Cop28 Turns Ugly As Campaigners Got Filmed, Threatened, And Harassed
The Cop28 Climate Conference by the UN that’s being held in Dubai recently turned ugly as the peaceful campaigners were filmed, threatened, and harassed.
The Cop28 climate Conference has attracted a lot of climate activists to voice their need for action against environmental crisis. However, the air soon turned intimidating as acts of oppression raked the campaigners. The locals didn’t take this campaign lightly.
Moreover, the campaign goers later revealed that most of the locals who were trying to intimidate them were activists supported by fuel companies and the government. Everyone knows the Middle-East Gulf nations to be a great source of fossil fuels – their primary source of income. Therefore, if a campaign targets the country’s primary source of income – this is what happens.
This is what campaigner Lola Garcia-Alix, a senior advisor for the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, had to say regardingCop28;l
“In the last few years, we’ve seen Indigenous representatives being filmed by people related to government institutions while giving statements about human rights at UN events or photographed just for being present at a UN event.
We’ve witnessed people working closely with governments physically corner and encircle Indigenous representatives in UN meetings. Such acts of intimidation have drastic effects back home, where Indigenous people sometimes face reprisals, including being questioned, harassed, or detained.
While many of these incidents happened in UN human rights events, such as the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, this worrying trend is expanding,’ García-Alix said. “We recently saw intimidation tactics at Cop in Dubai, where several Indigenous people from one country were intimidated by people working closely with that country’s government.”
Do you think these “government-backed” anti-activists have crossed the line this time? Let us know in the comments below!
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