A 12-year-old protester was detained for more than 30 minutes by conference security following a “truly unsanctioned and uncensored disruption” of a Monday plenary session at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, climate journalist Emily Atkin reports on her Heated news site.
“The United Arab Emirates has severely restricted protest activity at this year’s UN climate summit, placing harsh limits on what activists are allowed to say, as well as where and when demonstrations can occur,” Atkin writes. But on Monday, Licypriya Kangujam, founder of India’s Child Movement, “quietly walking past delegates before breaking into a sprint and rushing onstage, holding a sign above her head reading ‘END FOSSIL FUEL. SAVE OUR PLANET AND OUR FUTURE’.”
As Atkin recounts, “a large man in a suited approached Licy, she sat down on the stage. The man bent down to whisper something in her ear, and she cried out, got up, and tried to get away.”
After that, “two more men—these dressed in tactical police gear—then walked onstage, and Licy started to move offstage. As her protest ended, the audience applauded.”
Then they laughed as COP Executive Director Majid Al Suwaidi commented that “we’re very proud of the enthusiasm of the young people who have joined us at COP28” and called for one more round of applause.
But the pride and applause apparently didn’t extend to the UAE’s ubiquitous security forces, who detained Kangujam for more than 30 minutes and then banned her from the conference.
“Licypriya united with me and they kick her out of #COP28UAE for just asking to phase out fossil fuels,” her mother wrote on her Twitter account. “I can’t control her tears. They have taken her badge and threatened with many strong words to the 12 years old kid. This is unacceptable.”
Atkin draws on some of the dozens of in-depth profiles that major news outlets have published in the several years since Kangujam, who was born in India’s northeastern Manipur state in 2011, founded the Child Movement in 2019. By then, her family had moved out of Delhi because of high air pollution levels and lived through two cyclones. She said it was a “life-changing event” for her in 2018 when her dad brought her along to a UN disaster conference in Mongolia.
“I got lots of inspiration and new knowledge from the people giving speeches,” she said, and she’s been a fixture at UN climate conference since COP25 convened in Madrid in 2019.
“Licy’s story will undoubtedly continue to be told after her COP28 disruption,” Atkin writes, “and many will undoubtedly consider it inspiring.” But “as a person raised in the age of the Internet, I recognize a fake feel-good story when I see one.”
News outlets love to write about “valiant acts of altruism, and in Licy’s case, courage,” she adds. “But they are also acts that are only made necessary by a total systemic failure to protect children. They are not inspirational. They are horrifying.”
