Activists say their voices are stifled by increasing rules and restrictions at COP28 climate talks

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — This year’s United Nations climate talks may have seen record numbers registered to attend, but activists who have spent years demonstrating at the annual event say their space to voice their demands is shrinking year on year. Held in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates — where broad laws tightly restrict speech — climate activists have been protesting at COP28’s Blue Zone, which is considered international territory. “There’s always been a lot of restriction on civic space inside of COPs, but we are really seeing a trend of it increasing,” said Lise Masson, of Friends of the Earth International. Framework Convention on Climate Change, who is in charge of climate summits, said in a statement that “space is available for participants to assemble peacefully and make their voices heard on climate-related issues” and their regulations are “in line with longstanding United Nations Climate Change guidelines and adherence to international human rights norms and principles, within the Blue Zone.” Masson stressed that even that though tight country laws meant that protests were limited this year, is also a problem activists have come across in Western countries, such as COP26 in Glasgow in 2021.