UAE Praised by Human Rights Organisations for Human Rights Summit Side Event
The United Arab Emirates yesterday convened a number of key Human Rights figures for a side event accompanying the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, a move that was praised by human rights organisations ahead of the UAE hosting the COP28 Climate Summit and UN Climate Change Conference later this year.
The Arab-European forum for Dialogue and Human Rights held its side event, titled ‘Leadership Challenges and Future Foresight’, to evaluate the UAE’s efforts in the fields of human rights and freedoms, global peace and tolerance, and climate justice. The symposium was designed to show the UAE’s intent and main themes for discussion at COP28.
The panel hosting the conversation included Dr. Christine Mirre of CAP pour la Liberté de Conscience, also known as Freedom of Conscience; Dr. Manel Msalmi of the European Association for the Defense of Minorities; Mr. Andy Vermaut, President of the World Council for Public Diplomacy and Community; Chancellor Nigel Goodrich of the International Movement for Peace and Tolerance; José Paulo Martins Casaca, former MEP and Founder and Executive Director of the South Asia Democratic Forum; and Mr. Kossi Atsou, President of United Villages.
Specifically discussed were the UAE’s ambitions for climate responsibility while hosting COP28, the UAE Counseling Center’s role in promoting justice in its correctional institutions, the implementation within the UAE of recommendations made the Universal Periodic Review, and the part the UAE can play in raising the global standard of human rights and climate protection.
A meeting of the Universal Periodic Review. (Universal Rights Group)
The United Villages Organisation, a UN consultative project whose president attended the UAE-hosted Human Rights side event, commended the UAE for its persistent efforts in driving climate issues and its role in strengthening international engagement.
The United Villages’ written statement recognised the value of campaigning for climate justice within the framework the UAE has been proposing ahead of hosting the world’s most significant climate event of 2023, and stressed the importance of major countries fulfilling their international moral responsibilities in the field of climate change.
The United Villages’ statement also underlined the importance of the upcoming COP28, and the UAE’s attention on supporting civil society and NGO efforts to reach effective solutions and treatments for climate problems at the summit.
The statement concluding by labelling the November-December event as a “summit of climate ambition”, and commended the UAE’s stated mission of improving the living conditions of countries and societies that are likely to be most gravely impacted by climate change.
Celebrations after the formalising of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which the UAE was the first Middle Eastern nation to sign. (COP Paris)
The United Arab Emirates was the first nation in the Middle East to affirm its voluntary commitments outlined in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Since then, the state has driven regional and global renewable energy investment and research efforts. To date, the UAE has launched clean energy initiatives with a collective investment value of over $100 billion, as part of its drive to promote sustainable climate goals and improve global energy security.
All information in this article was sourced from Club Suisse de la Presse and Freedom of Conscience.
Images via Universal Rights Group, COP Paris.