Egypt: Ahead of COP27, authorities must open civic space and release detainees

Effective climate action is not possible without an open civic space, say civil rights organizations.

This statement was originally published on cihrs.org on 26 September 2022.

In the run up to the UN Climate Change Conference 2022 (COP27) taking place in Egypt’s resort town of Sharm El Sheikh from 7 to18 November 2022, the undersigned organizations, groups and individuals note with great concern the human rights situation in Egypt and in particular the government’s restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, which risk undermining a successful, inclusive and participatory climate summit.

Advancing climate justice demands an inclusive, holistic approach to environmental policy that embeds human rights and tackles systemic problems, including historically rooted social injustices, ecological destruction, abuses by businesses, corruption and impunity, and social and economic inequality. The strongest voices across the world pushing back against these systemic problems, and in favor of more meaningful and ambitious climate action, have come from civil society.

We voice our support to the call made by the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association: that the work of civil society be recognized, publicly and at the highest levels, as essential to the advancement of climate action and just transition. Moreover, we stress the importance of the right to freedom of expression and independent reporting to foster efforts to address the climate crisis.

We emphasize that effective climate action is not possible without open civic space. As host of COP27, Egypt risks compromising the success of the summit if it does not urgently address ongoing arbitrarily restrictions on civil society.

We call on Egypt to ensure that civil society organizations, activists, and communities can meaningfully participate in all discussions and activities on climate and just-transition policy development and implementation at all levels of decision-making without fear of reprisals. Authorities must put in place transparent and inclusive processes to ensure that everyone, including women, Indigenous peoples and local communities, workers, youth, children, persons with disabilities, and other groups facing marginalization or discrimination, is provided with equal opportunities to effectively participate in climate decision-making.

We also call on Egypt to end the prosecutions of civil society activists and organizations and guarantee space for civil society – including human rights defenders – to work without fear of intimidation, harassment, arrest, detention, or any other form of reprisal, including by releasing of unjustly jailed human rights defenders, lifting arbitrarily travel bans and asset freezes and closing all politically-motivated cases against activists targeted for their human rights work.

Access to information is central to effective participation. To this end, we call on the Egyptian authorities to immediately end the arbitrarily blocking of websites and ensure access inside the country to the hundreds of independent media, human rights organizations and other blocked websites. We also call for the immediate release of all journalists who have been imprisoned solely for doing their job, and an end to restrictions on media and digital spheres.

We recognize that a select number of journalists, human rights defenders, and other individuals who had been arbitrarily detained were conditionally released in recent months. We urge the Egyptian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all those held simply for peacefully exercising their human rights, implementing criteria set by local NGOs for these releases: fairness, transparency, inclusiveness, and urgency.

Preparations for COP27 are taking place against the backdrop of an ongoing and deep-rooted human rights crisis in Egypt. The Egyptian authorities have for years employed draconian laws, including laws on counter terrorism, cyber crimes, and civil society, to stifle all forms of peaceful dissent and shut down civic space. We note that, under the current government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, thousands continue to be arbitrarily detained without a legal basis, following grossly unfair trials, or solely for peacefully exercising their human rights. Thousands are held in prolonged per-trial detention on the basis of spurious terrorism and national security accusations. Among those arbitrarily detained are dozens of journalists targeted for their media work, social media users punished for sharing critical online content, women convicted on morality-related charges for making Tik Tok videos, and members of religious minorities accused of blasphemy.

Prisoners are held in detention conditions that violate the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment, and since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power hundreds have died in custody amid reports of denial of healthcare and other abuse. Egypt remains one of the world’s top executioners, executing 107 in 2020 to 83 in 2021, with at least 356 people sentenced to death in 2021, many following grossly unfair trials including by emergency courts. The crisis of impunity has emboldened Egyptian security forces to carry out extra-judicial executions and other unlawful killing, enforced disappearances and torture with no fear of consequences.

The Egyptian authorities must take meaningful steps to address the human rights crisis, including by lifting restrictions of civic space and ending their crackdown on peaceful dissent.

Led by:

1. Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE)
2. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
3. Committee for Justice (CFJ)
4. Egyptian Front for Human Rights (EFHR)
5. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
6. EgyptWide for Human Rights
7. El Nadeem Center Against Violence and Torture
8. Refugees Platform in Egypt (RPE)
9. Sinai Foundation for Human Rights
10. The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF)
11. The Freedom Initiative (FI)
12. Egyptian Human Rights Forum

Supported by:

Organisations/groups:

1. 350 Aotearoa
2. AAA ACCOUNTANCY
3. AbibiNsroma Foundation ANF
4. Access Now
5. Aid/Watch
6. Amnesty International
7. Arab Network for Knowledge about Human rights
8. Asia Pacific Network of Environment Defenders
9. ASSOCIATION DES AMIS DE LA NATURE AAN
10. Association des jeunes pour le développement du Ouaddai
11. Avli Initiative
12. BankTrack
13. CADIRE CAMEROON ASSOCIATION
14. CAN Latin America
15. CAN Tanzania
16. CAN-Japan
17. Center for Environmental Concerns – Philippines Inc.
18. Center for International Environmental Law
19. Centre for Citizens Conserving Environment & Management (CECIC)
20. Climate & Sustainability
21. Climate Justice Alliance
22. CNCD-11.11.11
23. Coal Action Network Aotearoa
24. Coalition Marocaine pour la Justice Climatique (CMJC)
25. CODEPINK
26. Collectif Sénégalais des Africaines pour la Promotion de l’Éducation Relative à l’Environnement ( COSAPERE)
27. Commission on Environment and Climate Justice – International League of Peoples’ Struggle
28. Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience
29. Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)
30. DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture
31. Eastbourne Solidarity
32. EcoEquity
33. Ecologistas en Acción
34. Egyptian Americans For Justice
35. Emonyo Yefwe International
36. Environmental conflict mediation and Women Development
37. Environmental Justice Foundation
38. Equidad de Genero: Ciudadanía, Trabajo y Familia
39. Fastenaktion
40. Finnish Development NGOs – Fingo
41. FOKUS – Forum for Women and Development
42. FORUM DES ENGAGES POUR LE DÉVELOPPEMENT DURABLE
43. Forum des Jeunes
44. Franciscan Action Network
45. Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland
46. Friends of the Earth Germany/ BUND
47. Friends of the Earth Scotland
48. R.A.M.E.D
49. GAIA – Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives
50. Gastivists Collective
51. GenderCC-Women for Climate Justice e.V.
52. Global Justice Now
53. Heinrich Boell Foundation
54. Human Rights Without Frontiers
55. HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
56. ILPS Commission 10
57. Indigenous Peoples’ Organisation-Australia
58. International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL)
59. International Peace Bureau
60. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
61. Kabataan para sa Tribung Pilipino (Katribu Youth)
62. Karamoja Go Green
63. Klima Action Malaysia (KAMY)
64. Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation
65. Ligue pour la solidarité congolaise
66. Liverpool City Region Climate Justice Coalition
67. Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
68. Merdeka West Papua Support Network
69. Migrante International
70. Minority Rights Group International
71. Mom Loves Taiwan Association
72. NAJU (Youth Association for the Protection of Nature)
73. NDEO
74. NEW HOPE FOR THE POOR
75. North-East Affected Area Development Society (NEADS)
76. Observatório do Clima
77. Observatory for the Protection of the Environment and Historical Monument
78. Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania
79. Protection International
80. Reacción Climática
81. Saharawi Active Youth
82. Sankalpa Darchula Nepal, South Asia
83. SERUNI
84. Sisters of Charity Federation
85. Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill
86. Somali Youth Development Foundation (SYDF)
87. Sukaar Welfare Organization
88. The Green Youth Movement (DGUB) (Denmark)
89. The Resilient40
90. The SANE Collective
91. Tipping Point UK
92. Transnational Institute
93. Tulele Peisa Inc
94. UNISC International
95. US Committe to End Political Repression in Egypt
96. Vikas Adhyayan Kendra
97. War on Want
98. Water Justice and Gender
99. Women Engage for a Common Future
100. World Friends for Africa Burkina Faso/ Membership Organiser at CAN West and Central Africa
101. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
102. Yorkshire and the Humber Climate Justice Coalition
103. Youth for Development and Human Rights Advancement

Individuals:

1. Ahti Tolvanen
2. Akouete FOLLY QUMEGAWU
3. Alia Hammad
4. Andreas Moesch
5. Aurelie Buytaert
6. Basila Maya
7. Bed Awa-ao
8. Bernard Barré
9. Beverley Binfield
10. Beverly L. Longid
11. Billon
12. Bjørn Olav Utvik
13. Carmen fulco
14. Céline Lebrun Shaath
15. Cesar Bollecer Jr
16. Chanchana
17. Chris Preston
18. Chris Vrettos
19. Christiane Hildebrandt
20. Christina Isherwood
21. Christina Maria Cecilia M. Sayson
22. Christine-Anne
23. corinna baudisch
24. Daniel Leclerc
25. David Jesero
26. David Robertson
27. Dayoon Kim
28. Dr Oye Ideki
29. Elle Glenny
30. Elondra Eichenberger
31. Francesca Biancani
32. Francesco Correale
33. Andrea Teti
34. Gabriele Köhler
35. Geoffrey Mock
36. Gine Zwart
37. Hendrik Voss
38. Hubert Meisinger
39. Isabelle Sain
40. Ivan Hortal Sánchez
41. Jeremy Adeba
42. John Chalcraft
43. Jorge Martínez
44. Josh Hughes
45. Julia Horn
46. Julian Hirschmann
47. Kerstin Doerenbruch
48. Kjersti Aspheim
49. Komla Bassah
50. Lenka Hélová
51. Lin Patterson
52. Lorena Cotza
53. Lydia Darby
54. Mamadou SYLLA
55. Mamta Lukram
56. Manuel Leick-Jonard
57. Mariam TOURE KEITA
58. Marie Lecocq
59. Mario Caffera
60. Mark Doran
61. martin mantxo
62. Martin Vilela
63. Mehdy BELABBAS
64. Melony
65. Mia Bradić
66. Michael Barkley
67. Michael Ineichen
68. Michael Taylor
69. Michel Vanhoorne
70. Mounir Satouri
71. Narasimha Reddy Donthi
72. Natalie Rivas
73. Natasha
74. Ndivile Mokoena
75. nelia lauper
76. PASCALE ROUX
77. Rachel Allen
78. Ramy Shaath
79. Rosa van Driel
80. Roshan Lal
81. Salma El Hosseiny
82. sarah sakouti
83. Shaimaa Elbanna
84. Shaon Zeiler
85. Shima
86. Simone Lennerz
87. Sofie Bech Larsen
88. Sophie Maziane
89. Stephen Crozier
90. Stephen Hicks
91. Steve Ongerth
92. Ted Swedenburg
93. Veena Balakrishnan
94. Yazan Badran
95. Yohei Takata