Tuesday, November 02, 2021
Event not barrier-free
Minister in a wheelchair is left out at COP26
For two hours, the Israeli energy minister, Elharrar, tried in vain to get to the grounds of the climate conference in Glasgow. The politician is in a wheelchair and the venue is not barrier-free. After all, she has to go back to the hotel with nothing to be done.
According to her own statements, the Israeli energy minister Karine Elharrar was initially unable to take part in the world climate conference due to a lack of accessibility. “It is sad that the UN, which promotes accessibility for people with disabilities, will not care about accessibility at its events in 2021,” Elharrar wrote on Twitter.
According to media reports, the minister tried unsuccessfully on Monday to enter the decisive building through several entrances. The organizers had also offered the minister a ride on a shuttle, which, however, also had no wheelchair-friendly access. Elharrar waited outside for two hours and then returned to her hotel.
The British Ambassador to Israel, Neil Wigan, apologized to the politician and expressed concern about the incident. “We want a world climate conference that is welcoming and inclusive for everyone,” he wrote on Twitter. UK Environment Secretary George Eustice also regretted the incident. But he also blamed a lack of communication from the Israeli side. “What would normally happen in this situation is that Israel would have informed us of this particular requirement for their minister,” Eustice said on BBC radio. There was initially no comment from the organizers.
Elharrar arrived at the conference with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday. You can see on a video how the minister drove in her electric wheelchair at the side of the head of government over a level access into the conference center. It was not clear whether it was the same building that the minister had tried in vain to get into on Monday.