In advance of the COP27 climate talks in Egypt, international human rights groups are calling on the Egyptian government to expand civil liberties in the country and release the thousands of activists, journalists, politicians and others currently imprisoned there for political reasons. COP 27 is a critically important opportunity for the climate movement to both further demands for international cooperation on climate-related initiatives and to shine a light on the brutally repressive Egyptian state. We cannot pursue a safer world without addressing this. Here is an excerpt from the Egyptian Solidarity Initiative statement on COP27 that is revealing: “Egyptian activists who have opposed aspects of the government’s environmental policies have been harassed, imprisoned, put under surveillance and silenced. Whatever the issue, whether the fight against the importing of coal, or against cement factories close to residential areas and the health damages they cause, or against fertiliser factories polluting water sources, or even against the destruction of trees and green areas in urban centres to make way for construction projects, the response is always the same: repression.”
Petitions: Egyptian Solidarity Initiative COP Civic Space Articles: Egypt Solidarity Campaign: Against climate change, against dictatorship: a message from Cairo The Guardian: It’s a sham’: Egypt accused of restricting protest in run-up to Cop27 Common Dreams: Naomi Klein Spotlights Perils of UN Climate Summit Hosted by Despotic Egyptian Regime |
