(Cairo, November 9, 2022) The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) is participating in the United Nations Climate Change Conference “Conference of Parties 27” which has been organized to discuss the issue of climate change, and possible solutions to confront and address it. The conference is being held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt from November 6th to 18th, 2022.
ECWR’s interest in the issue of climate change stems from its strong impact on violence against women. ECWR issued a research paper on the effects of climate change on gender-based violence. The research paper indicated that when families suffer from economic losses due to climate disasters, they more easily tend to force their girls into forced marriage, as this becomes a ” strategy to survive”, namely by passing the responsibility of the girlto relieve the pressure on the family. In other cases, the worsening of economic conditions as results of drastic environmental disasters often deprive girls of education. Drought and desertification, in turn, increase the vulnerability of women and girls to sexual abuse, since the scarcity of water sources causes women, who usually have the responsibility to fetch water for the family, to walk long distances, exposing them to more threats of abuse. For more ..A summary of ECWR’s research paper and factsheet.
ECWR participates in a number of events related to human rights in general and women’s rights specifically. These include inter alia education for climate change and the environment, efforts of women’s organizations to raise awareness on climate change, climate action based on human rights in COP27. Moreover, many of ECWR’s areas of interest include: the role of gender equality for a just, sustainable and capable transition on adaptation to climate change, that includes the sustainable development goals in education, livelihoods and renewable energy solutions; pan-African university courses to youth capacity building, promoting gender-responsive adaptation and inclusion of sexual, reproductive and gender rights in climate policies, gender-equitable climate and inclusive global solutions.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference 2022 (COP27) is being held in an African country for the first time in six years. It is the 27th conference since the Convention was ratified on March 21, 1994, and Egypt is the host country for the conference this year.
It is worth noting that the Climate Conference is an annual formal meeting of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international treaty signed by most countries in the world with the aim of limiting the impact of human activity on the climate.
