A senior Egyptian diplomat has reports that his country’s police were tracking down participants in this year’s UN climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh “ridiculous. “
The United Nations said Sunday it is investigating allegations of misconduct by Egyptian police officers who were part of the world body’s security force at the site.
Germany had raised concerns after participants in the country’s events were photographed and filmed.
But Wael Aboulmagd, a veteran diplomat who heads the Egyptian delegation, said he had won direct court cases from Germany.
“I’ve noticed the media reports,” he told reporters.
“They are vague, imprecise, inaccurate. “
Germany’s Foreign Ministry said Saturday it had contacted the Egyptian government about the incidents at its pavilion.
“It looks ridiculous because it’s an open event,” M. Abulmagd, referring to a panel last week in the German pavilion at which the sister of jailed Egyptian pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah spoke.
“Why would there be adverse surveillance at an open event?”
He advised the raised factor to divert attention from the substantive issues discussed in the meteorological talks.
“We’ve had enough of those intentional distractions from weather issues, the overemphasis on baseless allegations,” M. Abouldmagd.
The United Nations showed that some of the security officials working on the component of the site designated as UN territory are from the host country, Egypt, and mentioned “the scale and complexity of security in a large-scale event” such as the Cop27 weather talks. .
He said U. N. security “has been informed of allegations of violations of the Code of Conduct and is investigating those reports. “
Egypt’s foreign summit shone a highlight in its human rights record.
The government has engaged in a widespread crackdown on dissent in recent years, detaining some 60,000 people, many of them prosecuted, according to a 2019 Human Rights Watch tally.