Civil Society And Indigenous Peoples' Groups Urge Reform Ahead Of COP30
After more than 30 years of climate negotiations, the UNFCCC process has consistently fallen short of achieving climate justice. In these three decades, global greenhouse gas emissions have steadily increased, intensifying the climate crisis and inflicting growing devastation on people and the planet, particularly in the Global South.
The United Call for an Urgent Reform of the UN Climate Talks presented today centers around five pillars, including one that urges the 198 UNFCCC Parties 'to embrace the possibility of majority-based decision-making to break deadlocks when attempts at securing consensus have failed.'
The United Call also urges an end to the 'trade show' that COPs have become, including through the establishment of an accountability framework to address conflicts of interest and curbing the undue influence of fossil fuel and other polluting industry lobbyists on the climate talks. In addition, the reform proposals aim to ensure inclusivity, increase transparency and accountability, and uphold human rights in the context of the climate negotiations.
The five pillars of the United Call for an Urgent Reform of the UN Climate Talks are:
United Call Endorsers
The set of proposals is endorsed by four major networks: Climate Action Network (CAN), the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ), the Children and Youth Constituency (YOUNGO), the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC), and more than 200 organizations, including the Center for International Environmental Law, Corporate Accountability, Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Greenpeace.
For more information: Reclaiming Climate Justice: United Call for an Urgent Reform of the UN Climate Talks
Lien Vandamme, Senior Campaigner, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) said: 'For thirty years, the climate negotiations have systematically failed to deliver climate justice, undermined international law and allowed the fossil fuel industry to write the rules. The absence of agreed procedures for decision-making allows big polluting countries to hold the negotiations hostage. The lack of accountability gives a false sense of impunity. Yet, effective multilateralism is the only way out of the multiple global crises. This year is key, including with several international courts working on climate advisory opinions. The time is now for the UNFCCC to become the climate regime it should have been for the past decades: one centered around international obligations to prevent dangerous climate change and remedy related harm. All Parties must come together and radically choose fossil-free climate multilateralism rooted in justice.'
Camila Mikkie, Officer at social environmental program at Conectas Direitos Humanos said: 'Brazil has placed itself at the centre of an important and necessary debate on reforming our climate regime at a pivotal moment of paradigm shift so that it can truly deliver on the implementation of the Paris Agreement and subsequent decisions, and ensuring justice for those most affected. The world now expects Brazil to lead the necessary changes.'
Rachitaa Gupta, Global Coordinator, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ) said: 'For 30 years, the UNFCCC has failed to catalyze meaningful climate action. Every single year. Inside the halls of the UNFCCC, it may seem as though it is just another year of business as usual, or as if there is no urgency. But outside these halls, this could not be further from the truth. At home, our communities are enduring incalculable loss and damage from the compounded impacts of the climate crisis. At home, emissions are reaching record highs year after year. At home, for many, the climate crisis is a fight for life and death. For the UNFCCC to become legitimate, it must fundamentally reimagine itself. It must reform. Anything short of this is continued complicity in the climate crisis.'
An Lambrechts, Biodiversity Politics Expert at Greenpeace International said: 'Thousands of people converge on climate COPs annually, hoping for decisions that will keep 1.5°C in sight, but that's impossible if we don't act to end nature destruction and fossil use at the same time. This means bridges with the CBD and other multilateral environmental agreements must be strengthened with urgency so that we can tackle the polycrisis the world is facing from all angles. This could then help ensure big polluters and nature destroyers who obstruct such decisions can be made to pay for the damage they're inflicting instead of allowing them to block the changes we need.'
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The Sahel Solidarity Campaign Network (SaS-CaN) categorically and vehemently challenges the aggressive rhetoric and spurious allegation that has dominated media headlines and agendas of meetings of the political cultic world and the Deep State. The mischievous allegation presumes that the three wise men of the desert are dictators, who want to hold onto power indefinitely without conducting elections. It is not the policy of SaS-CaN to join argument-based demonization, where the intention is to assassinate the character of another person. But having viewed the motives behind the latest allegation peddled against leaders of the Sahel, we deem it fit to now respond accurately to this mischievous, inciting, hateful and misleading statement, which to all intents and purposes, intend to undermine peace, political stability and development in Africa. One would wonder whether the architects of this mischief making may not have been intoxicated with illicit substances when building their narrative about the Sahel. It is absolutely clear that the enemies of Africa are doing this with the ill-intent to mislead and deceive the public with baseless allegations. SaS-CaN has repeatedly stated that the enemies of Africa and local traitors can go to any length to destroy the revolutionary process in the Sahel region. Vile propaganda, coups and counter coups, division and violence are some of the tools employed by these dark forces to undermine peace, development and prosperity in Africa. The presumption that the three wise men of the desert are dictators, like all other vile allegations, is baseless and misleading. This is not about democracy, but a shameful, predatory, demeaning and repugnant attack on the character of the leaders of the Sahel. It is also an attempt to spread hatred, mischief and negativity. This is unacceptable! The facts are: When it comes to human rights, freedom, the rule of law, socio-economic development and environmental justice in Africa, democracy is a farce if not a bogus system. In the Sahel region, for instance, the current crisis points to the failure of western designed and imposed democracy to address the demands and aspirations of the African people. Succeeding civilian governments did not represent the people, and existed only in the service of foreign interests. In this imposed governance system, western backed corrupt politicians dominates national politics, making democracy a sham and complete mockery. For most parts of post-independence Africa, the so-called democratic governments have proved to be dishonest to their people; they have proved to be authoritarian, corrupt, ethnocentric and subservient to neo-colonial agendas on the continent. During this period, the Sahel region was faced with violent extremist attacks, economic collapse and political instability, coupled by acute food, fuel, and medical shortages and humanitarian crisis due to western backed activities of terrorist outfits on the continent. The countries in the Sahel region, including Mali, Burkina Faso and the Republic of Niger were rated in the bottom pit of United Nations Human Development Index (UNHDI) as the world's poorest and educationally backward nations. It comes to say therefore that those neo-colonial-driven governments have left behind a legacy mired by a crippled economy, abject poverty, underdevelopment, brutal environmental pollution and degradation, and a proxy terrorist war. Prior to the revolution, democracy was never allowed to make roots in the Sahel region. Elections were just a play cook exercise, but orders on governance, control of the economy and natural resources were coming from outside Africa. The Deep State controlled and make decisions on everything; they sit overseas and manipulate African leaders, decide the structure and composition of electoral bodies. They make decision on which party would form the next government, which party should be allowed to participate in elections, who should contest for the presidency, and they bankrolled the entire election process, and even decide who should be registered to vote. So, where is the independence and national sovereignty when the future of a nation is determined by foreign interests? The people have no choice, they are kept divided, hungry, unemployed, homeless, impoverished, isolated, excluded, frustrated, hopeless, and abandoned, while billions of dollars' worth of mineral wealth and natural resources are stashed away annually out of the continent, to develop foreign capitals. The local people are deprived of their own God-given lands, and forced to bear the burden of environmental degradation due to ill-thought-out economic activities of foreign companies operating on the continent. All these are happening while international instruments like the United Nations and African Union keep silence and take no action to help poor Africans. Is this what democracy means-government for the people? To maintain the system or status quo, the Deep State controlled the media and designs their own narratives to present themselves to the poor African people as their saviour. Furthermore, where there are dissenting voices, the Deep State will intervene either by igniting foreign military aggression, or incite political instability or ethnic violence, fund cross border attacks, internal rebellions, organise coups and counter coups, control the activities of civil society groups and the judiciary, or remote control corrupt and failed regional bodies to achieve hidden agendas. The present Sahel under the leadership of the three wise men of the desert, has proved that with the right leaders, the region has chalked giant strides in nation building and transformation that other countries, especially in the West have not been able to achieve in decades. Nowhere in the world has sovereignty restored. These are possible achievements only under the Sahel revolution. In most parts of Africa today, we still find governments that boast their achievements around surrendering national dignity to the whims and caprices of the Deep State. In the Sahel region, the three wise men of the desert believe leadership is about serving your people first before any other selfish interests; it is responsibility, and not privileges. If this is so, as we do believe and hold in high esteem, then why the malice, hatreds and grudges towards the leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso and the Republic of Niger? True democracy in alive in the Sahel, and this manifest through the support and solidarity of the people with their leaders. The Sahel people have nailed their support and solidarity behind their authentic wise men of the desert, and this is a message to the world that they are ever ready to resist any attempts either by foreign powers or local traitors to truncate the ongoing development process in their region. For the unbelieving Thomases in the Holy Bible, we want to bring to their notice that the Sahel people reject orthodox prescription of governance systems, and political agendas founded on greed, oppression, blackmail, exploitation, exclusion, failed economy, epileptic social services, fractured judicial system, human rights violations, constitutional coups, violence, degradation and dehumanisation. 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Those who say the Sahel people have yet to identify the form of government that can best address their demands and aspirations are themselves confused and have no knowledge of what is really happening in Africa. This is where the three wise men of the desert are being vindicated, by their patriotic zeal, progressive actions and unmatched determination to catapult the Sahel as a free, peaceful, progressive and forward-moving region in the world. This is only possible when politics is independent of foreign manipulation, thanks to the role-model leadership exhibited by the three wise men of the desert. Dissolving old political structures, including legislative house, election bodies and other state institutions is part of the ongoing revolutionary process in the Sahel region. What the three wise men of the desert are doing is to save their region from further destruction and devastation under terrorist forces operating in Africa. The Sahel revolution advocates traditional, independent, effective and efficient governance system that gives no place for expression of social vices and degeneracy, including electoral frauds and malpractices; threats and intimidation that is used by the party in governance to silence alternative political views and exclude the mass of the people in the decision-making process; misuse of public facilities that are supposed to be for the use of the general public, but which are diverted for the comfort of corrupt politicians, their families and cronies; gross violations of human rights and denial of freedoms; tyranny and dictatorship rule; political instability, election violence, incitements, hatreds and division. These vicious acts do not constitute freedom, but are being used to oppress and chain Africans. The issue in the Sahel is no more about importing governance system into the region, or waiting for directives to come from outside. The new Sahel is about addressing the social, economic and political crisis in the region, end the terrorist war and restore peace in a region that once abandoned by so-called moral guarantors or international partners. It is unfortunate that after more than six decades of what supposed to be independence from colonial bandage, the Sahel region had not benefitted from the gains of domestic self-rule. When democracy cannot address the demands and aspirations of the people, many of those citizens will lose faith in the system and democracy suffers backslide. This is what happened in the Sahel and other African countries today. The three wise men of the desert have now taken their responsibility to change this bitter narrative. They vowed to make the sacrifices required for achieving the stated revolutionary goals, for the good of Africa. They have assured all Africans that they came with a difference and that they are not puppets and will not bow to no force on earth, nor betray the conscience of African people. These leaders are now the target for extermination for their refusal to accept orders on how they should manage their own internal matters. In line with the new Sahel's mission, the three wise men of the desert have already taken several steps including dismantling colonial structures, easing taxes that were unduly burdening the public, introducing a high degree of transparency and efficiency in governance and stopping unnecessary government expenditure. National security is also on the agenda and steps have been taken to strengthen the national security institutions in the three Sahel countries, and competent, disciplined and hardworking officers have been given appropriate responsibilities to manage those agencies. A triangular military force has been created to reinforce the security of the entire Sahel region. Above all, appropriate actions have been taken to make the entire Sahel a safe region free of terrorism, extremism, activities of the underworld, theft and robbery, the drug menace, violations of human rights, oppression, disruptions of public order, and the menace of transnational organised crimes. It is very regrettable that some forces outside the African soil still do not grasp the full import of the connections between oppression and fascist dictatorship, and of the threat that the politics of poverty and terrorism posed to national security and the very fabric of the Sahel society. It is ironic that those taunting behind the façade of democracy and human rights are the very same entities that are guilty and are the sources of weapons, tanks, arms, depleted uranium ammunitions, missiles, carpet bombers, war ships and carriers, bombs, machines, mercenaries and extreme terrorists that maim, kill and destroy millions of innocent lives around the world, not only during their colonial past, but even in this 21st century. The Sahel Solidarity Campaign Network maintains that France and its allies owe the people of the Sahel respect as they strive to free their lands and territories from the scourge of narcotic drugs, corruption, and criminality so that with the ongoing development processes and institutional transformation, they may restore their dignity, which was once sold to every passers-by for peanuts. But it still appears that some countries, institutions and individuals, out of insensitivity, backward thinking and sell-outs mentality, refuse to understand the ongoing transformation process in the Sahel. Let it be clear, the people of the Sahel have resolved to never allow again outsiders to take over their mineral wealth and rich natural resources. Period! The reality on the ground speaks for itself. Any country or countries that want to usurp the Sahel's economically significant terrains would be resisted and sovereignty defended. The Sahel revolution is a series of economic and social transformations; it ensures security, national pride, and calls for equal terms in dealing with all nations, without compromising sovereignty. It principal aim is to ensure that the people of the Sahel become architects of their destiny in a region that stands tall and pride itself in global ratings. The Sahel Solidarity Campaign Network denounces the attempts to spread false information through various platforms, depicting the three wise men of the desert as dictators. This act does not only provoke hatred, but also promote hostility with the objective of overthrowing the legitimate governments of Mali, Burkina Faso and the Republic of Niger. God bless the three wise men of the desert! God bless the Sahel!!
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