A protester attends a climate change demonstration in Toulouse, France, September 23, 2022. © 2022 Alain Pitton/NurPhoto via AP |
This November, governments, experts, journalists, businesses, and nongovernmental groups will meet in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh for the 27th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27). There, they will discuss the climate actions necessary to meet the target of keeping the global rise of temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius, in line with the Paris Agreement.
It’s a critical moment in the race against climate devastation. From burning forests to sweltering cities, parched farmlands to storm-battered coasts, the climate crisis is taking a mounting toll on lives and livelihoods around the globe.
But at this year’s conference, the climate isn’t the only thing worrying human rights organizations. With Egypt hosting the summit, there’s concern that the country’s severe restrictions on civil society will hinder the important participation of human rights groups, activists, media, and others at COP27. |
Expected rising sea levels and massive food shortages threaten to drive hundreds of millions of people from their homes.
Climate change aggravates existing inequalities, and the effects of failing to limit greenhouse gas emissions is particularly felt by communities already facing serious human rights violations, including Indigenous peoples, older people, people with disabilities, LGBT people, women, children, and those living in poverty. |
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Political oppression under Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's government has caused one of the country’s worst human rights crises in decades, an image the government could try to whitewash as host to the international summit. |
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An Egyptian intelligence security detail member stands guard near a banner showing President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. © 2021 Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images |
Egyptian and international groups fear possible restrictions on protest space at the conference and surveillance of participants of the summit. There could also be governmental retaliation against activists who do protest, as authorities have issued travel bans and asset freezes to punish human rights defenders and independent journalists for interacting with the UN and foreign officials.
Members of Egypt’s environmental groups have faced security harassment and intimation, including arrests, creating an atmosphere of fear.
Additionally, for ten years Human Rights Watch has documented the Egyptian government’s wholesale crackdown on dissent, which has included mass killings of largely peaceful protesters, the relentless persecution of critics, and security forces’ use of torture and enforced disappearances.
You can read our Q&A here. |
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When it comes to climate change, our ability to avert this dystopian future depends on governments acting boldly to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to help people adapt to the climate crisis.
For COP27 to work, and in general, Egyptian authorities should ease their grip on civic space.
Effective climate action requires the full participation of civil society, including youth activists. It also requires more people speaking up and peacefully taking to the streets, not fewer.
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In last week’s issue of the Week in Rights, our lead article on protests in Iran incorrectly used the phrase “compulsory hijab ban.” We should have said “compulsory hijab laws.” We apologize for the error and will be more careful in the future! |
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