Activists castigate the United Nations concessions made to the Egyptian authorities in the organization of the World Climate Conference.
by Laure Stephan (Beirut, Correspondence)
International organizations for the defense of human rights and Egyptian activists addressed, Tuesday, November 8, a taboo subject of official podiums of the World Climate Conference (COP27), which is held from November 6 to 18 Charm El-Cheikh, Egypt: Ban of civil society. “Without pressure from civil society, there would be no Paris agreement [which had led to the commitment to limit warming to 2 ° C, and if possible at 1.5 ° C]”, A Abunded Jennifer Morgan, Special Envoy on the climate of Germany, a country whose pavilion at COP27 hosted a round table in the “Blue” area, official.
At the end of this site is the “green zone”, dedicated to civil society: to demonstrate, you have to submit a detailed request 36 hours in advance. Only a handful of vegan activists have risked gathering at the entrance to the “blue zone” during an anecdotal demonstration, Tuesday.
Despite the “large -scale human rights crisis” in Egypt, “we have been against the idea of a campaign denouncing the selection of Egypt as host country, and against boycott calls from COP27, Detailed Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian initiative for personal rights, an important local NGO. The host countries should not necessarily be chosen on the basis of human rights [of their policy]. On the other hand, these criteria must Be strictly respected in the organization of an international conference. “A veiled criticism addressed to the UN organization responsible for the organization of the COP, the United Nations Cadre Convention on Climate Change (CCNUCC). Agnès Callamard, at the head of Amnesty International, drives the nail: “The concessions made to the Egyptian authorities by the CCNUCC, for example on the conditions posed to demonstrate, are scandalous. It is a way of making yourself an accomplice in the gap of activists, “she said in the world.
” More access to the field “
The stakeholders denounced the difficulty in carrying out research on environmental issues in Egypt. “Ten years ago [in the wake of the Egyptian Revolution], we were able to follow the mobilization of inhabitants under an expropriation in favor of the construction of the first Egyptian nuclear power plant in Dabaa [in the North] . They had managed to obtain compensation from the government, by training in a popular committee. Today, such a federation is impossible, “said Bahgat. “In general, we no longer have access to the field [because of surveillance]. We work from our offices, while the environment is outside,” he added. The “participation of communities” is however crucial in the search for solutions, recalled Tirana Hassan, acting executive director of Human Rights Watch.
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