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August
13, 2024
Open letter to the secretariat for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Bonn, Germany
We
write as a global coalition of non-governmental organisations to
protest the continuous awarding of repressive governments with
hosting privileges of United Nations conferences. For example,
Azerbaijan was awarded hosting privileges of the UN Conference of
Parties (COP) climate change summit in November 2024, which has
resulted in the use of the government’s state security apparatus to
suppress and close civic space in the country. Such crackdowns on
civil society have undoubtedly undermined campaigns tailored towards
the promotion and protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms
in regions or countries where UN conferences are held.
From
Egypt during COP27 to the UAE during COP28,
civic space has shrunk in countries where the COP is held,
particularly those which are oil-producing autocratic countries.
Similarly, the hosting of the COP29 in Baku has already resulted in
hundreds of arrests of human rights activists and journalists in
Azerbaijan. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
secretariat must ensure that all COP hosts comply with international
human rights law and do not use the COP as a pretext to censor and
crack down civil society activism and advocacy.
Article
21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR) provides that “The right of peaceful assembly shall be
recognised,” which is considered a fundamental human right. This
right includes a corresponding obligation on States to respect and
ensure its exercise without discrimination, requiring states to
refrain from unwarranted interference and to protect the
participants. Azerbaijan ratified the ICCPR and the European
Convention on Human Rights.
The
Subsidiary Body on Implementation highlights the need of the UNFCCC
sessions and mandated events to be convened in places where human
rights and fundamental freedoms are promoted and protected, and where
all participants are effectively protected against any violations or
abuses. Therefore, the human rights record in Azerbaijan raises
significant concerns amongst both local and international civil
society.
Given
the fact that for several years, Azerbaijani journalists and CSOs
have already been facing severe restrictions, such as stringent
requirements for media registration, and restrictions on foreign
funding for NGOs, the rights to freedom of expression and association
have been majorly hindered. The dynamics of intensified repressive
measures, combined with physical and economic threats, make it nearly
impossible for media and CSOs to conduct their work independently and
without fear of persecution.
Yet,
upon gaining the COP Presidency Status, the government of Azerbaijan
has launched an unprecedented
crackdown
on independent media and civil society activists in the country. As
of July 2024, the list of political prisoners in Azerbaijan amounts
to at least 306 individuals.
The
most recent arrests of former Azerbaijani diplomat Emin
Ibrahimov
and a young Talysh scientist-ethnographer, Iqbal
Abilov,
who was
arrested
on July 22, 2024,
have
raised significant international concern regarding the human rights
situation in Azerbaijan prior to COP29.
Moreover,
the Azerbaijani government uses overly restrictive measures for its
detainees: the life and health of Famil
Khalilov,
a disabled human rights activist and blogger, is at stake, while he
is in detention on bogus charges of drug smuggling. Another alarming
case is of economist Fasil
Gasimov,
who has began
a hunger strike on June 14, 2024, severely damaging his health to
protest against unjustified criminal prosecution and torture.
According
to Amnesty International, on April 29, 2024, prominent human rights
defender Anar
Mammadli,
Head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre and
co-founder of the Climate of Justice Initiative in Azerbaijan, was
arrested.
Previous
hosts in the past two years have also not respected human rights. In
December 2023, while hosting
the COP28 in Dubai, Emirati authorities brought
charges
against at least 84 defendants in retaliation for forming an
independent advocacy group in 2010, many of whom had already been
serving prison sentences for the same or similar offenses. The unfair
mass trial of the “UAE84” was marred
by serious due process and fair trial violations, including
restricted access to case material and information, limited legal
assistance, judges directing witness testimony, violations of the
principle of double jeopardy, credible allegations of serious abuse
and ill-treatment, and hearings shrouded in secrecy. On July 10, the
court convicted
at least 44 defendants in the mass trial and meted out sentences
ranging from between 15 years to life in prison in the UAE’s second
largest unfair mass trial.
The
previous year in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, NGOs and UN Experts
complained
that climate activists and members of civil society “were subjected
to intimidation, harassment and surveillance during the COP27” in
November 2022.
Climate
change activists have complained that thousands of lobbyists for oil
companies have attended the COPs in recent years, while activists
have been very limited in their ability to protest. The UN can only
guarantee the right to protest inside the venue of COPs, and not
outside, which led to extremely limited protests related to climate
change and human rights in both Egypt and UAE, where protests are
illegal. Human Rights Watch reported
that in the UAE “Advocacy actions and protests within the UN-run
“blue zone” were also severely limited, with unprecedented
restrictions on freedom of speech from the UNFCCC Secretariat.” For
example, an action with photos of imprisoned Emirati human rights
defenders was delayed repeatedly, and only allowed to take place with
severe restrictions.
We
call on the UNFCCC to make the host agreements for future COPs public
and ensure they comply with international human rights law, including
by protecting the rights to freedom of speech and assembly.
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