Ahead of COP27, Open Civic Space and Release Everyone Arbitrarily Detained in Egypt

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 to undermine 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 arbitrary 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

Organisations

1. 350 Aotearoa
2. AAA Accountancy UK
3. AbibiNsroma Foundation ANF
4. Access Now
5. Aid/Watch
6. Amnesty International
7. Arab Network for Knowledge about Human rights
8. Arayara.org
9. Asia Pacific Network of Environment Defenders
10. ASSOCIATION DES AMIS DE LA NATURE AAN
11. Association des jeunes pour le développement du Ouaddai
12. Avli Initiative
13. BankTrack
14. CADIRE CAMEROON ASSOCIATION
15. CAN Latin America
16. CAN Tanzania
17. CAN-Japan
18. Center for Environmental Concerns – Philippines Inc.
19. Center for International Environmental Law
20. Centre for Citizens Conserving Environment & Management (CECIC)
21. Climate & Sustainability
22. Climate Justice Alliance
23. CNCD-11.11.11
24. Coal Action Network Aotearoa
25. Coalition Marocaine pour la Justice Climatique (CMJC)
26. CODEPINK
27. Collectif Sénégalais des Africaines pour la Promotion de l’Éducation Relative à l’Environnement (COSAPERE)
28. Commission on Environment and Climate Justice – International League of Peoples’ Struggle
29. Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience
30. Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)
31. DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture
32. Eastbourne Solidarity
33. EcoEquity
34. Ecologistas en Acción
35. Egyptian Americans For Justice
36. Emonyo Yefwe International
37. Environmental conflict mediation and Women Development
38. Environmental Justice Foundation
39. Equidad de Genero: Ciudadanía, Trabajo y Familia
40. EuroMed Rights
41. Fastenaktion
42. Finnish Development NGOs – Fingo
43. FOKUS – Forum for Women and Development
44. FORUM DES ENGAGES POUR LE DÉVELOPPEMENT DURABLE
45. Forum des Jeunes
46. Franciscan Action Network
47. Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland
48. Friends of the Earth Germany/ BUND
49. Friends of the Earth Scotland
50. G.R.A.M.E.D
51. GAIA – Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives
52. Gastivists Collective
53. GenderCC-Women for Climate Justice e.V.
54. Global Justice Now
55. Heinrich Boell Foundation
56. Human Rights Without Frontiers
57. HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
58. ILPS Commission 10
59. Indigenous Peoples’ Organisation-Australia
60. International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL)
61. International Peace Bureau
62. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
63. Kabataan para sa Tribung Pilipino (Katribu Youth)
64. Karamoja Go Green
65. Klima Action Malaysia (KAMY)
66. Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation
67. Ligue pour la solidarité congolaise
68. Liverpool City Region Climate Justice Coalition
69. Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
70. Merdeka West Papua Support Network
71. Migrante International
72. Minority Rights Group International
73. Mom Loves Taiwan Association
74. NAJU (Youth Association for the Protection of Nature)
75. NDEO
76. NEW HOPE FOR THE POOR
77. North-East Affected Area Development Society (NEADS)
78. Observatório do Clima
79. Observatory for the Protection of the Environment and Historical Monument
80. Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania
81. Protection International
82. Reacción Climática
83. Saharawi Active Youth
84. Sankalpa Darchula Nepal, South Asia
85. SERUNI
86. Sisters of Charity Federation
87. Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill
88. Somali Youth Development Foundation (SYDF)
89. Sukaar Welfare Organization
90. The Green Youth Movement (DGUB) (Denmark)
91. The Resilient40
92. The SANE Collective
93. Tipping Point UK
94. Transnational Institute
95. Tulele Peisa Inc
96. UNISC International
97. US Committe to End Political Repression in Egypt
98. Vikas Adhyayan Kendra
99. War on Want
100. Water Justice and Gender
101. Women Engage for a Common Future
102. World Friends for Africa Burkina Faso/ Membership Organiser at CAN West and Central Africa
103. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
104. Yorkshire and the Humber Climate Justice Coalition
105. 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 Maria Cecilia M. Sayson
21. Christine-Anne
22. corinna baudisch
23. Daniel Leclerc
24. David Jesero
25. David Robertson
26. Dayoon Kim
27. Dr Oye Ideki
28. Elle Glenny
29. Elondra Eichenberger
30. Francesca Biancani
31. Francesco Correale
32. G. Andrea Teti
33. Gabriele Köhler
34. Geoffrey Mock
35. Gine Zwart
36. Hendrik Voss
37. Isabelle Sain
38. Ivan Hortal Sánchez
39. Jeremy Adeba
40. John Chalcraft
41. Jorge Martínez
42. Josh Hughes
43. Julia Horn
44. Julian Hirschmann
45. Kerstin Doerenbruch
46. Komla Bassah
47. Lenka Hélová
48. Lin Patterson
49. Lorena Cotza
50. Lydia Darby
51. Mamadou SYLLA
52. Mamta Lukram
53. Manuel Leick-Jonard
54. Mariam TOURE KEITA
55. Marie Lecocq
56. Mario Caffera
57. Mark Doran
58. martin mantxo
59. Martin Vilela
60. Mehdy BELABBAS
61. Melony
62. Mia Bradić
63. Michael Barkley
64. Michael Ineichen
65. Michael Taylor
66. Michel Vanhoorne
67. Mounir Satouri
68. Narasimha Reddy Donthi
69. Natalie Rivas
70. Natasha
71. Ndivile Mokoena
72. nelia lauper
73. Rachel Allen
74. Ramy Shaath
75. Rosa van Driel
76. Roshan Lal
77. Salma El Hosseiny
78. sarah sakouti
79. Shaimaa Elbanna
80. Shaon Zeiler
81. Shima
82. Simone Lennerz
83. Sofie Bech Larsen
84. Sophie Maziane
85. Stephen Crozier
86. Steve Ongerth
87. Ted Swedenburg
88. Veena Balakrishnan
89. Yazan Badran
90. Yohei Takata
91. Christa Salamandra
92. Esha Shah
93. Hugo Alan
94. John Schaefer
95. Ron Smith
96. Sandra Carter
97. 6 publicly anonymous