Elharrar, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, uses a wheelchair and therefore could not get in after hours of moving from one entrance to the other, trying to make his way. She was forced to leave without finding a solution.

– Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) November 2, 2021

“Regarding Minister Elharrar’s experience at the point of entry yesterday, this was a real mistake and we apologized for it,” the organizers announced via the official COP26 Twitter page. “We are delighted to see her present at COP26 today.

“# COP26 must be inclusive and accessible to all and the venue is designed to facilitate that,” they concluded.

Regarding Minister Elharrar’s experience at the port of entry yesterday, this was a real mistake and we apologized for it. We are happy to see her present at COP26 today.# COP26 must be inclusive and accessible to all and the venue is designed to facilitate this.

– COP26 (@ COP26) November 2, 2021

UK Environment Secretary George Eustice called the scene “deeply regrettable”, but criticized the Elharrar team for not having sufficiently informed the event’s organizers of their “special need”. The conference website has indicated that the event will be wheelchair accessible.

Elharrar expressed hope on Monday that the lesson of the incident had been learned so that she could focus on promoting green energy, removing barriers and promoting energy efficiency at the conference of Tuesday.