Female delegates at the UN COP27 climate talks have been bullied, insulted and sexually harassed by male delegates, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
As the head of the Mexican delegation, Camila Zepeda, told the publication, last year she was sexually harassed at the COP27 conference in Egypt, and also received “unacceptable messages” from a male delegate. She did not report it at the time, but decided to speak out now because, she says, women continue to face harassment in UN negotiations. “We need proactive measures to keep everyone safe,” Cepeda said.
A source familiar with the events at COP27 confirmed to the newspaper that there were other cases of harassment during the conference. The harassment of women by male colleagues has prompted more than 20 countries whose delegates are concerned about abusive behavior to write a letter of protest. Among them are Mexico, USA, UK, Germany, Peru and Canada.
COP27 is the 27th UN Conference on Climate Change, which was held from 6 to 20 November 2022 in Sharm El Sheikh. As a result, the participants agreed to create a fund to help poor countries, and the negotiations themselves were tense: the conference dragged on for two days.
Source: Rosbalt
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
