'People are right to worry' - Officials fail to clarify if activists are safe to protest

Cop28 organisers and the UN body that oversees the annual climate conference have failed to clarify whether activists in Dubai are safe to demonstrate outside the conference area, putting civil society at risk in a country where protest is normally prohibited.

- Ruth Michaelson

At least 80,000 people are registered to attend the conference, including thousands of activists and members of civil society, who normally hold protests around the conference area.

Some protests have already taken place, including to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, but the demonstrations have mostly been small and not disruptive. It has been reported that the UAE organisers have declined permission for some protests, including one singling out the airline Emirates as a polluter.

The conference is taking place in Dubai's Expo City, a sprawling conference centre built to host the World Exhibition two years ago, which houses a series of pavilions but little public space.

Despite pressure on the UAE authorities and the UN Framework Convention on climate change (UNFCCC), which administers the conference, both have declined to clarify how they are handling dissent, particularly protests outside the venue, gatherings organised without express permission from the authorities, or political protests, particularly those addressing the war in Gaza.

The US State Department's annual country report on the Emirates says: "The law provides limited freedom of assembly, although in practice the government imposed significant restrictions, including criminal penalties. Protests and demonstrations are prohibited."

Emirati law bans gatherings without prior authorisation by the government, while the US state department said authorities "generally permitted political gatherings that supported government policies", while imposing penalties including a potential life sentence for those leading gatherings that "[disturb] public security". Fines for breaking laws on public assembly have a minimum penalty equivalent to £107,280 and a maximum of £215,000.