UN urges Egypt to stop harassment and intimidation at COP27

The UN (United Nations) said this Friday (18) to have received multiple complaints and evidence that people have been monitored and even interrogated by Egyptian government officials during COP27, a conference on climate change taking place in the city of Sharm. el-Sheikh two weeks ago.

“Egypt must stop all acts of harassment and intimidation,” wrote UN human rights experts.

By the admission in the communiqué, the fear that COP27 could be surrounded by Egyptian government monitoring and an unsafe participation of civil society appears to have materialized.

In recent weeks, the Sheet witnessed episodes of surveillance of activists by security guards at COP27. In one case, an Egyptian official present in the fenced area where the conference takes place registered a demonstration (which had been previously authorized) with a cell phone.

At the same time, a UN human rights observer questioned him about the motivation for those records, but there was no response — the security guard just walked away.

THE Sheet received reports and evidence from civil society members being observed. The report also witnessed an Egyptian parliamentarian interrupting a press conference held by activist Sanaa Seif, sister of political prisoner Alaa Abd el-Fattah, who was, at that moment, on a hunger strike, without even drinking water.

“We are deeply concerned by the reported acts of harassment and intimidation by Egyptian officials, infringing on the rights of Egyptians and non-Egyptians alike at COP27, including their rights to freedom of free assembly, expression and active participation,” the statement reads. of the UN.

A case is also cited of a human rights defender who was prevented from entering the country to participate in COP27.

According to the UN, civil society groups have expressed concern about the need for self-censorship to ensure their own security. There are also reports of people being intrusively questioned at the airport.

There is still, record UN observers in the document, concern about possible reprisals, after the end of the conference, against human rights defenders who participated in COP27. Egypt currently has, according to estimates made by organizations, around 60,000 political prisoners.

The UN says that its experts are in dialogue with the Egyptian government and with the secretariat of the UNFCCC, the UN division on climate change, responsible for the conference.

The Egyptian government has laws that, due to the restrictions imposed, practically eliminate the possibility of demonstrations and public protests. This was one of the points that caused concern in the months leading up to COP27, considering the vocal and present role of civil society in the conferences.

Because of Egyptian laws — and the location where COP27 took place, in a tourist town full of luxury resorts — civil society demonstrations were considerably smaller than those seen at previous conferences.

They, in general, were also limited to the interior of the space where the COP takes place. Any demonstration within this space had to follow a series of rules, such as set times and not mentioning the names of countries, people or companies.

The current Egyptian government of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power after a coup d’état. In 2012, the presidential election elected the Islamist Mohamed Mursi, who would be deposed a year later, by a coup led by Sisi, who won the next election, in 2014, with 97% of the votes, according to the government.

In 2018, Sisi won the election again, after his main rivals gave up – there were candidates arrested and pressured. At the time of the election, the Reuters news agency even interviewed voters who claimed to have received payment as an incentive to vote.

In 2019, a referendum led to constitutional changes whereby Sisi can be re-elected and remain in power until 2030.

In Egypt, entities point to state control over the press and the closure of vehicles and websites.

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}