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, including for Egyptian civil society activists and journalists who are currently facing harsh repression for exercising these human rights. 

But with only 100 days to go now until COP27 begins in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, we are deeply concerned that this will not be possible due to the repressive actions of the Egyptian government. Indeed, it seems more likely at this point that the conference will be used to whitewash human rights abuses in the country. 

We join a recent call by 21 human rights organisations to state that: “We are alarmed at the Egyptian authorities’ unlawful restrictions on the rights to freedom of the press, of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, the severe constraints they have imposed on civil society, as well as their repression of peaceful political opposition and misuse of counterterrorism legislation to silence peaceful critics. Thousands continue to be arbitrarily detained in Egypt for peacefully practicing their rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association. This includes staff of Egyptian independent civil society organizations, human rights defenders and activists in the field of economic, social, and cultural rights, and minority rightsas well as lawyersjournalistsacademicswomen social media influencers and artists.”

We echo all of the calls to action set out by the human rights organisations in their statement, including immediately and unconditionally releasing all those detained for practising their rights to freedom of expression, according to Egypt’s obligations under international law. This would signal that the Egyptian government is committed to ensuring that participants at COP27 may speak and assemble freely at the COP27 conference, without fear of reprisals. Prominent British-Egyptian activist and writer Alaa Abdel Fattah, on hunger strike for over 100 days and at risk of death, must be prioritised.

We call upon all of our climate envoys and political representatives to press with all urgency for these conditions to be met

SIGNATORIES:

Mary Church, head of campaigns interim co-director, Friends of the Earth Scotland

Sean Currie and Benedetta Scuderi, co-spokespeople of the Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG)

Mike Davis, executive director, Global Witness

Nick Dearden, director, Global Justice Now

Fiona Dove, executive director, Transnational Institute

Della Duncan, co-director, Upstream Podcast

Miatta Fahnbulleh, CEO, New Economics Foundation

Chris Garrard, co-director, Culture Unstained

Frances Guy, CEO, Scotland’s International Development Alliance

Claire Hanna, Social Democratic and Labour Party MP

Louise Hazan, co-founder, Tipping Point UK

Oli Henman, global coordinator, Action for Sustainable Development

Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP

Fatima Ibrahim, co-director, Green New Deal Rising

Tessa Khan, director, Uplift

Naomi Klein, University of British Columbia Professor of Climate Justice

Hugh Knowles, co-executive director, Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Mathew Lawrence, director, Common Wealth

Clive Lewis, Labour Party MP

Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP

Bill McKibben, co-founder 350.org and Third Act

Ellie Mae O’Hagan, director, CLASS think tank

Brendan Montague, editor, The Ecologist

Robert Noyes, co-director, Platform

Rhiannon Osborne, Co-Coordinator, The People’s Health Movement UK

Annie Pickering, co-director, Climate Emergency UK

Asad Rehman, executive director, War on Want

John Sauven, former executive director of Greenpeace UK

James Smith, co-director, MedAct

Fionna Smyth, head of global advocacy and policy, Christian Aid

Zarah Sultana, Labour Party MP

Mandeep Tiwana, chief programmes officer, CIVICUS

Annie Tourette, head of advocacy, Blue Ventures

Susie Ventris-Field, chief executive, Welsh Centre for International Affairs / Canolfan Materion Rhyngwladol Cymru

Max Wakefield, co-director, Possible

Nadia Whittome, Labour Party MP

100 Days to COP27:
UK Climate Groups
Sound the Alarm