COP27 Turns Blind Eye to Human Rights Victims
The UN climate summit kicked off at the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt on Sunday, November 6, 2022, and scheduled to be continued till November 18.
Delegates from nearly 120 countries have attended the summit, despite calls for boycott over the country’s poor human rights record.
Human rights groups have earlier called on world leaders to exert pressures on the Egyptian authorities for the respect and protection of human rights before their participation at the event.
Egyptian authorities decided to hold the international event in one of the best touristic areas in the country, away from the difficult living conditions and economic crisis suffered by the vital cities and the capital.
Only a few kilometres away, the Egyptian military carried out mass home demolitions and forced eviction of about 3200 families in the Sinai Peninsula over the past years, without providing them with an alternative shelter.
On the other side of the shore appears the Saudi $500 billion megacity of Neom, a key component of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s “Vision 2030” strategy. The new city state of Neom is being built on an area owned by the Huwaitat tribe. At least 20,000 members of the tribe now face eviction due to the project, with no information about where they will live in the future. The forced eviction of the Huwaitat tribe resulted in at least one death and dozens of arrests.
As the Egyptian authorities have been seeking to whitewash their international image, world leaders have turned a blind eye to the widespread human rights violations and to the relentless persecution of peaceful dissenting voices in Egypt. Therefore, the Egyptian regime will use the COP27 as a green light to continue its human rights violations and abuses.
