FinPol Digest

 In many ways, the COP27 climate conference being held in Egypt is a cruel but necessary irony. The tyranny of the host government — the sweeping arrests, arbitrary checking of citizens' mobile phones at road checkpoints, and a further crackdown on freedom of expression — makes it look even more like it was a poor choice to hold the summit in Sharm El Sheikh. Greta Thunberg thinks so, too, and why shouldn't we heed the valued opinion of the climate change icon? However, the choice of Egypt was, in fact, the correct call to make. It is the most fitting host for the summit and many of the policies which might be imposed as a result. Both are or will be authoritarian and depend on coercion to achieve their goals. Such pressure on climate change will be political, financial, and social; some is already happening and has been for years. We can expect to see a global carbon tax standard, or pricing on carbon emissions, called for by the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ...

 Journalists and activists at COP27 are increasingly afraid they are being subject to surveillance at the UN climate summit being held in Sharm El-Sheikh. Attendees are being warned not to download a mobile app created by the government with the floorplan and conference program. Experts have warned that the app gives intelligence services access to their location, photos, and emails. There are concerns that authorities will use it to gather information about civil society. Civil society has been heavily repressed in Egypt where there are some 60,000 political prisoners in jail who are systematically tortured and denied appropriate medical care. In the lead-up to the conference, human rights groups campaigned to allow the meaningful participation of activists and journalists, who are essential for bringing about climate change. To download the conference app, participants must give their mobile number, nationality, and passport details and enable location tracking. "Our applicati...

Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is set to arrive in Egypt's Red Sea city of Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday to participate in the 2nd Green Middle East Summit. The Summit is held in tandem with UN climate conference COP27 , which opened in Sharm El-Sheikh on Sunday. A statement by the Saudi Royal Court said bin Salman had left for Sharm El-Sheikh to take part in the Summit, which will be attended by Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, along with a host of world leaders. The Summit is intended to lay out a roadmap for regional climate action, assessing the consequences of climate change and presenting solutions. The first edition of the Green Middle East Summit was held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in October 2021. Notably, these initiatives aim to plant 50 billion trees in the region and reduce carbon emissions by more than 10 percent.

 Several human rights organizations in Egypt have condemned the arbitrary arrests of people apparently in connection with the calls for protests on 11 November, during the COP27 conference in Sharm El Sheikh. According to El-Shehab Centre for Human Rights, 42 people in Alexandria Governorate have been arrested. In Suez, the Egyptian Network for Human Rights said that for the past two weeks the streets of the governorate have been witnessing an ongoing security campaign, in which hundreds of citizens have been arrested, some of them former detainees. A number of families of political activists were also arrested. "Over 200 people as of Tuesday appeared before the prosecutors in Suez," explained the network, "and many are still waiting to appear inside the headquarters of the Security Forces Camp in Al-Salam, the Central Security Camp on Nasser Street, and the National Security Building next to the Courts Complex." Meanwhile, the director of the Egyptian Initiative ...

 Egyptian authorities arrested Indian climate activist Ajit Rajagopal who walked from Cairo to Sharm El-Sheikh as part of the March for our Planet global campaign and then released him 24 hours later. Rajagopal came to Egypt to participate in the COP27 UN summit hosted this year in Egypt's Red Sea resort town but was arrested at a security checkpoint. Human rights lawyer Makarios Lahzy received a call from him at 1pm and after going to help him, was arrested and detained at El-Obour city police station in Cairo and then later released. On 7 November, heads of state, ministers, journalists and NGOs will gather to discuss issues urgent to tackling the climate emergency. As the conference nears, dozens of arbitrary arrests have taken place across Egypt following calls for protests on 11 November and pressure on the government by rights organisations to stop committing violations ahead of COP27. At the end of October prominent human rights lawyer Khaled Ali announced that every day t...