Amnesty calls COP28 invitation to Bashar al-Assad a ‘sick joke’

A human rights group has condemned an invitation to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from the United Arab Emirates host for the UN COP28 climate summit as a ‘sick joke’, while the US and UK governments urged the host to release it. Standing with rights.

The Syrian leader, who was invited to the COP28 conference last week by the United Arab Emirates as the host country for the conference, has not attended a global summit since the outbreak of his country’s devastating civil war in 2011.

But Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League of Nations this month and Assad was warmly welcomed at the gathering last week, as Saudi Arabia led efforts to improve ties in the region.

The US National Security Council said in a statement to the FT that it was “up to the UAE who they invite to the COP”. But without “verifiable progress” on resolving the conflict in Syria, the US had “no plans to normalize relations” with the Assad regime.

The UK government also said that the invitation to COP28 was “a matter for the host country” and the United Nations. However, the government “opposes engagement with the Assad regime and we believe they must be held accountable for the human rights abuses and violations they commit”.

The climate branch of the United Nations also said that the UAE, as host, was responsible for inviting heads of state and government, and added that the UN General Assembly was “sanctioned for two governments, Afghanistan and Myanmar”.

Amnesty International stated that the COP28 invitation to Assad was not “remotely about tackling the climate crisis”, but “part of an insidious normalization process designed to maintain impunity for the leaders of the entire region.”

“Given that Assad’s forces have used chemical weapons and flattened entire towns and cities in a deadly scorching earth military campaign, it is a sick joke to imagine that he is dealing with the human rights crisis of climate change. would take the slightest interest in,” said Christian Benedict, Crisis Response Manager at Amnesty International UK.

Human Rights Watch said it was “inconceivable that a government would get away with such persistent crimes against humanity without accountability”.

The United Arab Emirates, along with Saudi Arabia, is slowly restoring relations with Assad. Despite resistance from some other Arab states, UAE officials are engaging with the pariah state on issues such as the return of refugees and curbing the illegal trade in Captagon, a drug that has become an economic lifeline for Damascus.

On Saturday, the grouping of G7 nations said the international community should “consider normalization and reconstruction aid only after there has been authentic and lasting progress towards a political solution in Syria”.

The COP28 hosts have justified the invitation to Assad by saying that it is committed to “an inclusive COP process”.

In 2010, the Syrian presented climate change report The United Nations noted that recurring and worsening droughts have “reduced available water supplies”, and that “most Syrian cities currently lack water supplies”.

The COP28 summit has drawn criticism from climate campaigners since the appointment of Sultan Al-Jaber, the head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, as the president-nominee earlier this year. Since his appointment, he has advocated for the oil and gas industry.

Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate said that global leaders at the COP should “advocate for everyone’s interest, not just their own country – or indeed, their own company”.

Additional reporting by Aimee Williams in Washington

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