Violence and hate speech against politicians: a threat to democracy
Recommendation 2305
(2026)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 21 April 2026 (12th and 13th sittings) (see Doc. 16363, report
of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, rapporteur:
Ms Elisabetta Gardini; and Doc.
16382, opinion of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination,
rapporteur: Ms Yevheniia Kravchuk). Text adopted by the
Assembly on 21 April 2026 (13th sitting).Provisional
version subject to editorial review.
1. The Parliamentary
Assembly draws the Committee of Ministers’ attention to its
Resolution 2646 (2026) “Violence
and hate speech against politicians: a threat to democracy”, in
which it underlines that violence against politicians is on the
rise in many Councils of Europe member and observer States.
2. The Assembly is concerned that violence against politicians
at all levels can have a chilling effect on democratic participation
in political life, thereby reducing pluralism, representativeness,
and the quality of democratic processes and institutions. Intimidation,
threats and other forms of verbal, physical or sexual attacks can
also have a critical impact on the mental well-being of politicians,
reducing their ability to work and serve the public. Urgent action
is therefore needed to prevent and counter this phenomenon.
3. Certain categories, including women politicians and representatives
of minority groups, are disproportionately targeted, including through
gender-based violence, sexual threats, misogynist, homophobic or
racist attacks. They therefore deserve particular attention, to
ensure that they are not discouraged from participating in politics,
and to safeguard the diversity and representativeness of elected
officials.
4. The Assembly recalls that the Heads of State and Government
of the Council of Europe adopted in 2023 the Reykjavík Principles
for Democracy, through which they committed to “ensure full, equal
and meaningful participation in political and public life for all,
in particular for women and girls, free from violence, fear, harassment,
hate speech and hate crime, as well as discrimination based on any
ground” (Principle 10).
5. The Assembly also refers to the ongoing work of the Congress
of Local and Regional Authorities on “Preserving grassroots democracy
– Tackling violence against local and regional elected representatives”.
6. The Assembly believes that, in the framework of the New Democratic
Pact for Europe, the Council of Europe could play a leading role
in ensuring that violence against politicians at all levels is adequately
tackled, thus strengthening democratic security across the continent.
7. In the light of these considerations, the Assembly invites
the Committee of Ministers to consider establishing a mechanism,
which could take the shape of a platform or an observatory of the
Council of Europe, to identify and track specific threats or episodes
of violence against politicians at the local, regional, and national
levels.
8. The mechanism would help understand the phenomenon, and contribute
to a better prevention and response by the competent authorities.
It could also collect data to analyse trends, and be instrumental
in raising awareness of the matter through dedicated Council of
Europe public campaigns.
9. The Assembly calls on the Committee of Ministers to further
develop early warning mechanisms to detect democratic backsliding.
