A ‘Cop of peace’? How can the authoritarian, human rights-trashing Azerbaijan host that?

The ‘theme’ chosen for Cop29 must be some kind of dark joke. This summit, like those before it, is a mere act of greenwashing

Activists demonstrate for climate justice and a ceasefire in Gaza at the Cop29 UN Climate Summit on Monday in Azerbaijan. The country accounts for about 40% of Israel’s annual oil imports. Photo: AP/Rafiq Maqbool

During rapidly escalating climate and humanitarian crises, another authoritarian petrostate with no respect for human rights is hosting Cop29 — the UN’s latest annual climate summit that starts today and is being held after the re-election of a climate-denier US president.

Cop meetings have proven to be greenwashing conferences that legitimise countries’ failures to ensure a livable world and future and have also allowed authoritarian regimes like Azerbaijan and the two previous hosts — the United Arab Emirates and Egypt — to continue violating human rights.