Greenpeace activists have sprayed road access to the Palais des Nations in Geneva with a black substance. The NGO wants oil companies, that it accuses of wanting to derail the plastic negotiations, be banned in the discussions.
About fifteen activists from ten countries, including Switzerland, participated Thursday morning in this unauthorized operation in front of the UN headquarters. Some have poured water accompanied by iron oxide and other materials, symbolizing oil drag.
“Be careful, it’s slippery. But it’s edible, it’s not toxic,” said one of them to passers -by who avoided black substance. Panels had also been planned to alert onlookers.
Seven activists have mounted on the roof of the security control building. “The great oil tankers pollute inside” and “the plastic treaty is not for sale”, displayed the banners they have deployed.
The perimeter was completed by the police, forcing people arriving by car or by bicycle to fall back on another access. Activists then got the right identity checks.
Greenpeace accuses oil companies of preventing the more than 170 states which have been negotiating since Tuesday in Geneva of predicting a reduction in plastic production in a treaty. The oil and gas lobbies are always more present at each session of discussions, says a Swiss Greenpeace manager, Joëlle Hérin.
Hundreds of delegates
“We call on the UN to exclude them,” she said. She deplores that civil society should fight more and more to attend the discussions. According to an NGO, around 230 delegates from oil and gas companies were present in the previous series of negotiations in South Korea a few months ago, up 12%.
Several organizations have submitted a letter to the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programs (UNEP) Inger Andersen. Polluting companies responsible for the problem “should not be allowed to prevent the world from solving it,” said Joëlle Hérin.
According to a diplomatic source of one of the states for an ambitious agreement, the oil countries have refused any progress since Tuesday on the question of a reduction in plastic pollution, not wishing to see it in an arrangement. They also call into question the scenario of a list of substances to be prohibited.
This article was published automatically. Source: ATS
