CliDef prepares for COP 27 to ensure activists’ safety
UN Photo
Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt (September 27, 2022) – Global Climate Legal Defense (CliDef) has launched a global legal network for climate defenders, which, alongside local partners, is providing direct legal services to climate activists attending or acting around COP27 who find themselves in legal trouble.
CliDef is working with partners and local human rights lawyers to ensure legal safety for climate activists who are attending COP27. This includes rapidly supporting legal and financial resources, preparing legal toolkits, and “Know-Your-Rights” training with global coalitions to legal and climate activists prior to COP27.
CliDef has also launched a legal protection hotline, operational from November 2-20th, where activists in Egypt can access urgent legal advice if they find themselves in trouble at the airports, the conference, or the country of Egypt at-large.
Human rights organizations have been sounding the alarm for months about the threats posed to activists seeking to protest at or near the UN’s climate conference. In October, a group of United Nations’ appointed experts expressed concern that the political environment in Egypt will not allow for full participation of all individuals and organizations wishing to attend and make their voices heard at COP27.
CliDef – whose founding director is Goldman Environmental Prize winner and Liberian environmental lawyer Alfred Brownell – is especially concerned about three groups during and after COP27 in Egypt:
Youth climate movements: As these groups generally have a higher risk tolerance and greater vulnerability, CliDef is prioritizing legal support to youth activists.
African grassroots activists: This COP is frequently called the “African COP,” yet only 20% of grassroots African climate activists have secured official participation, according to Rise Up Africa. People will be seeking other ways to have their voices heard. Earlier this month, CliDef helped secure the release of nine students in Uganda who faced arrest during a climate protest, which helped us prepare and fill a gap of what is to come at COP.
Activists returning to repressive regimes after COP: CliDef has identified “hotspots” where activists may be at risk when returning home, and putting lawyers in place to address their problems.
Betsy Apple, executive director of CliDef, said, “CliDef recognizes that the fossil fuel industry, and the governments who enable their destructive activities, have used their immense power, wealth and political influence to keep expanding operations by intimidating climate activists by weaponizing the legal system against them. This is true all over the world, but at COP27 in Egypt, activists are facing legal threats in the context of limited freedom of speech and association. This threat doesn’t end after COP27 is over. Across the world, activists are facing similar pressures when they get back home and are on the frontlines of stopping oil and gas expansion. We need governments to protect their rights over corporate rights; and we need philanthropy to step up and join us to ensure their ability to safely advocate for climate justice. They are fighting for all of us, and it’s time we have their backs.”
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About CliDef
Global Climate Legal Defense (CliDef) emboldens climate defenders to act by providing legal support. We raise funds and fast-track resources for legal defense and strengthen a community of diverse lawyers and legal organizations to serve the climate movement. To learn more, please visit our website: www.climatelegaldefense.org
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