Op-ed: Türkiye’s LGBTQ+ crackdown casts a shadow over the UN climate summit’s promise to leave no one behind

On Monday, global leaders convene in Antalya, Türkiye, for COP31, the UN climate conference. The summit follows the hottest summer in 132 years in the United States and one of Europe’s deadliest, with at least 35,000 deaths attributed to four heatwaves.

Governments will build on last year’s agreement in Belém to develop a “just transition” mechanism. That agreement committed to a shift to clean energy that “leaves no one behind,” emphasizing the need to protect workers, uphold human rights, and advance gender equality. Yet the host of this year’s summit offers a clear example of how to exclude and alienate entire communities from climate action and its benefits.

In September, Türkiye’s government launched a nationwide crackdown on individuals and groups advocating for LGBTQ rights. Police executed coordinated raids across 15 provinces, targeting nightclubs, offices, and activists’ homes. Police arrested 162 people, and more than 80 are held in pretrial detention. The government has also shut down the websites and social media accounts of LGBTQ activists and organizations, and an Istanbul court blocked access to the news site T24 after it deemed some content to be “LGBT propaganda.”

Although homosexuality is not criminalized in Türkiye, this campaign follows years of escalating attacks on LGBTQ visibility and civic participation. Since 2015, Istanbul’s governor has banned the annual Pride march. Local efforts by students or smaller municipalities have also resulted in arrests and prosecutions. And President Tayyip Erdoğan has frequently used anti-LGBTQ rhetoric during campaigns, casting his opponents as “pro-LGBT” in order to appeal to conservative voters.

This recent onslaught follows a familiar authoritarian playbook. From Putin in Russia to Orbán in Hungary, political leaders have weaponized anti-LGBTQ politics to distract from domestic crises and mobilize voters. They cast LGBTQ people as alien to the nation and thus threats to children and family. The same actors and funding networks often campaign against climate action.

This matters for climate action because the global climate architecture can only serve the communities that are visible. Our research at the Williams Institute at UCLA reviewed the climate plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs, of all 195 parties to the Paris Agreement. About 85 percent recognize vulnerable communities in some form, but only about 8 percent refer to LGBTQ people or gender diversity. If communities are not explicitly named, they are often overlooked in disaster planning and adaptation financing. Few governments collect data on LGBTQ people, so closing this gap depends almost entirely on the participation of community organizations.

Moreover, threats to LGBTQ rights are often linked to broader restrictions on civic participation. A recent report by the Funders Initiative for Civil Society identifies LGBTQ groups among early targets of shrinking civic space and documents how similar crackdowns in countries such as India and Uganda have extended to environmental and climate activists.

Türkiye is not an exception. The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law counted more than 80 measures proposed or enacted between 2020 and 2025 to restrict NGO operations in every region of the world. A just transition cannot cover all communities in countries where some communities, including LGBTQ people, are not allowed to organize.

The parties gathering at COP31 can change that.

First, COP31 organizers should state publicly how they will ensure safe participation for LGBTQ delegates, observers, and Turkish civil society, both inside and outside the conference venue. At last year’s COP30 in Belém, activists at the parallel “People’s COP” reported heavier surveillance and use of force by UN security officials. Türkiye should also publish the parts of its hosting agreement that cover security and participants’ rights.

Second, the new just transition mechanism should make civic space a requirement. A transition cannot be just and inclusive for people who have no way to organize or speak for themselves. The mechanism’s guidance should ask whether marginalized groups, including LGBTQ people, are able to do so. Governments that fund climate programs should apply the same requirement to the local partners they work with.

Third, governments preparing their next round of climate plans should collect data on who is affected by climate change, including LGBTQ people. Without it, no government can show whether its climate spending reaches the people who need it most.

Antalya will produce new global commitments on climate finance, adaptation, and transition. Their value will depend on whether the people they are meant to reach can organize, be counted, and be heard. Otherwise, a summit that promises to leave no one behind, hosted by a country jailing LGBTQ activists, will ring hollow.

Ari Shaw is Senior Fellow and Director of International Programs at the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. Victor Madrigal-Borloz is a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Williams Institute, Convener of the SOGIESC Climate Alliance, and served as UN Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity from 2018 to 2023.

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