- A month before Egypt hosts the UN climate change conference, Cairo is finalising the list of world leaders coming as it weathers criticism over its human rights and environmental records.
- Critics have questioned the choice of venue, pointing to Egypt’s mixed record on the environment and on civil rights, with thousands of dissidents in jail, including Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abdel Fattah.
- Human Rights Watch warned that Egypt may “try to use its role as the COP27 presidency to promote an image of openness and tolerance, although political oppression under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government has caused one of the country’s worst human rights crises in decades”.
<span>Month before COP27, host Egypt faces heat over rights, climate action</span>
