Participants in the COP27 climate meeting discovered that the conference’s internet network had blocked access to the Human Rights Watch (HRW) website, as well as other important sites needed to document the discussions, The Guardian reports, citing. by Rador.

HRW will chair the debate at COP27 together with Amnesty International, whose website is available during the conference. Among the blocked pages are the blogging platform Medium, Egypt’s only independent publication Mada Masr and the Qatari publication Al Jazeera.

Alexandria Villaseñor, activist and head of the youth climate organization Earth Uprising, wrote on Twitter:

“There are so many sites blocked at COP27 in Egypt that it attracts attention and complicates our work. We can’t use our own Earth Uprising Medium site because Medium is blocked. The news agencies we refer to are blocked.”

She stated: “Without truth and information, there is no climate action.”

COP27 observers and participants fear the blockade is trying to separate vital climate talks from human rights issues by controlling what attendees in the isolated resort of Sharm el-Sheikh can see about Egypt’s decades of human rights abuses and limiting their knowledge of the country. where discussions take place.

Egyptian telecommunications companies have temporarily lifted the ban on VoIP calls at COP27, such as through the WhatsApp app.

But the authorities have left intact a large and complex system of blocking sites deemed critical of them, including independent media and human rights organizations.

Internet freedom organizations such as Qurium and Citizen Lab have identified how deep the data-checking technology provided by Canadian company Sandvine allows Egypt to block any sites it wants.

“Egyptian authorities have blocked access to approximately 700 websites, including independent media and civil society organizations. This significantly limits access to information that needs to be discussed, including environmental issues and human rights. Effectively tackling climate change requires more people speaking up, not fewer,” said HRW’s Environment Director Richard Piershouse. /…/

As of September 2020, according to the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information and Mada Masr, 628 websites have been blocked in Egypt, including 116 news websites, 15 human rights websites, 27 political opposition websites, and 349 websites that allow downloading virtual services. private network (VPN) is also banned in Egypt so that users cannot circumvent other restrictions. /…/

HRW reported a crackdown on environmental activism and independent research in Egypt shortly before COP27. Many activists have been forced to leave, and organizations in the country are extremely limited, fearing arrest, dissolution or worse.

“Another obstacle to independent research is the sharp restriction of access to information,” says HRW. “Such mass censorship, combined with systematic arrests and prosecutions of journalists, severely limited access to information and reporting on topics the government deemed off-limits, including environmental issues.”

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