A lot of the opposition events on Parliament Hill are ditching the high-profile annual United Nations convention on local weather change this 12 months, citing human rights considerations within the host nation Azerbaijan little greater than a 12 months after the mass exodus of almost 120,000 ethnic Armenians from their properties within the once-disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
“It is the primary time that no Inexperienced MPs will likely be attending deliberately, as the results of the selection of the host nation,” stated Kitchener-Centre Inexperienced Celebration MP Mike Morrice.
Morrice stated Azerbaijan’s credibility as host of COP29 is questionable, provided that it is a serious oil producer. However he stated “it is the truth of the ethnic cleaning of Armenians that makes this selection all of the extra appalling.”
He referred to as on the federal authorities to restrict its participation to a small variety of representatives, with no elected officers aside from Surroundings Minister Steven Guilbeault.
A Canadian-Armenian political advocacy group, the Armenian Nationwide Committee of Canada, says solely Canadian public servants ought to attend and elected officers ought to keep away.
“International locations with the document that Azerbaijan has, by itself standing, shouldn’t be the host,” Morrice stated.
In statements despatched to CBC Information, the NDP and the Bloc Québécois additionally stated they don’t seem to be sending any representatives to the convention.
“There are vital human rights considerations in Azerbaijan the place COP29 is being hosted. The NDP will not be attending,” the NDP stated.
The Bloc Québécois stated its surroundings and local weather change critics are usually not accessible to journey.
The Bloc’s climate-change critic, MP Kristina Michaud, informed CBC Information she’s not attending as a result of she does not wish to journey lengthy distances whereas pregnant, and additionally due to the Armenian exodus.
“I contemplate myself an ally of Armenia,” she stated, “and due to this fact I’ve a deep discomfort going to Azerbaijan.”
She stated it is awkward for the UN to carry climate-change conferences in fossil fuel-producing international locations two years in a row, after the United Arab Emirates hosted in 2023.
“The unease was current in Dubai final 12 months, and I dare imagine will probably be the identical in Baku this 12 months,” she stated. “Regardless of this, I proceed to imagine our presence at this worldwide discussion board is important, however will probably be with out me this 12 months.”
Cupboard attendance unclear
In a press release issued final week, Guilbeault’s workplace informed CBC Information no choice has been made but “however it’s most certainly the minister will be capable to attend.”
Guilbeault has criticized Azerbaijan’s fossil gas document up to now.
“We anticipate from international locations that host worldwide conferences like local weather change conferences or biodiversity conferences like we did to ensure that they do not put their very own pursuits forward of worldwide pursuits,” he informed journalists earlier than a cupboard assembly in June.
“We’re not going to Azerbaijan to advertise Azerbaijan’s personal curiosity. We’re going there to work collectively, to ensure that we come to a mutual resolution to struggle local weather change and to scale back our dependencies on fossil fuels.”
Final 12 months, the Canadian House Company averted sending representatives to a global convention hosted by Azerbaijan, citing human rights considerations.
In September, International Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly issued a press release to mark final 12 months’s occasions in Nagorno-Karabakh, stating that “greater than 100,000 civilians, together with 30,000 kids, had been forcibly displaced to Armenia” on account of Azerbaijan’s navy operation, which she referred to as “unjustified.”
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought two main wars within the final three and a half a long time over the enclave, which had a majority Armenian inhabitants however is a part of Azerbaijan underneath worldwide legislation. A self-declared Armenian republic on the territory, unrecognized by the UN, dissolved final 12 months after the exodus.
The 2 international locations have been locked in a sluggish peace course of since. Baku has stated Armenians who escaped final 12 months are welcome to return to Azerbaijan underneath its rule, although there even have been a number of experiences of Azerbaijani forces razing Armenian properties and cultural websites. Nobody has reportedly taken up the Azerbaijani authorities’s provide of return.
“Canada should make it clear that it stands in opposition to the exploitation of worldwide platforms reminiscent of COP29 by autocratic regimes searching for to cleanse their picture,” Sevag Belian of the Armenian Nationwide Committee of Canada informed a information convention Tuesday.
The Armenian authorities itself supported Azerbaijan internet hosting COP29.
Armenia will host COP17, the UN’s biodiversity convention, subsequent 12 months.
