img
07 Nov 2022
COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Sinai: an opportunity to break the silence on gross human rights violations against indigenous peoples and marginalization for decades
07 نوفمبر 2022

The undersigned human rights and environmental organisations, groups and individuals said that it is unreasonable that the Egyptian government will host thousands of participants in Sharm El Sheikh, Sinai to discuss the future of life on our planet, while turning a blind eye to the rights of Sinai’s inhabitants and the ongoing systematic and gross violations of their human rights. Addressing and discussing Sinai’s environmental and human rights situation during and around COP27 is the least that can be done to take into consideration the inhabitants who live on the land where the conference is hosted.

For decades, the Sinai Peninsula has suffered from the marginalization and failure to invest in its infrastructure by the Egyptian State.  Since 2013, war raged in North Sinai between Egyptian State forces and the Islamist armed group “Ansar Beit al-Maqdis” which in 2014 announced its affiliation with ISIS and re-named itself “Sinai Province”. Under the pretense of eradicating this armed group, Egyptian authorities have displaced tens of thousands of North Sinai residents, razed agricultural land, and imposed restrictions on the movement of people and goods, which has led to complete economic paralysis. Thousands of North Sinai residents have also been arrested and forcibly disappeared, kidnapped, tortured, and extrajudicially killed. Since then, North Sinai has turned into a closed military zone under a tight media siege to prevent the flow of information and access to journalists and independent observers.

The impacts of the policies of marginalization of local communities in Sinai has extended to COP27. The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights has not found any evidence indicating the Egyptian government’s invitation to any of the groups or representatives of Sinai’s residents, nor its tribes and indigenous communities to participate in an effective and independent manner that reflects pluralism and diversity during the COP27 or in meetings on the sidelines. The only exception is a news article indicating one association working in coordination with the North Sinai Governor’s office. In the list of admitted NGOs participating in COP27, there are no Egyptian organisations based in Sinai or mainly focused on Sinai.

The absence of the Sinai community from the COP27 is an expected result of the policies of the Egyptian government, which have stifled traditional forms of peaceful expression and assembly in Sinai society, including bureaus and popular councils.  Many Sinai activists who founded independent groups that criticize the government’s policies were arrested. This led to a crackdown on peaceful work while instead nurturing an environment in which radical violent groups thrive.

Sinai faces environmental threats including declining palm wealth, eroding beaches, declining groundwater reserves, rising temperatures, and degradation of the marine environment and coral reefs. Environmental protection groups in Sinai are unable to address these issues due to restrictions imposed on research, documentation, expression, criticism, and fear of reprisals and prosecution.

Despite several statements by high-level State officials including President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi that  the military operations in North Sinai are about to end and apparent decline in the attacks by “Sinai Province”, the impacts of the war continue and grave violations remain ongoing without accountability or remedy. Yet, the military’s strategy in Sinai is repeating the mistakes of the near past, taking a security approach that does not aim to gain the hearts and minds of civilians nor guarantee their basic rights guaranteed by international treaties.   Two weeks before COP27 begins, the Egyptian military has forcibly evicted civilians who recently returned to their villages after years of displacement at gunpoint. According to sources and eye witnesses who spoke to Sinai Foundation for Human rights, on 29 October 2022, in al-Nasr area in the village al-Zoheir in south al-Sheikh Zweid, the military has forcibly evicted 60 families from the Garaisha family, after detailing them inside the military vehicles and threatened at gunpoint. Then, the military forces left them in a remote area and threatened those who refused this decision to “kill them and burn their residences” if they refused to leave.

Sinai Foundation for Human Rights also documented that in October 2022, the military evicted 10 residential communities in areas and villages south and west of Rafah, northeast Sinai. Local residents confirmed that the military forcibly evicted them from their residences, and clarified that their return to these areas happened in coordination with the military and State forces and by invitation from government officials including the governor of North Sinai.

The protection of the environment, climate justice and formulating appropriate policies cannot be effective without comprehensive policies that protect the rights of people, promoting pluralism and peaceful participation. It is not possible to separate environmental rights from the rights of indigenous peoples. As affirmed by signatories to the Egyptian human rights coalition on COP27 petition, “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 undersigned organisations, groups and individuals, urge all organisations/groups and activists participating in COP27 to take into consideration where the conference is hosted, the Sinai Peninsula, and to make efforts to raise and discuss during COP27 the issues of Sinai’s inhabitants and to stand in solidarity with them. 

The undersigned also urge States participating in COP27 to send a clear message to the Egyptian government that repression of civil society is unacceptable, and to urge the Egyptian government to: implement the recommendations made in the joint statement by 32 States at the UN Human Rights Council in March 2021 to address the human rights crisis in Egypt, in particular to immediately and unconditionally release all those held simply for peacefully exercising their human rights; and  that any acts of reprisals against critical voices before or during the conference would be taken seriously.​​​​​​​

Signatories- 35 organizations/groups and over 120 individuals:

    1. 10 Votes
    2. Bristol Friends of the Earth
    3. Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy
    4. Climate Clock
    5. Collectif Sénégalais des Africaines pour la Promotion de l’Éducation Relative à l’Environnement ( COSAPERE)
    6. Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience
    7. Corporate Europe Observatory
    8. Economic  Justice Network Sierra Leone
    9. Egyptian Human Rights Forum ( EHRF)
    10. EgyptWide for Human Rights
    11. Emonyo Yefwe International
    12. Fridays For Future Lebanon
    13. Greenfaith  uganda
    14. Haiti Cholera Research Funding Foundation Inc USA HCRFF
    15. Karamoja Go Green
    16. Katribu Youth
    17. National Education Union
    18. North American Climate, Conservation and Environment(NACCE)
    19. North-East Affected Area Development Society (NEADS)
    20. Passionists International
    21. Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania
    22. Rain Drops Community Foundation
    23. RC TOGO
    24. Reacción Climática
    25. Sinai Foundation for Human Rights
    26. Southern Anti-Racism Network
    27. Stop Climate Chaos Scotland
    28. Terra Advocati
    29. The Greens Movement of Georgia/Friends of the Earth-Georgia
    30. The Resilient40
    31. UNISC International
    32. Value Life
    33. Vikas Adhyayan Kendra
    34. Water Justice & Gender
    35. Zvilgesellschaft ohne Grenzen (movements without borders)
    36. Abbie Williams
    37. Abigail Parry
    38. Accoyer Valérie
    39. Akram Ali
    40. Albane
    41. Annalise Peterson
    42. Anthony Simmons
    43. Bjørn Olav Utvik
    44. Bruce Mitchell
    45. Cait Murphy
    46. Carly Hilbert
    47. Carol Broom
    48. Carolina de Figueiredo Garrido
    49. Christin El-kholy
    50. Christine Hatfield
    51. Claire O’Manique
    52. Claudio D’Alba
    53. Darren Grafius
    54. Derek Maylor
    55. Dianne Varga
    56. Douglas Nadler
    57. Dr oye Ideki
    58. eli frosio
    59. Emmanuel Bozzia
    60. Ester Barel
    61. Fabio Bonomo
    62. Geoffrey Mock
    63. Gideon Berry
    64. Grahame Hughes
    65. Helen Banks
    66. Hisham Kassem
    67. Hugo
    68. Ilaria Lupo
    69. Jane Samson
    70. Janne Marko
    71. Kathy Bradley
    72. Katya Potapova
    73. Lauren Munn
    74. Laurie Wright
    75. Liliana Demartini
    76. Manya Ghahremani
    77. Margaret Loyon
    78. Margaret Vicuna
    79. Mariavittoria Maggi
    80. Martine Doppen
    81. mc Ruiz de Elvira
    82. Merwyn De Mello
    83. Mia Bradić
    84. Michael Barkley
    85. Michael Letwin
    86. Michele Dunne
    87. Michelle Loisel
    88. Miriam Karmali
    89. Mohamed Albagoury
    90. Mohammed Rafi Arefin
    91. Nick Hodgkinson
    92. Parus Shah
    93. Patricia Hackbarth
    94. Paul Hendrikx
    95. Paul Mather
    96. Paul Shaw
    97. Paulho hopes
    98. Peer Höcker
    99. Peter Lauterbach
    100. Rev. Dr. Alan Bentz-Letts
    101. Rosa Maria Barber Aromir
    102. Rosalind Kent
    103. Roshan Lal
    104. Rufus Rune
    105. Sally Clark
    106. scott barden
    107. Sean Conner
    108. Séverine de Laveleye
    109. Sharon Zeiler
    110. Stephen Crozier
    111. Steve Ongerth
    112. Susan Stout
    113. Teresa MacKay
    114. Turiya Bobde
    115. Wahid Esseri
    116. 48 publicly anonymous



Tags