Visa hurdles silence Global South voices at world summits

New Straits Times

5 days ago

Sudanese climate activist Roaa should have been leading meetings with other youth advocates at a United Nations (UN) climate conference in Germany in June.
Instead, the 24-year-old was at home, having wasted hundreds of dollars and nearly two months preparing for a visa that was denied in less than 48 hours.
Many of her peers, mostly from the Global North, flew into the city of Bonn without a hitch. "I was the one who was leading the whole process, but I wasn't on the ground," said Roaa.
"Knowing everyone is there (at Bonn), but you are not there maybe because of your nationality gives you a very bad feeling, like I'm less than those people," she said.
Stricter border and visa rules are increasingly limiting the participation of nationals from the Global South in high-level talks that tackle climate, global health, economic systems, conflicts and other issues, say researchers.
"We are the ones who are affected the most, but we are not in the room," said Roaa, a medical student. "Most of the conferences happen in Europe and in the United States. They are talking on behalf of us."
The rejections also have an economic cost. In 2024, Africans paid some €60 million for rejected Schengen visa applications, up from nearly €54 million in 2023, according to analysis by Britain-based research group LAGO Collective.
Africa had some of the highest rejection rates from the European Commission, which issues Schengen visas for short visits to the European Union, the data showed.
In recent years, far-right and populist parties have made gains in places like Italy, Sweden, Germany and the US, fuelling anti-immigrant policies across Western countries, where most global conferences are held.
Nations most vulnerable to climate impacts, from flooding to droughts and rising seas, are often among the poorest, the least polluting and underrepresented at global talks, according to UN climate body, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The UNFCCC, which hosts the Bonn summit and November's COP30 climate conference in Brazil, said it had no sway on visa processes, but had taken steps to diversify participation at its events by boosting the quota for Global South delegates. If those who were expected to implement global policies "are not at the table", it compounded the inequalities they had been campaigning to change, said Nwajiaku-Dahou, director of politics and governance at Britain-based think-tank ODI Global.
Despite providing details of her job, university studies, financial accounts and letters of support to attend the UNFCCC summit, Roaa was told she did not submit sufficient evidence to prove she would return home from Germany.
Ugandan HIV/AIDS youth advocate Joseph Robert Linda said he secured around US$4,000 from sponsors to pay for flights, visa and hotel fees to attend last year's International AIDS Conference in Munich, only for his visa to be rejected.
"That was not fair at all to me because they gave me feedback just three to four days before the conference, so there is no way I could appeal," said the 28-year-old.
Although the majority of global diseases occur in poorer countries, where around 80 per cent of the world's population live, only four per cent of health summits were held in these regions, according to a 2021 paper by Harvard Medical School researchers that reviewed more than 100 conferences spanning three decades.
Between 1997 and 2019, just 39 per cent of health conferences analysed had attendees from developing countries, said the study published in BMJ Global Health journal.
While Linda was able to attend the conference virtually, he said that option required stable and affordable Internet, something not available to people in many parts of the world.
Sudanese medical student Saida, who was refused a visa to attend a medical workshop in Italy this month, said it was ultimately up to Global South citizens to keep demanding change. "You have to speak up... This is a pattern that we see happening and that's something that needs to be changed," said Saida.