Protests at Dubai Climate Summit Demand End to Abuse and Killing of Indigenous Peoples!
Last Sunday (December 10), protesters gathered near the site of the United Nations climate summit in Dubai to demand a stop to the killings and abuses against indigenous people.
According to reports from the United Nations, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), indigenous groups around the world are the most affected by the repercussions of the climate crisis.
Ozawa Bineshi Albert of the Climate Justice Alliance emphasizes “when I think about the communities affected by climate change, when I think about the communities affected by the corporations and industries that have great influence in the negotiations right now, they are first class communities.” line, people who are dealing with the climate crisis right now, people who live next to polluting industries,” he adds, “and when I think about what could happen if our voices weren’t here, there would be a lot more damage.”
Human Rights Day
Several demonstrations took place on Sunday, within the framework of Human Rights Day. Some activists demanded a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.
Other protesters urged respect for climate justice and labor rights, especially those of migrant workers.
“Migrant workers in the Middle East are considered second-class citizens. They are not treated properly, there is discrimination against them,” said Farooq Tariq, General Secretary of the Pakistan Farmers Liaison Committee, while participating in the demonstration.
“They are not paid properly, they live in precarious conditions. We are here to demand equal rights for them, equal democratic rights. They must have the right to citizenship, the right to vote and the right to salaries equal to the local community.”
In another protest over climate change, several scientists and young people unfurled a banner at the COP28 site, using color gradients to show how global temperatures have changed from the 1950s to the present, with projections for the end of the century.
Negotiators were urged to accelerate their decision-making process to reach agreement on how to save the planet from catastrophic levels of warming and help vulnerable societies adapt to extreme climate changes.
COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber said negotiators were “progressing well”, although not fast enough.