Dubai to host COP28

27-11-23

The city-emirate of Dubai - rich in oil, luxury tourism by air and infrastructure and megalomaniac projects - is hosting this year's United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP28), an event that for almost fifteen days will seek to find solutions to the environmental crisis unleashed by global warming.            

Dubai is the second richest and most populous of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a buoyant economy that boomed with the exploitation of oil after World War II and that over the years has diversified with very lax fiscal policies and a total opening to global trade and finance that have consolidated its role as a notable player on the global economic chessboard despite its small size.

Tourism and construction are, however, the new cornerstones of the economy of this place, located on the coast of the Persian Gulf, with turquoise waters, fine sand, artificial islands, huge steel and glass skyscrapers - including the Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower in the world -, huge highways, dense traffic, luxury and a desert that extends beyond the narrow limits of the city.

Approximately 3.5 million people live in Dubai, with some very marked demographic peculiarities.    

The first is that barely 20% of the population is Emirati, the rest are migrant workers. A large proportion of them come from Southeast Asian countries (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and the Philippines). There is also a considerable proportion of African and Western migrants (mostly British).

A consequence of this is that for every woman residing in Dubai, there are approximately 2.5 men.

By the standards of the Middle East - and the UAE itself - Dubai is an open and tolerant place in social and religious matters, although there are still severe restrictions.

Tourism is one of the drivers of the economy and its luxury hotels and shopping malls live comfortably in this world where money and being a foreigner - particularly a Westerner - opens closed doors for others, such as consuming alcohol or interacting in public spaces, whether bars or beaches, with people of a different sex.

In its "cultural awareness" guide, the COP28 organization notes that, with respect to the LGTBI population, "UAE society is a diverse and multicultural society that accepts everyone," although "in the spirit of mutual understanding" it asks visitors to "respect the social and cultural values" of the country, without specifying what these values are.

The guide also calls for limiting displays of affection in public and recommends dressing "modestly," with no express prohibitions on what attire one may or may not wear to the country.

 Legally, homosexuality and sex outside of marriage are prohibited with prison sentences, although it is rarely enforced. Foreigners caught in these practices are expelled from the country.

Human rights and public freedoms are also under debate in Dubai as in the rest of the UAE, where civil society has little political participation.

Dubai is an authoritarian monarchy in which all power is concentrated in practical terms in the figure of the monarch, Emir Mohamed bin Rashid, who in turn is the prime minister, defense minister and vice president of the UAE, a federation that grants great independence to its constituent emirates.

Human Rights Watch recently denounced its deep concern about the human rights crisis in the Emirates, particularly the government's persecution of human rights defenders and political dissidents.

"Emirates routinely detains its critics, and authorities have ignored or denied requests for access to the country by United Nations experts, human rights researchers, and academics and journalists who have criticized UAE abuses," the organization denounced.

COP28 will take place at the site that hosted the Dubai World Expo 2020, which ran from October 2021 to March 2022, a huge complex that still retains several of the facilities that were created for that event.

 Away from the city center, the site now subsists as a hub for exhibitions and events, some "sustainable" luxury residences, business centers and restaurants.

Conveniently isolated, but also well connected by subway, there will be concentrated both the Blue Zone, restricted to official delegations and media, and the Green Zone, open to the general public and civil society activities. A fence will separate the two areas.