The Latest | UN Climate Summit

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — A senior Human Rights Watch official slammed the Egyptian government’s human and environmental rights record, saying that the space for environmental activism in Egypt “is severely curtailed.”

Richard Pearshouse, director of environment and human rights at HRW, said environmental activists in Egypt have faced “constant harassment” by security forces including restrictions on travel, foreign funding, and research permits.

He said that such restrictions bar public debate and research on damages caused by business, agro-industry, cement factories and other businesses linked to the military.

“Those are ... the types of issues that can’t be talked about domestically and have almost no presence” at the United Nations climate conference in Egypt, he said.

Pearshouse described Egypt as a “human rights black hole,” and challenged statements from Egyptian officials that raising human rights issues at the COP27 was “a distraction” from climate change.

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Germany’s foreign minister says further climate-related aid should particularly help those who suffer the most from global warming and can’t pay for the impacts themselves.

But Annalena Baerbock told reporters Wednesday on the sidelines of U.N. climate talks in Egypt she wasn’t confident a new fund for ‘loss and damage’ can be agreed at this year’s meeting, adding: “I don’t know if this is the right moment now.”

She also urged concrete plans for international efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions,...