WGC Responds to Coordinated Crackdown on LGBTI+ Civil Society in Turkey — and Its Implications for COP31

Constituencies raise alarm with the COP31 Presidency

Together with the Environmental NGO Demand Climate Justice (ENGO DCJ), the Environmental NGO Climate Action Network (ENGO CAN), the Indigenous Peoples Organizations Constituency (IPO), the Research and Independent NGOs (RINGO) and Children and Youth NGOs (YOUNGO) – who represent more than three quarters of all admitted observer NGOs, the WGC has submitted an official letter to Mr. Murat Kurum, COP31 President-Designate, Republic of Türkiye; Mr. Chris Bowen, COP31 President of Negotiations and the Government of Australia; and Simon Stiell, UNFCCC Executive Secretary, expressing grave concerns regarding the crackdown on LGBTI+ civil society in Türkiye and its implications for the integrity and inclusivity of COP31.

As the WGC, we know that anti-rights attacks on feminist and LGBTI+ movements are never confined to national borders — they shape the spaces where global climate decisions are made, including UNFCCC processes.

The undersigned constituencies urge the Presidency to:

• Publicly and unambiguously guarantee the safety of all participants and delegates at COP31 regardless of their identities, in government, observer and other stakeholder delegations;
• Ensure full and meaningful participation of LGBTI+, feminist, and environmental defenders from Türkiye at COP31, which means upholding their human rights as enshrined under international law;
• Call for the immediate release of all persons, regardless of their identities, detained solely in connection with their legitimate human rights and association activities;
• Provide a formal, public response to this letter reaffirming Türkiye’s obligations as COP31 Presidency and host, alongside Australia’s obligations as President of Negotiations, to uphold the rights to freedom of association, expression, and peaceful assembly under international human rights and humanitarian law;
• Commit that lawful international funding of civil society organisations — a normal and necessary feature of international cooperation, including with UNFCCC observer constituencies — will not be treated as inherently suspect in the lead-up to or during COP31.

What is happening in Turkey

The crackdown started on 12 September 2026 with a court decision blocking access to the websites and social media of numerous feminist and LGBTI+ groups, media, student organisations, rights defenders, and activists. On 13 September, police launched operations across several provinces targeting LGBTI+ organisations and human rights defenders.

Judicial proceedings have been initiated against more than 160 individuals and 9 associations across 15 provinces. So far, more than 50 LGBTI+ rights defenders, association members and activists have been detained; the exact numbers and scope of investigations are still being verified. Members of governing bodies of several associations have been targeted, offices and homes searched, and electronic equipment seized. The actions have targeted longstanding LGBTI+ and HIV-related organisations, including Kaos GL, Muamma, Mersin 7 Renk, SPoD, HEVİ, Pozitif Yaşam, Listag, Lambda and Pozitif-İz.

Rights work framed as crime

We are alarmed by signs that legitimate civil society activities are being falsely labelled as criminal, including accusations related to obscenity, prostitution, drugs, and morality. The prosecution is attempting to create a narrative that LGBTI+ civil society organisations and human rights defenders are part of a criminal organisation. Viewing advocacy, publications or fundraising as organised crime represents a serious escalation of repression of civic space.

As the incoming Presidency, Türkiye, as the host of COP31 assumes a formal responsibility to protect and enable the free, safe, and full participation of civil society observers, a principle foundational to the legitimacy of the UNFCCC process itself. A COP hosted amid the mass detention of human rights defenders and the criminalisation of civic association raises direct and unavoidable questions about the safety and freedom of feminist, LGBTI+, and environmental civil society to engage meaningfully in the negotiations to come.

We call on international and regional human rights mechanisms, the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the European Union, diplomatic missions, civil society organisations, foundations and donors to closely monitor these developments, raise them directly with the Government of Turkey, and publicly reaffirm the legitimacy of LGBTI+ human rights work.

Human rights advocacy is not a crime. Solidarity is not a crime. We stand together with the LGBTI+ movement in Turkey.

Public letters in solidarity

• Statement by ILGA-Europe on the situation in Turkey
• Joint statement issued by 120 women’s rights and feminist organisations in Türkiye