Egypt– With just a hundred days left before commencement of the Cop27 summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, a group of environmentalists and climate change activists have expressed concern over Egypt’s ability to smoothly host a successful event, citing its poor record on human rights.
Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben and the Green party MP Caroline Lucas are among the key personalities who have signed a letter that provides an insight into their concerns about Egypt hosting the critical Cop27. In the letter they have further demanded that the Egyptian authorities must set thousands of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience free. “We are deeply concerned that [a successful conference] will not be possible due to the repressive actions of the Egyptian government,” they said. “Indeed, it seems more likely at this point that the conference will be used to whitewash human rights abuses in the country.”
The rights activists in Egypt have expressed fears that the demonstrators and protesters of civil society might face danger from the Egyptian authorities while exercising their right to protest during the event. The Egyptian authorities have, however, vowed to allow protests at the summit, but in a dedicated area which is separate from the venue of the Cop27 talks. “If Cop27 is to succeed, the visibility and positive pressure created by civic mobilisation will be vital – that must include full rights to freedom of assembly, association, and expression around the conference,” they said.
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Egyptian President Abdel Fateh al-Sisi has overseen widespread crackdown on human rights of the civil society ever since he came to power following a military coup in 2013. His targets have been political opposition, civil society and local as well as foreign media. According to the estimates of Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, there are at least 65,000 political prisoners in jails of Egypt.
The letter raising concerns has been signed by 21 rights groups, including Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies and Amnesty International. “Thousands continue to be arbitrarily detained in Egypt for peacefully practising their rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association. This includes staff of Egyptian independent civil society organisations, human rights defenders and activists in the field of economic, social and cultural rights, and minority rights, as well as lawyers, journalists, academics, women social media influencers and artists,” they said.
