Amnesty int’l urges COP28 host UAE to free all prisoners of conscience detained

Ahead of the COP28 climate summit beginning in November, Amnesty International has called on the United Arab Emirates to free prisoners of conscience and the arbitrarily detained.

The human rights organization urged the Gulf state to “release all arbitrarily detained prisoners of conscience and others in the country to ensure that COP28 provides a secure environment for all – whether Emirati or other nationals – to freely express their views.”

“As global attention turns to the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) hosting of the next UN climate summit COP28, we would like to remind the world that the well-oiled PR machine cannot be allowed to distract attention from the UAE authorities’ repressive and regressive policies and practices and poor record on climate,” Amnesty said.

Dozens of Emiratis who have campaigned for democracy and reform are currently being arbitrarily detained, and there are at least 26 Emiratis currently being held as prisoners of conscience, according to Amnesty’s call.

Decades of targeted repression of dissent by the UAE have been so effective that “independent local civil society is now non-existent in the country”, Amnesty said.

Of the dissenters that remain, “we do continue to find smaller-scale arbitrary detentions… from year to year,” Devin Kenney, Gulf Researcher for Amnesty, told The New Arab via email.

Climate campaigners have questioned why the annual UN climate conference is being held in one of the world’s largest oil producers, while human rights organizations have stated that permitting the country to host the conference effectively validates its repressive methods.

The UAE has attempted to improve its green credentials, including a pledge last month to increase its renewable energy generation, but climate scientists say the country’s measures to address its impact to climate change are insufficient.

The Gulf state has also committed to allow climate protests to take place during the three-week conference.