Open letter to trade unions and the climate justice movement: Don't go to COP27, join the global protests outside Egypt

 

Open letter to trade unions and the climate justice movement: Don't go to COP27, join the global protests outside Egypt

We call upon trade unionists, the ITUC, its member bodies, and wider civil society not to participate in COP27 taking place in November in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. We believe that it is unacceptable that the UN climate conference is held under the presidency of the Egyptian government. The Al Sisi regime has been granting impunity to those who tortured and killed many activists, solely for having expressed their ideas.

We are acting in solidarity with Egyptian activists who have issued a call for grassroots campaigns working for climate justice to boycott COP27 and with Egyptian human rights groups which have been excluded from the conference. We are also following the lead of the Italian union federation CGIL which has announced it will not attend CoP27 in protest at the state of repression in Egypt.As the world’s climate continues to destabilize as a result of the failure of the governments and major corporations of the industrialised global North to decarbonise the economy it is essential that those voices of the global South demanding climate justice are heard. This failure compounds the legacy of the historic injustices of the colonial era, when European powers ransacked the global South.

It is those very voices, the voices of the youth, poor peasants, and workers that are being silenced in Egypt. In Egypt, the rights of freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and protest are not guaranteed. The country is subject to a climate of repression, which is violently enforced while all forms of protest have been criminalised. Independent trade unions face severe repression, including the use of state security and military courts to prosecute and jail workers for participating in strikes and protests. Meanwhile the national law regulating the right to strike and trade union freedom violates ILO Conventions C87 and C98. This context poses a severe limitation of the freedom of organization, movement, mobilization and protest of climate activists and trade unionists. For us this is unacceptable. Social justice, climate action, human rights and democracy are interconnected and must be addressed simultaneously and acted upon with radicalism, urgency and justice. It is clear the Al Sisi regime sees the COP27 as an opportunity to whitewash and greenwash its record. We want no part in helping to whitewash and greenwash the Al Sisi regime.Boycotting COP27 is not disengaging from the climate justice movement.

We will continue to affirm our commitment to social and climate justice, human and labour rights, full and quality employment, active and democratic participation. We will do so with those organizations, movements and activists who share our values and call on them to join the global protests during COP27 in the cities outside Egypt to hold those responsible for destabilizing the climate to account.This statement was initiated by individual activists in the Campaign against Climate Change in response to a statement written by Egyptian activists. It is supported by the Campaign Steering Group and the Egypt Solidarity Initiative (www.egyptsolidarityinitiative.org