Skip to content
Support Us

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Azerbaijan's pavillion at COP28 in Dubai Alamy Stock Photo

Azerbaijan backtracks on plans for all-male committee to organise COP29

The committee named earlier this week to organise the important climate talks included 28 men and no women.

AZERBAIJAN OFFICIALS HAVE backtracked on plans for COP29 to be organised by a committee exclusively composed of men after international backlash.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced the committee earlier this week, with 28 men and no women among its membership.

The decision drew immediate criticism, including from the deputy prime minister of Spain and Christiana Figueres, the former head of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change.  

A group of 75 women in business, civil society and academic wrote a letter this week calling on Azerbaijan to revise the committee, saying that the decision to include no women on the organising committee risked undermining the climate negotiation process.

“Gender diversity is crucial to successful negotiations and decision-making, bringing with it better, bolder decisions that have been shown to last,” the letter said. 

Azerbaijan announced an expansion of the organising committee today to 41 members made up of 29 men and 12 women.

Some of the women who were previously excluded from the committee include the Head of the Presidential Administration’s Department of Humanitarian Policy; the Commissioner for Human Rights; the Deputy Minister for Agriculture; and the Deputy Minister for Ecology.

Co-founder of SHE Changes Climate Elise Buckle said the change to the committee’s membership was “positive progress but we’re still far from a 50:50 gender balance”.

“This is a quick fix but not enough,” Buckle said.

Maria Mendiluce, CEO of the We Mean Business Coalition said the speed of Azerbaijan’s response was welcome but added there is “still a long way to go for gender parity to be achieved in the climate negotiations and all our wider communities”.

“Let’s hope COP29 revitalises the global drive for more inclusive policies around the world.”

COPs – Conferences of the Parties – are annual meetings of countries from around the world to make important decisions about policies to combat climate change. COP29 is due to be held in Azerbaijan at the end of this year.

Each year, the host country appoints a representative to act as president of the talks. Azerbaijan has named its Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babayev for the role.

Babayev spent 26 years at the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (Socar), during which time he served as its vice-president of ecological affairs. He later became a member of parliament and was made the country’s minister of ecology in 2018.

It follows the United Arab Emirates coming under fire at COP28 last year over the presidency of Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, also an oil executive-turned-politician.

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
24 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul J. Redmond
    Favourite Paul J. Redmond
    Report
    Dec 12th 2018, 9:39 PM

    A perfect metaphor for today’s Russia…

    271
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Robert Rusk
    Favourite Robert Rusk
    Report
    Dec 13th 2018, 8:50 AM

    @Paul J. Redmond: a Potemkin village?

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute TamuMassif2019
    Favourite TamuMassif2019
    Report
    Dec 13th 2018, 5:10 PM

    @Paul J. Redmond: Are you a racist Father…

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Danny G
    Favourite Danny G
    Report
    Dec 12th 2018, 10:04 PM

    the late late show had one of them for years until Tubs replaced him!

    177
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Robert Rusk
    Favourite Robert Rusk
    Report
    Dec 13th 2018, 8:51 AM

    @Danny G: except it couldnt dance or sing

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jamie Mul
    Favourite Jamie Mul
    Report
    Dec 13th 2018, 10:48 AM

    @Robert Rusk: Still can’t.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute European Bob
    Favourite European Bob
    Report
    Dec 12th 2018, 9:38 PM

    Should’ve got someone who could actually dance and it might have looked half realistic then. Peter Crouch maybe?

    61
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alan Biddulph
    Favourite Alan Biddulph
    Report
    Dec 12th 2018, 9:53 PM

    Johnny 5 is alive!

    46
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Darren Davis
    Favourite Darren Davis
    Report
    Dec 12th 2018, 10:54 PM

    AWESOM-O

    44
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Quill
    Favourite John Quill
    Report
    Dec 13th 2018, 3:50 AM

    @Darren Davis: fart sequence gave him away

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Donnacha Bhoicaire
    Favourite Donnacha Bhoicaire
    Report
    Dec 12th 2018, 9:38 PM

    Cmon now Ted

    39
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Robert Rusk
    Favourite Robert Rusk
    Report
    Dec 13th 2018, 8:52 AM

    @Donnacha Bhoicaire: wait a minute … these are FAKE HANDS

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Kavanagh
    Favourite Michael Kavanagh
    Report
    Dec 12th 2018, 9:48 PM

    Did they get it from Western Building Systems?

    26
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Barry Somers
    Favourite Barry Somers
    Report
    Dec 12th 2018, 10:11 PM

    It’s no Boston Dynamics robot that’s for sure…they are getting scary

    https://youtu.be/wXxrmussq4E

    26
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Toomasu Sumitsu
    Favourite Toomasu Sumitsu
    Report
    Dec 13th 2018, 12:03 AM

    @Barry Somers: that’s clearly a dog in a costume!

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Barry Somers
    Favourite Barry Somers
    Report
    Dec 13th 2018, 1:54 PM

    @Toomasu Sumitsu: shi*t, you are right, it’s clearly a greyhound

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Quentin Moriarty
    Favourite Quentin Moriarty
    Report
    Dec 12th 2018, 9:58 PM

    George Lucas was way ahead of his time

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Edmund Murphy
    Favourite Edmund Murphy
    Report
    Dec 13th 2018, 7:25 AM

    So after years of Russian bots pretending to be people we have Russian people pretending to be Bots.

    24
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute lapsy pa
    Favourite lapsy pa
    Report
    Dec 12th 2018, 9:39 PM

    Should have got peter crouch !

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Limón Madrugada
    Favourite Limón Madrugada
    Report
    Dec 12th 2018, 10:04 PM

    It was a give away when he pissed on Trumps bed …

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Coyne
    Favourite David Coyne
    Report
    Dec 13th 2018, 8:25 AM

    This is clearly a plot by the West to discredit Russia, followers of Putin will be along shortly to explain properly.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter Pistolé
    Favourite Peter Pistolé
    Report
    Dec 12th 2018, 10:00 PM

    Chief Knock-A-Homer strikes again

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dot Com
    Favourite Dot Com
    Report
    Dec 12th 2018, 10:00 PM

    Aliexpress?.

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rei
    Favourite Rei
    Report
    Dec 13th 2018, 2:55 AM

    It does look like a lad in a costume to be fair haha

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Colm Lawlor
    Favourite Colm Lawlor
    Report
    Dec 12th 2018, 11:24 PM

    Those pesky Russians

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Craig Barry
    Favourite Craig Barry
    Report
    Dec 13th 2018, 6:05 PM

    Aren’t they all robots?

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute TamuMassif2019
    Favourite TamuMassif2019
    Report
    Dec 13th 2018, 5:13 PM

    If they wanted to fool people they wouldn’t have used a commonly used costume, it seems that if they used a Santa clause costume then the same people would find something else to complain about as the same people complain about Russian bot under their beds…

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dermot Collins
    Favourite Dermot Collins
    Report
    Dec 12th 2018, 10:04 PM

    United should sign him up

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a comment

 
cancel reply
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds