Most opposition parties on Parliament Hill are citing human rights concerns in host country Azerbaijan, a little more than a year after the mass exodus of nearly 120,000 Armenians from their homeland, to this year’s high-profile climate change. Absent from annual United Nations conference on change. Nagorno-Karabakh was once a conflict zone.
Kitchener Center Green Party MP Mike Morris said: “This is the first time that Green MPs have intentionally not participated as a result of the host country’s choice.”
Morris said there were doubts about Azerbaijan’s credibility as host of COP29, given that it is a major oil producing country. But, he said, “the reality of ethnic cleansing of Armenians makes this choice even more terrifying.”
He called on the federal government to limit participation to a small number of MPs, with no elected officials other than Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault.
The Armenian National Committee of Canada, a political advocacy group for Canadian Armenians, says only Canadian civil servants will be present and that elected officials should stay away.
“A country with a track record like Azerbaijan should not be able to host the Games on its own merits,” Morris said.
In a statement sent to CBC News, the NDP and Bloc Quebecois also said they would not send representatives to the meeting.
“There are serious human rights concerns in Azerbaijan, where COP29 will be held. The NDP will not be attending,” the NDP said.
Quebec said people who criticize the environment and climate change will not be allowed to travel.
Christina Michaud, a member of parliament who is critical of climate change, told CBC News she would not attend because she did not want to travel long distances while pregnant and because of the Armenian exodus.
“I consider myself an ally of Armenia,” she said, “so I have strong discomfort about going to Azerbaijan.”
He said it would be awkward for the UN to host a climate change conference in a fossil fuel-producing country for the second year in a row, after the United Arab Emirates hosted it in 2023.
“There were concerns in Dubai last year and I believe it will be the same in Baku this year,” she said. “Nevertheless, I continue to believe that our presence at this international forum is essential, but this year I will be absent.”
Ministers’ attendance is unclear
In a statement released last week, Prime Minister Guilbeault’s office told CBC News that no decision has been made yet, but “the minister will most likely be able to attend.”
Guilbeault has criticized Azerbaijan’s fossil fuel record in the past.
“I urge countries like us that host international conferences such as climate change conferences and biodiversity conferences not to put their own interests ahead of international interests,” he told reporters before a cabinet meeting in June. I look forward to doing so.”
“We are not going to Azerbaijan to promote Azerbaijan’s own interests. We are on the ground working together to ensure we reach mutual solutions to combat climate change and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Let’s go.”
Last year, the Canadian Space Agency avoided sending a representative to an international conference hosted by Azerbaijan, citing human rights concerns.
In September, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly issued a statement commemorating last year’s events in Nagorno-Karabakh, stating that as a result of Azerbaijan’s military operations, “more than 100,000 civilians, including 30,000 children, They were forcibly relocated,” he said. “It’s unfair.”
Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two major wars in the past 35 years over the enclave, which has a majority Armenian population but is part of Azerbaijan under international law. The region’s self-proclaimed Republic of Armenia, which is not recognized by the United Nations, was dissolved last year after the exodus.
Since then, the two countries have been locked in a slow peace process. Baku has said it welcomes Armenians who fled last year back to controlled Azerbaijan, but there are also reports that Azerbaijani forces have destroyed Armenian homes and cultural sites. Reportedly, no one has responded to the Azerbaijani government’s offer to return them.
“Canada must make clear that it opposes the exploitation of global platforms such as COP29 by authoritarian regimes seeking to cleanse their image,” Sebag Beryan, head of the Canadian-Armenian National Committee, said at a press conference Tuesday. ” he said.
The Armenian government itself supported Azerbaijan’s bid to host COP29.
Armenia will host COP17, the United Nations biodiversity conference, next year.
