Problems reported by attendees include overt surveillance, control of their meetings by conference staff, and problems with housing. International civil society participants, all of whom requested anonymity for their protection, told the Guardian how uniformed or plainclothes conference staff were supposed to be on hand to provide security, technical or cleaning assistance to delegates, seemed concerned with surveillance and control of their activities rather than providing support. “Just talking about the word activism means you’re very quickly surrounded by people who eavesdrop on you,” said one. Conference staff, he said, repeatedly surrounded civil society representatives to create an atmosphere of discomfort if they brought up the word activism in conversation or tried to discuss it with colleagues. “Bringing up activism in chat means you have ‘cleaners’ and technical staff coming at you. “Even in foreign government booths, the ‘cleaners’ will step up and listen,” he said. The problems described by the visitors mirror many of the daily problems Egyptian civil society activists describe facing over the past decade, as Egyptian authorities and especially the country’s security forces spread a widespread crackdown on independent organizations of all kinds. Surveillance and intimidation of activists and the looming threat of arrest are common, while independent groups, from anti-torture groups to trade unions, face raids and arrests by security forces, now just as emboldened to target activists abroad or disrupt their activities . Veteran Egyptian activists welcomed the opportunity for the world to understand more about how they are routinely treated. “Once Egypt was chosen as the host, some wanted to campaign against it or choose a different location, we said no, don’t do that. Then some voices outside Egypt wanted to call on the activists to boycott the cop in Egypt because of the human rights situation, we begged them not to. Because we needed this – we needed the attention, we needed the solidarity, we needed the camaraderie,” said Hossam Bahgat, head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. Bahgat has been harassed by the Egyptian state for a decade for his human rights work through arrests and trials, and is banned from leaving Egypt. For those who attended the conference, especially senior Egyptian activists, the monitoring was obvious. A spokesman provided a photo of a suspected member of the Egyptian security services openly filming Sanaa Seif, the sister of jailed British-Egyptian hunger striker Alaa Abd el-Fattah, with his phone when he gave a press conference to Cop27. Pro-government MP Amr Darwish attempted to interrupt Seif’s press conference. A member of civil society from Egypt said the surveillance and intimidation was “signaling to everyone that we have to behave, or else. It’s really, really hard,” he said. “Unlike other cops, they all seem to feel fear because of this surveillance. There is less activity, you don’t feel the spirit of the event, a push for climate activism and against big polluters.” The most important stories on the planet. Get all the week’s environmental news – the good, the bad and the must-haves Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. He added that he was concerned about the number of Egyptian security officials present at the Cop27 conference center and the official “blue zone” area, when the site is normally controlled by the UN body overseeing the conference. The result, he added, was that the groups felt unable to freely discuss climate activism or engage with like-minded groups – the reasons they joined in the first place. “Everybody is afraid and this huge security presence is forcing people to censor themselves,” he said. Another visitor described how pressure from security guards at Cop27 had affected their ability to move freely during the conference. “One of our team described his suspicion today that security guards were standing around and apparently recording people talking. For a short while, these guards followed them wherever they went,” they said. “We also had a meeting in a room we were assigned to, but we tried to move to a more open part of the place to chat because the guards were sitting very carefully right behind us. We were told to stay in the room and continue talking there. It felt very invasive.” Some attendees reported problems even before arriving in Egypt. A climate activist from Europe said that when he tried to check in on his Egyptair flight he was told there was a problem and he had to face further questions. At the airport, the activist said, he was questioned by a director of Egyptair, a state-owned company, about petitions he had previously signed calling for improved human rights in the country. “He said that I deal with matters of national interest to Egypt and that he wanted to know what I will do in Egypt, what I will do there and if I will meet rioters,” the activist said. The manager eventually allowed the man to board the flight, but warned him that if he did anything to “interfere” with Egypt he would be banned from the country. “It was worrying and quite unpleasant,” the activist said. Cop27 attendees also reported being blackmailed by hotels for more money after booking rooms. An activist who arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh was told he had to pay an extra $1,800 (£1,580) for his week’s hotel stay if he attended Cop27, even though he had already paid the previously agreed price of $1,000. Unable to pay this surcharge, the man chose to stay at his hotel as a tourist instead of attending the conference. A document released by the Egyptian Hoteliers Association, seen by the Guardian, calls for five-star hotels in Sharm el-Sheikh to charge at least $500 a night for agents. Three-star hotels should charge $200 a night, the document says. A Nigerian civil society activist tweeted that some Cop27 delegates were forced to sleep at the bus station because they could not afford unexpected price increases, while others complained that their hotels had been cancelled. A youth representative, invited by Egypt’s sports ministry to attend Cop27 with her organization, told the Guardian she broke down in tears after waiting five hours for a hotel room in the lobby with other attendees shortly after arriving in Sharm el- Sheikh, and that many of those he waited with were sleeping on couches in the hotel lobby or on the floor. He described housing issues as “a huge roadblock” to attending the conference. “It’s super discouraging,” he said. “We feel like we are literally useless and it doesn’t matter if we sleep on the streets. It proves that this is all just for show.”
