For several months, the discomfort has been palpable, and for good reason. COP27 is being held in Egypt, a country marked by a strong repression of dissenting voices and ruled by an authoritarian regime led by a career soldier. According to Human Rights Watch, the state represses in particular citizens who campaign for the protection of the environment.
UN climate conferences are usually the scene of many demonstrations by environmental groups, which mobilize in the streets of the host cities to openly denounce the lack of ambition of countries in their fight against climate change.
This kind of event will not take place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where COP27 will be held over the next two weeks. As demonstrations are banned in the country, the authorities have instead provided that civil society organizations will be able to express themselves, but in places designated for this purpose.
“The space for civil society this year is extremely limited,” Swedish activist Greta Thunberg denounced last week, after expressing her solidarity with Egyptian “prisoners of conscience”. According to an estimate produced by various non-governmental organisations, there are more than 60,000 prisoners of conscience in the country.
The environmental movement is also targeted by the regime, according to Human Rights Watch. “The Egyptian government arbitrarily imposes funding, research and registration hurdles, which have weakened local environmental groups, forcing some activists into exile and others away from important work,” according to his report. environmental director, Richard Pearhouse.
UN human rights experts have also openly criticized the restrictions imposed on civil society organizations in the context of COP27.
But that hasn’t stopped President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s regime from embarking on a new push to stifle dissent ahead of the highly anticipated climate event. Preventive interrogations by the military justice, searched telephones or closed cafes, the Egyptian police have, according to human rights defenders, multiplied the repressive measures in the face of a mysterious call to demonstrate in the middle of COP27.