Like Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York, the mayor of Paris will not participate in the conference of mayors of the Urban G20 which was to be held from Wednesday from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Anne Hidalgo has also decided to boycott this event which should in principle welcome the mayors of major cities around the world, including London, Berlin, Rome and Madrid, for three days.
The U-20 conference is being organized within the framework of the G20 summit, scheduled for Saudi Arabia next November.
Loujain Al-Hathloul, honorary citizen of Paris
"The mayor of Paris will not participate in this conference which was to take place virtually by videoconference", confirms in the entourage of Anne Hidalgo.
"She cannot consider doing so while Arabia is keeping Loujain Al-Hathloul in detention who was made honorary citizen of the city of Paris in 2019".
The 30-year-old Saudi woman was arrested in May 2018 and remains imprisoned in her country of origin for her fight for human rights, and in particular for the protection of women victims of domestic violence.
In June 2019, his sister, Lina Al-Hathloul, came to symbolically receive this Honorary Citizenship of Paris from the hands of Patrick Klugman, deputy mayor for international relations, in the presence of the associations Amnesty international and MAG young LGBT people.
Beyond the situation of this young activist, a global coalition of human rights groups last week called on the mayors of nine cities around the world to boycott the Urban G20, on the grounds that the date coincides with the second anniversary of the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on October 2018.
"The Saudi government is an unfit and inappropriate host for the 2020 G20 summit and the Urban 20 convocation," reads letter signed by more than a dozen organizations, including Geneva-based rights group MENA and the London-based ALQST.
"The mayor of Paris is totally in tune with the content of this letter, she warned the organizers that she would not participate in the conference", continues in the entourage of Anne Hidalgo.
