COP26 Remains Silent on Human Rights Issues in Tibet

Elle van der Cam

Tibet and Human Rights Researcher,

Global Human Rights Defence.

China has been abusing human rights across the Tibetan region, including through environmental destruction (Coca, 2021). Yet, in a moment when organizations and nations are deciphering how to deal with China’s actions in Tibet, it seems those arguing in favor of silence won at the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland (Coca, 2021). There was no mention of the human rights abuses occurring in Tibet, with all parties keeping silent about the environmental degradation occurring under the orders of China. It is becoming customary for nongovernmental organizations to embrace environmental justice with the well-documented interconnections between human rights abuses and environmental degradation. Some mentioned the need for action towards assisting the Black Lives Matter movement, Palestinian rights, and Haitian refugees at COP26 (Coca, 2021). Yet, China’s actions in Tibet were left out of discussions. One argument for this is accused to have come from the climate envoy from the United States, John Kerry, that silence on human rights is needed to get climate cooperation. However, after recent events, it seems that this specifically applies to the intimidating position of China.

Sources and further reading:

COP26 Is Silent on Human Rights in China, Foreign Policy, 09 November 2021, https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/11/09/china-human-rights-cop26-climate-change-uyghurs-tibet-hong-kong-xinjiang/ .