#ClimateStories – English

The climate crisis is a global human rights crisis – in many different ways

The climate crisis is linked to heat waves, wildfires, storms, droughts and rising sea levels – phenomena that are already limiting human rights all over the world. The climate crisis is a global human rights crisis that we must confront with all our strength. Thereby, the climate crisis and human rights are linked in several ways:
  • All over the world, injustices and human rights violations are taking place in the context of the climate crisis. People everywhere are fighting and protesting because their livelihoods are being destroyed, their future prospects are ignored or their interests are not heard. It is important that these stories become visible.
  • Governments and companies have so far failed to find just responses to this crisis. The climate targets of many countries are not sufficient, to effectively stop the global temperature rise.
  • At the meantime, governments are failing in their duty to protect courageous activists, such as Jani Silva, from persecution.
It is long overdue: as human rights activists, we want to understand, highlight and make visible the entire breadth of the crisis in order to become capable of action. For a determined and just climate policy! For a future worth living! For human rights! That’s what the #ClimateStories are all about. You can participate with your “Climate Story” – a picture that tells a story, a story that explains how the climate crisis relates to human rights in your region. From all the pictures and stories that you all – human rights activists from all over the world – contribute, we will put together an exhibition. In this exhibition, many small #ClimateStories will become one big story. We want to tell this story on social media and in different places where people meet. Where the pictures and stories are displayed at the end, is also up to you, because naturally the exhibition should also be made accessible to you.

Be Part of the  #ClimateStories

  • Whether you focus on the consequences or causes of the crisis, the rights of those fighting it or the failure of decision-makers is up to you. You can tell a success story as well as show the failure of decision makers.
  • Here you can find more information about how the climate crisis and human rights are connected.
  • Detailed information on Amnesty's position and demands can also be found here (you can read the whole report here).

  • What root causes and impacts of the climate crisis are visible in your surroundings?
  • What consequences of the climate crisis on human rights can you perceive in your environment?
  • Have people in your environment had their right to peacefully campaign for climate justice violated?
  • Have decisions been made or are projects being implemented in your area that do not do justice to human rights responsibility in times of climate crisis?
  • How do your local observations relate to global trends?

  • Decide together what you want to portray!
  • Take pictures and decide on the ONE that best carries the story (of course, you can also submit several photos and thus several stories)!
  • Your motif can contain (almost) anything, so be creative! The photo should be inspiring, informative, thought-provoking or even shocking!

  • The climate crisis is complicated. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to portray this complexity in pictures. It is easy to fall into racist, sexist or colonialist prejudices. A few tips to avoid this can be found here.
  • Please make sure that there is verifiable information (e.g. newspaper articles, films, books, talks, studies, etc.) that support the background of your story. If available, Amnesty publications are the best source.
  • We cannot fully appreciate and use your story unless we know a bit of the background. Please answer these guiding questions:
      • Where was the photo taken?
      • What is the picture supposed to represent?
      • What does it have to do with the climate crisis?
      • What does it have to do with human rights?
    • What does it have to do with me? What is my role?
  • In the photo submission form, you will find boxes in which you can enter your answers.  Please also leave contact details of one contact person there, whom we can contact if we have any questions!
  • Please make sure that no persons or faces are clearly visible!
  • Please make sure that the pictures are as high resolution as possible!
  • Note: In order for us to be able to use the pictures, you must transfer the image rights to us. This is also done via the submission form.
  • Background: There is a small project team behind #ClimateStories, which you are welcome to contact. We are looking forward to talking to you, giving you feedback and thinking together about how you can best tell your #ClimateStory. Get in touch with us!

  • Click here to get to the submission form!
  • Send your photo to: climatestories@amnesty-klimakrise.de
  • Our project team will sift through your submissions, sort them and prepare them so that we can exhibit the #ClimateStories towards the end of the year. If you would like to be part of the team, please contact us!
  • Tell all your friends about the campaign and convince them to become part of it!

Please note: Our aim for #ClimateStories is to break down barriers and invite ALL activists to participate. On the other hand, this action guide is currently only available in German and English. We realize this is a definite drawback and would like to explain the reasons for this here. The #ClimateStories project team is small and almost entirely volunteer-based. In addition, we only have a small budget at our disposal.We can therefore only offer language versions that volunteers have translated and that we can also translate back. If you are interested and have the capacity to do another translation and become part of the project team, please contact us!