The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and 35 partners organised an online event on 15 November 2023 ahead of the 28th session of the Conference of Parties (COP28) to be held from 30 November to 12 December 2023 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The online event followed the format of the first  Alternative Human Rights Expo (2021 video here) organised by 26 NGOs in October 2021 as a counter-response to the Dubai Expo. See 2023 video event at right or here.

The event highlighted human rights issues related to the suppression of freedom of expression and assembly. The purpose of the event is to call for the release of human rights defenders (HRDs) detained in the UAE including Ahmed Mansoor as well as other W/HRDs persecuted/arrested in the region – from Bahrain to Egypt to Iran to Saudi Arabia, by showcasing the work of detained W/HRDs and activists, and featuring environmental activists, as well as artists, poets, writers and singers from the MENA region with a focus on human rights. Michel Forst, the world’s first UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders under the Aarhus Convention, introduced the event.

See the programme here and you can find the event gallery here.

There are related activities such as a  joint appeal to the Emirati authorities to free Emirati HRDs, a joint appeal to states attending the COP28, and a petition to the UAE to release HRDs. The Alternative Human Rights Expo II is part of a larger series of events organised by human rights groups and environmental groups ahead of the COP28, both online and live in the UAE and around the world.