The Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has filed a complaint against two members of the official Colombian delegation to COP27, held in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. The two defendants are not officials, it was later learned.
«In accordance with the UNFCCC Code of Conduct, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as National Focal Point to the Convention, has proceeded to suspend the accreditations of these two delegates, while the Secretariat moves forward with the investigation,» the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained in a statement.
«The National Government is emphatic in condemning any act of intimidation, harassment or violation of women’s rights,» it added.
The Colombian delegation arrived in Egypt on November 6 headed by the president, Gustavo Petro. For now, no further details have emerged about what happened or who is named in the complaint.
Following the release of the statement, the Minister of the Interior, Alfonso Prada, has indicated that the COP27 Secretariat has requested the suspension of the accreditation of two persons registered in the Colombian delegation.
However, the accusations are not related to officials of the National Government, he said, since the delegation also included representatives of civil society, businessmen and representatives of other branches of government, according to the newspaper ‘El Tiempo’.
Later, President Petro has confirmed that the two Colombians expelled from COP27 were not government officials. «The presidency has no delegates. And the people who were accused are not from the presidency, nor public officials,» Petro has pointed out on Twitter.
The presidency’s chief of office, Laura Sarabia, has later added that the two accused did not travel with the presidential entourage.
