States participating in a climate meeting starting on 5 June in Bonn, which will help set the agenda for the COP28 in Dubai later this year, should urge the United Arab Emirates to improve its dismal human rights record to ensure a successful conference, Amnesty International said today.

An Amnesty International briefing, The Human Rights Situation in the UAE ahead of COP28, identifies key human rights risks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that threaten the success of COP28, including the suppression of the right to freedom of expression and a closure of civic space, the danger of digital espionage and monitoring, and the host country’s opposition to the rapid phasing out of fossil fuels.

“A successful COP28 is vital, for human rights and for the planet. This year we must see a commitment by all states to rapidly phase out all fossil fuels and to keep us on track to avoid spiralling climate change” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “Yet the path to a conference that delivers these outcomes is endangered by the effective closure of civic space in the UAE, its known use of digital surveillance to spy on critics, and its resistance to the phasing out of fossil fuel production and use.”

“COP28 must be a forum where civil society can participate freely and without fear, where Indigenous peoples, communities and groups affected by climate change are able to share their experiences and shape policy without intimidation, and where the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful protest are upheld. The Bonn conference paves the way for COP28, and the participants should use this opportunity to make clear to the UAE that it needs to change.”

Read more at: amnesty.org
Photo : amnesty.org, Mohamed Zarandah/Anadolu Agency via Getty Image