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COP 27: Joint letter from the Egyptian Human Rights Movement
COP 27: Joint letter from the Egyptian Human Rights Movement

To President al-Sisi of Egypt and his government:

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 favour of more meaningful and ambitious climate action, have come from civil society. We call on the Egyptian government to:
  • Guarantee space for civil society: Ensure that civil society organisations, 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. This process needs to include everyone – women, Indigenous peoples and local communities, youth, children, persons with disabilities and other groups facing marginalization or discrimination.
  • Lift the media blockade and stop jailing journalists: Grant access to blocked websites of independent media, human rights organisations and others; release all journalists who have been imprisoned for doing their job, and end restrictions on media and digital spheres.
  • Release everyone arbitrarily detained: Immediately and unconditionally release all those held simply for peacefully exercising their human rights, and implement criteria set by local NGOs for these releases: fairness, transparency, inclusiveness, and urgency.
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.

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Recent signers

To President al-Sisi of Egypt and his government:
"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 favour of more meaningful and ambitious climate action, have come from civil society. We call on the Egyptian government to:
  • Guarantee space for civil society: Ensure that civil society organisations, 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. This process needs to include everyone – women, Indigenous peoples and local communities, youth, children, persons with disabilities and other groups facing marginalization or discrimination.
  • Lift the media blockade and stop jailing journalists: Grant access to blocked websites of independent media, human rights organisations and others; release all journalists who have been imprisoned for doing their job, and end restrictions on media and digital spheres.
  • Release everyone arbitrarily detained: Immediately and unconditionally release all those held simply for peacefully exercising their human rights, and implement criteria set by local NGOs for these releases: fairness, transparency, inclusiveness, and urgency.
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. "
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We're Egyptian Human Rights Defenders – the government has brutalised us, but we are still bravely speaking up, and we must continue to do.

Egypt is about to host the crucial COP27 climate summit, but human rights are under attack: The government restricts the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, limits the space for civil society and political opposition, and uses terrorism legislation against peaceful critics. Thousands are languishing in jail as prisoners of conscience. And stopping civil society from participating in this climate summit in a meaningful and holistic way undermines not only Egyptian climate justice, but the massive effort needed to tackle the global climate crisis.

That's why we're asking for your help: With COP27 approaching fast, we’ve put together a list of demands – if we can show President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi that people around the world stand with us Egyptian rights defenders, he'll take our call seriously.

Signatories:
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
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