Council of Europe
Council of Europe
10/01/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/01/2024 09:31
International Day of Non-Violence: Violence against grassroots politicians has a chilling effect on local democracy
On the occasion of International Day of Non-Violence (2 October), Bernd Vöhringer, Congress Rapporteur on combating violence against local and regional elected representatives, has made the following statement:
"Over the last ten years, we have witnessed an alarming rise in violent attacks against local and regional councillors and mayors, elected representatives and their staff in European cities and regions. This trend seems to be closely interlinked with the polarisation of society and with a clear deterioration of working conditions of local and regional authorities and mayors in particular.
"Pressures and intimidation can affect local officials everywhere and can take many shapes including verbal and physical attacks, hate speech, spread of misinformation and fake news, insults and slander, online threats, and degradation of offices and residencies. Social media also allow users to confront local politicians more directly and further disseminate hateful content. During electoral campaigns, the confrontational tone of debates can also amplify threats and discourage contenders to stand in elections. The fact that local politicians are more accessible to voters makes them more likely to become victims of such acts.
"This crisis has a chilling effect on local democracy as it is becoming increasingly difficult for mayors to perform their duties but also for political actors to recruit people into local politics, in particular amongst women, youth and representatives of minorities who remain predominantly targeted by these attacks.
"The Congress has been raising alarm about this situation for over five years. We will now address this issue in a new report putting forward proposals for action on how to combat and counter this violence and thus preserve grassroots democracy."
Debate on violence against local and regional elected representatives - October 2023