Visa Refusals Shut Sudan and Yemen Delegations Out of Bonn Climate Talks

Visa problems are shutting some of the world’s poorest and most climate-vulnerable countries out of the UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, where the 2026 Bonn Climate Change Conference runs from 8 June to 18 June.

“States attending the June Climate Meetings next week in Bonn, Germany must use the talks to turn climate commitments into a concrete actionable rights-centric agenda for November’s COP31, Amnesty International said today”

Amnesty International

The Independent reports that Sudan’s Dalal Ebrahim said, “The majority of the delegation, including the head of delegation, have received visa refusals,” and that others were “unable to secure appointments through German embassies outside Sudan.”

Amnesty International

For Yemen, Marwah Aref Ahmed Saleh told The Independent that she had been sponsored for a German visa twice by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) for the Bonn talks, but “Each time, however, she not been granted approval to travel.”

The Independent also quotes Germany’s Federal Foreign Office spokesperson saying Germany takes responsibility for accredited delegates “very seriously,” while adding that visa reviews for Schengen short-term stays are “always Schengen law.”

Amnesty International urged governments heading to Bonn to carry momentum from Santa Marta, Colombia, where more than 60 countries met in April for the first conference of the Task Force on Accelerating Fossil Fuel Phase-out (TAFF) co-hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands.

Amnesty said Bonn, taking place from 8 to 18 June, must translate climate commitments into concrete action and build on Santa Marta’s focus on practical pathways to accelerate the phase-out of coal, oil and gas through financial reform, fiscal policy, regulation and international cooperation.

Center for International Environmental Law

In Amnesty’s recommendations, Ann Harrison said, “The fact that some countries insisted on removing references to climate finance from the recent UNGA resolution does not mean that obligations to provide it have gone away,” and she added, “It’s essential that the biggest polluters are made to pay for the harm they are causing.”

Amnesty also framed visa access as an inclusivity test, calling for Germany and COP31 co-hosts Türkiye and Australia to ensure participants can “freely express their views and peacefully demonstrate without fear of reprisals.”

Bonn is set to host the 64th session of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB64) of the UNFCCC from June 8 to 18, 2026, with CIEL experts in Bonn from June 8–18 to engage in international climate negotiations.

“Resumption of climate negotiations under the UNFCCC in Bonn By: Mark Tuddenham While COP-29 took place six months ago, no formal international negotiations on climate issues have taken place since then”

Citepa

CIEL’s materials describe SB64 as a midpoint between COP30 in Belem, Brazil, and COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, and say the negotiations take place against a backdrop that includes “shrinking civic space” and “accelerating climate impacts worldwide.”

The Loss and Damage Collaboration said there is no standalone agenda item on Loss and Damage on the annotated provisional agendas for SBSTA 64 and SBI 64, but it said issues relevant to Loss and Damage will be considered across negotiations, workshops, dialogues, constituted body meetings, and mandated events.

In a separate preview of what to watch, the International Institute for Sustainable Development said Bonn will feature the first of the three Mutirão-mandated technical dialogues on trade and climate, and it said discussions will aim to move beyond “polarized debates over unilateral measures” toward practical cooperation.