UN human rights experts have urged the Egyptian government to guarantee Egyptian civil society’s participation at Cop27, which will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh in November. They criticized the government for imposing restrictions on the participation of local individuals and organizations concerned with climate change. Their statement, published on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights website, said that Egyptian NGOs were subjected to harassment and intimidation due to their cooperation with the United Nations.

“The recent wave of restrictions imposed by the Egyptian government comes after years of crackdowns on civil society and human rights activists,” it added. They also mentioned the lack of transparent criteria and precise information regarding the registration of Egyptian NGOs for the summit as one of the challenges put forth by the government. The statement of the UN experts comes as the latest episode in a series of criticisms directed at the Egyptian government’s human rights record. In September, Human Rights Watch criticized the “restrictions” that Egypt has placed on environmental groups. On July, 36 human rights organizations issued a statement urging the authorities to end what they described as a “campaign of repression” against civil society organizations.