After Egypt won a seat on the Human Rights Committee

Maat: The state should update legislation and procedures related to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

The Egyptian cultural heritage and the membership of the Committee require Egypt to set an example by opening up to civil society and cooperating with international mechanisms

Egypt won a seat on the Human Rights Committee concerned with following up the extent to which states parties adhere to their obligations contained in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Egypt acceded in 1982, and this is the seat that Egypt will occupy within the committee consisting of 18 members during the period from 2017-2021, where Egypt won Its seat is elected from among the 169 states parties to the covenant.

While the Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights congratulates the Egyptian diplomacy on winning the membership of the Committee, it stresses at the same time that the Egyptian state must seize this opportunity and international appreciation in affirming its human rights obligations related to the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and its related voluntary pledges that She undertook it before the UPR mechanism in March 2015.

Egypt is a country with a long history, rich in what it has added to human heritage throughout the ages, and its people value the values of civilization and civilization and respect for rights and freedoms, and the Egyptian state was the first to ratify the covenant in terms of its pioneering role in the region, and all of this - in addition to the committee's membership - is imposed on Egypt The necessity to set an example in fulfilling its international obligations, and in effective and positive cooperation with the relevant international mechanisms.

In this context, Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights calls on the executive and legislative authorities of the Egyptian state to review and update the package of legislation, procedures and practices closely related to Egypt's obligations stemming from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and in particular the following: -

1- Amending the texts that punish committing the crime of torture and violating the right to integrity of the body, and redefining these crimes in line with international concepts, while developing procedures related to the work of law enforcement agencies.

2- Amending the legislation governing the work of civil society organizations in accordance with the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Egyptian Constitution.

3- Update legislation and procedures to ensure respect for the right to freedom of belief and the freedom to practice religious rites, and to expedite the issuance of laws criminalizing discrimination on religious grounds, and the issuance of a unified law regulating the establishment of places of worship.

4- Amending the laws related to the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in line with the Egyptian constitution and relevant international obligations, and purifying them from texts restricting freedoms.

5- Cooperating with special rapporteurs and mandate-holders concerned with issues of interest to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

In the same context, Maat Foundation calls on the Egyptian government to open up to Egyptian civil society organizations, to recognize the participatory role in protecting civil and political rights and freedoms, and to the need to open up to international civil society organizations in order to correct the image of the Egyptian state and provide information and documented facts that are useful in Correct assessment of the human rights situation in Egypt.

It is worth noting that Maat Foundation holds the consultative status of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, which gives it the right to communicate with the mechanism of human rights treaty committees, including the Human Rights Committee, through the submission of parallel reports, and then it looks forward to the Egyptian member being Ambassador Ahmed Fathallah An important addition to the work of the committee by ensuring that the reports of civil society organizations are taken into consideration during the follow-up to the obligations of states parties to the provisions of the Covenant.