A human rights group has condemned the UAE hosts’ invitation to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the UN’s COP28 climate summit as a “hoax”, while the US and UK governments have stood by the hosts’ right to extend the invitation.
The Syrian leader, who attended COP28 last week at the invitation of the United Arab Emirates as host country, has not attended a global summit since the outbreak of the country’s devastating civil war in 2011.
But Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League this month, and Assad received a warm welcome at last week’s meeting as Saudi Arabia spearheaded efforts to improve relations in the region.
“It is up to the UAE to decide who to invite to the COP,” the NSC said in a statement to the Financial Times. But it added that the US had “no plans to normalize relations” with the Assad regime and that there had been “real progress” towards resolving the Syrian conflict.
The British government also said that inviting COP28 was a matter for the “host country” and the United Nations. However, the government “remains opposed to engaging with the Assad regime, which we believe must be held accountable for the human rights abuses they have committed”.
The UN climate agency also said that the host country, the UAE, was responsible for inviting heads of state and government, noting that the UN General Assembly had “imposed restrictions on two governments, Afghanistan and Myanmar”.
Amnesty International said the COP28 invitation to Assad was not a “remote solution to the climate crisis”, but “part of an insidious normalization process aimed at keeping the region’s leaders at large”.
“Given that Assad’s army used chemical weapons and leveled entire towns in a murderous scorched-earth military operation, it’s a sick joke to imagine that he has the slightest interest in addressing the human rights crisis posed by climate change, ’ said Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International’s UK crisis response manager.
Human Rights Watch said it was “inconceivable that a government would go unpunished for such persistent crimes against humanity without being held accountable.”
The UAE and Saudi Arabia have been gradually rebuilding relations with Assad. Despite resistance from some other Arab nations, UAE officials have been engaging with the pariah state on issues including refugee return and curbing the illicit trade in the narcotic Captagon, which has become Damascus’ economic lifeline.
On Saturday, the G7 said the international community “should consider normalization and reconstruction assistance only after real and lasting progress has been made towards a political settlement”.
The COP28 hosts justified Assad’s invitation by saying they were committed to an “inclusive COP process”.
2010, Syria submit a climate change report A report to the United Nations noted that recurring and worsening droughts have “reduced available water supplies” and that “most Syrian cities currently experience water shortages”.
The COP28 summit has drawn criticism from climate activists since ADNOC head Sultan Jaber was named president-elect earlier this year. Since taking office, he has advocated for the oil and gas industry.
Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate said global leaders at the COP must “advocate for the interests of all, not just their own countries — or indeed their own companies”.
Additional reporting by Aime Williams in Washington
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