Visa problems delay reps to Poznan conference - December 11, 2008
The entire Liberian delegation showed up late to the UN climate change conference in Poznan, Poland. The reported reason: slothlike Polish bureacrats. They had to wait out the talks’ first week in Nigeria, where other African attendees were also held up, before the Polish embassy there granted them visas.
Head Liberian delegate Ben Donnie says, “Surely, this will affect our representation. We want to be there ourselves for all the sessions. Although, as head of the delegation, I have been receiving e-mails about what is happening in Poznan from the summit secretariat, this is not enough. We should have been there from the beginning to make our input and meet with colleagues.“
African journalists are also having trouble making it to Poznan.
“Just getting to the [conference] has been one of the greatest challenges of my career as an environmental journalist,” writes Harold Williams, a reporter from Sierra Leone who, along with other developing-country journalists, has a fellowship from the Climate Change Media Partnership to go to the talks.
Williams got to Lungi International Airport on 26 November - days before the 1 December opening ceremony in Poznan - in a fishing boat with a borrowed $100 in his pocket. After he landed in Senegal, however, a closed Polish consulate forced him to divert to Nigeria. The story gets a little confusing after that - but he ended up going to Spain, whence he could freely fly to Poland thanks to 'Schengen' border rules. He, too, arrived a week late.
The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) has sent out a press release expanding on the CCMP reports. It notes:
Delegates from many of the world’s least developed countries and small island developing states have faced similar problems. One CCMP journalist in Pakistan was denied a visa outright, while another from Cameroon got his too late to attend the conference at all. A Malawian government representative was denied entry on arrival in Europe and had to return to Africa.
The press release points out that the delays “occurred despite the host country … having a full year to prepare its consulates.” What I’m not getting here is why there was a last-minute visa application process at all. Couldn’t all sides have sorted this out far in advance?
In any case, it won’t happen at next year’s summit in Copenhagen, says head Danish delegate Thomas Becker: "There are some things we are not in control of but at least the visa we can handle.” (press release)
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