Violence and hate speech against politicians: a threat to democracy
- 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).See
also Recommendation 2305
(2026).
1. Violence against politicians is
alarmingly on the rise in many Council of Europe member and observer States.
The Parliamentary Assembly unequivocally condemns all forms of violence
against politicians and reaffirms that violence has no place in
democracy.
2. Representative democracy can only be achieved if political
candidates are allowed to campaign safely and peacefully and if
elected officials are free to carry out their duties with integrity,
based on public conduct that is in the interest of the community
they represent, and if they are all protected from any kind of harm.
Any violent attack on politicians, regardless of their political
affiliation, should be considered as an attack on democracy itself.
3. Politicians at all levels of government, and from all political
backgrounds, can be victims of violence: political candidates, party
members, elected officials or policy makers with an institutional
role. Their relatives and associates are often affected also.
4. Urgent action must be taken to prevent and counter violence
against politicians, as it fosters an atmosphere of fear that has
a chilling effect on democratic participation in political life.
5. Politicians who experience violence may feel compelled to
alter their behaviour, limit their participation in public events
or reduce their engagement with constituents. They may also decide
to self-censor, avoiding discussion of certain controversial issues
or even changing their stance on certain policies. They may eventually
decide to step back from their role or choose not to stand for re-election.
Similarly, individuals who are considering entering politics may
be deterred by violence; this reduces pluralism and representativeness and
affects the quality of democratic processes.
6. Intimidation, threats and other forms of verbal or physical
attacks can also have a considerable impact on the mental well-being
of politicians, reducing their ability to work and serve the public.
7. Certain categories, including women politicians and representatives
of minority groups, as well as young politicians and public officials,
are disproportionately targeted, including through gender-based
violence, sexual threats and misogynist, LGBTI-phobic or racist
attacks. Particular attention should therefore be paid to these categories
to ensure that they are not discouraged from participating in politics
and to safeguard the diversity and representativeness of elected
officials.
8. Citizens’ disenchantment with democratic processes and institutions
has been exacerbated by populist movements. At the same time, fearmongering,
hate speech and dehumanising rhetoric have become normalised in
public discourse. This is fuelling the political polarisation of
democracies, characterised by heightened tension and animosity among
groups with opposing political views. The deterioration of the political sphere
creates fertile ground for violence against politicians, which could
spiral out of control.
9. The Assembly notes that violence against politicians can take
various forms, both online and offline; it can be economic, psychological,
sexual or physical in nature and can range from verbal abuse and
harassment to intimidation, physical threats and attacks, and even
lethal violence.
10. Online abuse against politicians includes: sustained harassment
and co-ordinated attacks, such as the co-ordinated misuse of reporting
mechanisms in order to silence or unjustifiably suspend politicians’
accounts; threats (including anonymous threats); doxxing and other
forms of unlawful disclosure of personal data; cyberstalking; impersonation;
and the dissemination of manipulated or deceptive content intended
to intimidate, silence or discredit politicians, including through
attacks targeting their relatives or associates.
11. The Assembly is also concerned about the increasing use of
deepfakes against politicians: these are audio or video recordings
and images, generated or manipulated by artificial intelligence,
that realistically depict people saying or doing something they
did not, including the fabrication or alteration of public statements and
the impersonation of politicians.
12. Acts of violence against politicians are often committed with
the ultimate goal of intimidating and silencing them, forcing them
to change their views, actions or policies; however, in many cases,
such violence is driven simply by disrespect and hatred, without
any clear objective.
13. The Assembly reiterates that robust political debate, which
includes sharp criticism and satire, forms part of democratic pluralism
and is protected under Article 10 of the European Convention on
Human Rights (ETS No. 5). However, threats, incitement to violence,
targeted harassment and dehumanising hate speech, whether online
or offline, are incompatible with a democratic society and cannot
be justified under the right to freedom of expression.
14. Choosing violence over dialogue goes against all democratic
principles. In a vicious circle, the increased number of episodes
of violence against politicians is therefore a clear symptom of
the backsliding of democracy in Europe, and at the same time one
of the causes of this backsliding, since violence undermines political participation,
representation and institutions, and ultimately democratic resilience.
15. The Assembly highlights that, in addition to internal societal
dynamics, violence and hate speech against politicians may be the
result of external interference and hybrid warfare strategies.
16. The Assembly recalls that the Heads of State and Government
of the Council of Europe adopted in 2023 the Reykjavik Principles
for Democracy, through which they committed to ensuring “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).
17. Furthermore, the Assembly reiterates the conclusions of the
European Conference of Presidents of Parliament held in Strasbourg
on 20 and 21 March 2025, which state that violence against politicians undermines
democratic processes and erodes trust in institutions. The conclusions
also underline the need to make combating violence against politicians
a priority in order to preserve democracy.
18. In this context, the Assembly welcomes
Recommendation 544 (2026) and
Resolution 522 (2026) “Preserving
grassroots democracy – Tackling violence against local and regional
elected representatives”, adopted by the Congress of Local and Regional
Authorities of the Council of Europe in April 2026.
19. Considering the Council of Europe’s ongoing efforts towards
a New Democratic Pact for Europe, the Assembly believes that Council
of Europe member and observer States should renew their social contracts with
citizens through whole-of-society initiatives involving all relevant
stakeholders: national governments and parliaments, local authorities
and councils, the judiciary, law-enforcement agencies, civil society
organisations, academic institutions, media and businesses.
20. The objective should be to restore appreciation for those
who decide to dedicate their time and effort to public life, to
uphold the bonds that keep democracies together and to strengthen
the boundaries of dialogue, respect, tolerance and mutual understanding
in order to prevent violence, thus reinforcing democratic security.
21. In line with these considerations, the Assembly calls on member
and observer States of the Council of Europe to:
21.1 adopt robust legislation that
recognises the different forms of violence against politicians as specific
criminal offences or aggravating circumstances, and imposes tougher
penalties where appropriate, in accordance with the principles of
legality, necessity and proportionality, in order to demonstrate
zero tolerance of this phenomenon;
21.2 introduce or strengthen legislation to prohibit or limit
the disclosure by law-enforcement authorities of information concerning
the early stages of ongoing investigations involving politicians without
prior judicial authorisation;
21.3 identify appropriate regulatory tools to prevent social
and traditional media from disseminating material that incites violence,
hate speech, dehumanising discourse or other inflammatory content,
while safeguarding freedom of expression and ensuring transparency,
due process and effective remedies, without delegating to private
actors, in an opaque manner, the power to define lawful political
opinion; regulatory tools should also be identified for observing
whether and how social media companies deal with shadow banning
and organised blocking campaigns that hinder the free speech of
politicians;
21.4 promote safeguards against manipulated content (including
deepfakes) used to threaten, impersonate or incite violence against
politicians, focusing on authenticity and transparency measures such
as the clear labelling of synthetic content, provenance/traceability
tools and effective and timely remedies (including notification
and right of reply), under transparent procedures and independent oversight,
without delegating to private actors the power to restrict lawful
political opinion;
21.5 make human and financial resources available to law-enforcement
authorities and the judiciary, to ensure that all forms of violence
against politicians are investigated and prosecuted swiftly, properly and
effectively, possibly through specialised units that can ensure
appropriate levels of co-ordination among the relevant authorities;
21.6 ensure that public institutions protect all political
voices equally when implementing anti-violence policies, avoiding
any ideological bias, respecting freedom of speech and freedom of
the press, while fully ensuring that the fight against hate speech,
particularly racist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic speech,
is implemented in compliance with the European Convention on Human
Rights;
21.7 protect the physical and psychological well-being of politicians
at all levels, with a particular focus on women politicians and
representatives of minority groups, without creating hierarchies
of protection; equal safeguards should be afforded to all political
voices, ensuring their preparedness and safety by providing protection
measures such as regular risk assessments, emergency buttons, alarm
systems and enhanced democratic surveillance;
21.8 ensure that security frameworks move beyond static, rank-based
measures towards dynamic, threat-informed protection protocols;
specifically, for politicians targeted by aggressor States, protection must
be maintained as long as the threat persists, regardless of their
current official status, with particular emphasis on preventing
and countering intelligence-led cross-border operations;
21.9 combat the targeting of politicians’ private lives and
families, including through doxxing and other unlawful disclosures
of personal data, by strengthening rapid-response reporting channels,
effective removal procedures for unlawfully disclosed personal data
and law-enforcement follow-up, coupled with risk assessment measures
to prevent escalation into offline violence;
21.10 provide politicians at all levels with capacity building
on safety measures, guidelines on cybersecurity, legal and psychological
support and other resources where needed;
21.11 strengthen debate spaces and opportunities for citizens
to participate through participatory and deliberative democracy
processes that include civil society organisations;
21.12 conduct public campaigns and implement learning programmes
for civic education and media literacy in order to renew citizens’
civic responsibility and trust in institutions, with a special focus
on younger generations;
21.13 promote cross-party dialogue and a political culture based
on transparency, respect and responsibility, and the rejection of
violence and hate speech, across the entire political spectrum;
21.14 improve the collection of data at all levels in order
to properly analyse the phenomenon, identify the underlying causes,
categorise the different methods and means of violence, and how
they target different groups, through an intersectional approach,
assess how citizens respond to episodes of violence against politicians
and monitor developments in order to tailor relevant legislation
and policies;
21.15 consider establishing a mechanism to identify, track and
raise awareness of specific threats or episodes of violence against
politicians at local, regional and national levels.
22. The Assembly notes that politicians have a primary responsibility
to set an example of civic, tolerant and democratic conduct. It
therefore calls on politicians at all levels to refrain from using
inflammatory, dehumanising rhetoric and from inciting violence.
The Assembly also invites politicians to condemn all acts of violence,
in all their forms, especially when they are perpetrated against
their peers from different parties.
23. The Assembly reiterates its support for the work of the No
Hate Parliamentary Alliance, as a forum for discussion specialising
in measures to address hate speech.
24. Furthermore, the Assembly invites national parliaments and
local councils, as well as political parties, to:
24.1 subscribe to the Charter of
European Political Parties for a Non-racist and Inclusive Society,
as endorsed by
Resolution 2443 (2022) “The
role of political parties in fostering diversity and inclusion:
a new charter for a non-racist society”, and fully implement its
provisions;
24.2 adopt dedicated codes of conduct to prevent politicians
subjecting their peers from different parties to abusive behaviour;
24.3 adopt security protocols and monitoring and alert mechanisms
to provide adequate psychological and physical support to their
members when they are the victims of verbal or physical attacks.
