling for an immediate public statement to reverse its harmful consequences.
Subject: Urgent Appeal to Reverse Harmful UNFCCC Communication Endangering Indigenous Peoples and Protest Rights
Dear Mr. Stiell,
The undersigned organisations are writing to express our utmost concern about your letter to the Government of the Federative Republic of Brazil, dated 12 November 2025 (reference: EC-2025-263), and to urge you to take immediate steps to reverse the negative consequences of this letter on human rights, in particular of Indigenous Peoples, Environmental and Human Rights Defenders, and of those wishing to exercise their right to peaceful protest.
Following a “security incident” at the COP30 venue last week, this letter urges the Brazilian Presidency to step up the presence of uniformed security forces around the COP30 venue and to intervene to disperse protests. In doing so, the letter contributes to an increasing global trend towards the silencing of dissent, militarised response to protest, and marginalisation of those defending land and the environment, including the Indigenous Peoples of the Brazilian Amazon. The consequence of the letter has been a massive escalation of security force presence in and around COP30, creating a chilling effect and a feeling of unsafety for Indigenous Peoples, Environmental and other Human Rights Defenders, civil society, and activists standing up for their rights.
Indigenous Peoples defending and demanding legal recognition of their land and their right to self-determination, and protecting our ecosystems and planet, are not a threat. Indigenous women with children demanding access to the negotiations that are determining their future, are not a threat. Such demonstrations are not acts of disruption but expressions of Indigenous Peoples’ collective political will, grounded in their self-governance systems, cultural traditions, and worldviews. Threatening is the massive presence of security forces, especially in a global context of growing violence against environmental defenders, including in the host country. A statement issued by the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC) in response to Tuesday’s events at the COP30 venue points out that this escalation “is replicating the form of state violence Indigenous Peoples and human rights defenders face across our territories.”
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat has legal obligations to uphold all human rights, under customary and treaty law, including the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, which are intrinsic to democratic societies. Rather than undermining the right to peaceful protest of defenders calling for climate action – upholding the objectives of this very convention – the UNFCCC Secretariat should recognise how the monumental presence of Indigenous Peoples in the city of Belém, and the ability of all to have their voices heard in its streets, is conducive to more ambitious outcomes, socially beneficial responses, and greater accountability at this climate summit. This is a power that the process has lacked at COP27, COP28, and COP29, due to the heavy restrictions on the exercise of human rights in the respective host countries. In this context, civil society has been urging the UNFCCC to take proactive steps to ensure that host countries commit to upholding human rights in the context of climate summits, including through its host country agreement. This letter does the opposite.
Beyond the immediate situation in Belém, the most consequential impact of your letter is the precedent it sets. Even if the Brazilian government chooses not to escalate repression, your letter risks granting a broad and permissive mandate to future COP presidencies that may not exercise the same restraint. It risks signaling that expansive security responses to peaceful protest are acceptable within the UNFCCC context, and it invites future hosts to curtail fundamental rights under the cover of institutional endorsement. This would entrench a trajectory that places human rights defenders - in particular women and Indigenous Peoples advocates - at even greater risk at climate summits for years to come.
We urge you to issue a public statement at the start of week 2 to reverse the negative consequences of this letter - including by requesting the host country to reduce the presence of security forces in the vicinity of the COP30 venue and the city of Belém as a whole - to acknowledge the role of Indigenous Peoples in preserving our environment, their central role in maintaining climate balance and to commit to upholding their rights, and the rights of all to peacefully protest at this COP and any future UNFCCC meetings.
We remain at your disposal should you have any questions.
Signatories
200+ organisations, see list here.
Signatories
+ 200
