Amnesty labels COP28 invitation to Bashar al-Assad a ‘sick joke’

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A human rights group has condemned the UAE’s invitation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the UN COP28 climate summit as a ‘sick joke’, while the US and UK governments have defended the guest’s right to release him.

The Syrian leader, who was invited to the COP28 conference last week from the UAE as the host country of the conference, has not attended a global summit since the outbreak of its country’s devastating civil war in 2011.

But this month Syria was readmitted to the Arab League of Nations and Assad was warmly welcomed collected last week, as Saudi Arabia led efforts to improve relations in the region.

The US National Security Council said “it is up to the UAE who to invite to the COP,” in a statement to the FT. But the United States had “no plan to normalize relations” with the Assad regime, he added, without “genuine progress” in resolving the conflict in Syria.

The UK government has also said the invitations to COP28 are “a matter for the host country” and the United Nations. However, the government “remains against engaging with the Assad regime and we believe they should be held accountable for the abuses and human rights violations they have committed.”

The UN climate arm also said that the UAE, as host, was responsible for inviting heads of state and government, and noted that the UN General Assembly had “restrictions in place for two governments, Afghanistan and Myanmar”.

Amnesty International he said the COP28 invitation to Assad was “not far off in addressing the climate crisis” but “part of an insidious normalization process designed to maintain impunity for leaders across the region”.

“Given that Assad’s forces used chemical weapons and leveled entire towns and cities in a deadly military scorched earth campaign, it is a sick joke to imagine that he will have the slightest interest in addressing the human rights crisis of climate change,” said Kristyan Benedict, head of crisis response at Amnesty International UK.

Human Rights Watch said it was “inconceivable that a government could get away with such persistent crimes against humanity without any accountability.”

The UAE, together with Saudi Arabia, has gradually restored relations with Assad. Despite resistance from some other Arab states, UAE officials have engaged with the pariah state on issues such as returning refugees and curbing the illegal trade in the narcotic Captagon, which has become an economic lifeline for Damascus .

On Saturday, the G7 group of nations said the international community ‘should only consider normalization and reconstruction assistance once there is genuine and lasting progress towards a political settlement’ in Syria.

The hosts of COP28 justified their invitation to Assad by saying that he is committed to “an inclusive COP process”.

In 2010, Syria climate change report presented at the United Nations he noted that the recurring and worsening drought has “reduced the available water supply” and that “most Syrian cities currently have a water supply deficit”.

The COP28 summit has drawn criticism from climate activists since the appointment earlier this year of Sultan al-Jaber, the head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, as president-designate. Since his appointment, he has supported the oil and gas industry.

Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate said global leaders at the COP must “support everyone’s interest and not just their own country, or even their own company.”

Additional reporting by Aime Williams in Washington

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