The quarterly reporting on the achievements, issued by the Permanent Higher Committee for Human Rights, revealed a new approach taken by the Egyptian government in dealing with human rights issues. The committee resorted to providing information on developments in the situation at the level of civil and political rights on one hand, in addition to economic and social rights on the other hand.
Under the Prime Minister’s decision, the committee is adhering to following up the state authorities’ commitment to all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, included in the constitution, national legislation, and international and regional agreements that Egypt has acceded.
Egypt faces great challenges in the field of human rights, particularly in light of the constant criticism directed by international human rights institutions, concerned with the human rights situation in Egypt. This criticism lacks accuracy and impartiality and is believed to be a subject to extremely obvious politicization by these reports’ researchers and authors. In addition, the Muslim Brotherhood, classified as a terrorist group, uses human rights organizations as a weapon against the Egyptian state by passing false information concerning the conditions of Egyptian prisons as well as civil and political rights and freedoms in general.
Notably, Egypt’s diplomatic responses were sufficient in rejecting those proposed claims, questioning their credibility, as they did not provide any clarifications or correction of information. However, the committee’s report underlined, for the first time, figures and statistics with a clear indication of the development of the political and civil rights’ conditions, reflecting a significant shift in the approach to dealing with these conditions while adhering to the standards of the United Nations and its international human rights mechanisms.
Moreover, the approach underlines the great efforts, exerted by the committee in communicating with the concerned ministries in order to present accurate information in an integrated manner, covering many fields such as; promoting women's rights, freedom of association & assembly, treatment of prisoners and other detainees, promotion children's rights, the right of god health, right to work, right to social security and right to adequate housing.
Additionally, it also highlights the considerable efforts related to capacity building, spreading human rights culture, as well as Egyptian initiatives in the field of human rights.
Treatment of Prisoners and Other Detainees
The report mentioned that the release decisions and presidential pardons reached 6,426 prisoners during the months of January and February 2021.
In January, the Ministry of Interior sent a number of medical convoys to several prisons like; Al Marj, Abu Zabal, Al-Qanater, Zagazig and El Wadi El Gedid. These convoys carried out medical examinations on 13,848 prisoners, dispensing prescribed medications for them, in addition to providing vaccination against Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) to 12,313 prisoners.
In February 2021, the Ministry sent medical convoys to the prisons of Damanhur, Alexandria, South Tahrir, Labor Camp, and Burj Al Arab.
These convoys also provided vaccination of the (HBV) to 10,763 prisoners, in addition to performing about 104 surgeries for a number of prisons during the month of January 2021 and disinfection in the prison facilities as part of the state's plan to fight the coronavirus.
Women’s Rights
The report tackled developments in the issue of women’s rights, linking it to the state’s efforts to combat discrimination in public office and the presidential mandate, through seeking women’s assistance in judicial positions in the Council of State and the Public Prosecution, aiming at reinforcing the constitutional entitlement to end discrimination and promote equality. Moreover, it declines inequality regarding loans and financing, taking into account the exceptional circumstances of women in need.
Civil Society Institutions
The report presented non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society as a dominant partner with the government in promoting and protecting human rights in all its aspects, whether in spreading the human rights culture in society, confronting extremist ideology, or disseminating the volunteering culture.
Furthermore, it noted that the committee for drafting the executive regulations for the private law societies for many of the demands made by these societies in the law, and that the results of this appeared very quickly, as the government has facilitated the organizations' access to grants. On February 6th, the Ministry of Social Solidarity agreed to receive grants from several organizations and donors, amounting to more than 88,000,000 grants during January.
The number of donors reached 33, providing 88 grants to 42 associations and civil institutions.
Capacity Building & Spreading Human Rights Culture
The report affirmed the state’s keenness to raise people’s awareness of human rights through launching numerous media campaigns on the human rights values and principles and the religious and governmental institutions’ direction with enormous efforts to emphasize the values of citizenship, tolerance, dialogue, and fighting incitement to violence and discrimination, an effort that complements Egypt's commitment to confront terrorism intellectually.
Also, it indicated that these ideas are practically applied to workers in the Ministry of Interior, as officers of the human rights sector at the Ministry gave 48 lectures to workers in the various departments of the ministry during January and February 2021. These lectures come within the framework of training courses held in various training entities within the ministry to spread the human rights culture.
This central security sector held 55 meetings for a number of officers, inpiduals and recruits to introduce the principles of human rights.
Furthermore, the report monitored dispatching officers who work in departments of combating violence against women, children and people with special needs in various security directorates, to visit a number of children in order to provide psychological and social support for them and their families, as well as helping them contain the psychological effects they suffered as a result of being subjected to sexual or physical abuse.
It cited the Ministry's interest in taking many steps to build capacity and train law enforcement officials in the police authority, to develop work in police institutions in the field of human rights, to popularize codes of conduct and ethics for policing, and to circulate a number of handbooks on human rights to members of the police authority.
On the same page, the report monitored the efforts of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry in the field of defending the rights of developing countries to recover their looted wealth from abroad through an international resolution from the United Nations.
The report emphasized the existence of a political will that is determined to implement all of Egypt's human rights obligations, as they are an important component of the "Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt vision 2030.”
In a nutshell, it includes precise information that reflects the concerned ministries' interest, highlighting their efforts in the field of human rights. This means the transformation of human rights into a component in the daily work of the Egyptian government, which is a remarkable development in the performance of the Egyptian state.
The report responded to an urgent request from international mechanisms for human rights and local organizations that have called for years for providing information on conditions in prisons and places of detention, as well as a methodology for training security personnel. This reflects the seriousness of the committee’s work in gathering accurate and factual information in a timely manner, which helps to reach valuable statics that can be analyzed, and implications that indicate the development of the human rights issue civilly and politically.
Contributed by Omnia Ahmed
This article was prepared by Mahmoud Basiony in his personal capacity. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of SEE or its members.
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