Has the Egyptian government fulfilled its obligations ???

Has the Egyptian government fulfilled its obligations ???

From God: The phenomenon of street children must be contained

Aqeel: The biggest challenge is respecting human rights while combating terrorism 

The international community must implement its decisions to deter countries that support terrorism 

 

In its symposium at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva under the title (Four years after it underwent the universal periodic review process, has the Egyptian government fulfilled its pledges ???) Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights reviewed its report on the human rights situation in Egypt four years after the pledges made by the Egyptian government Ali herself in the framework of commitment to the state’s pledges. The report came to review in 25 axes representing all human rights and representing 247 pledges recognized by the Egyptian government, whether in whole or in part. These axes represent civil and political rights, as well as social and economic rights.

The symposium began with standing a minute of mourning for the souls of all the martyrs, then Professor Ayman Aqeel, President of the Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights, who chose to call the "Years of Challenge" to the previous stage, spoke with its bittersweetness.

Aqeel stressed in his speech that the danger threatening Egypt and the whole world is the threat of terrorism, whether at home, represented in terrorist operations or on the borders such as terrorism in Libya, and that there is a great challenge facing the world, which is respect for human rights while combating terrorism. Aqeel indicated in his opening speech that there is Another challenge is the economic challenge facing the Egyptian state after two great popular revolutions (2011 and 2013).

Then, Ms. Minha Allah Abdel Raouf, Director of International Mechanisms Unit, reviewed the progress made by the Egyptian state in the file of social and economic rights, reviewing the number of recommendations and topics that Egypt agreed upon and what has been implemented from these pledges.

God assured him that despite the achievements made by the Egyptian state in this file, especially strengthening the rights of young people to participate in public life and support people with disabilities and launching the project “Combating the worst forms of child labor in Egypt and supporting the family 2018-2025 - with the aim of providing an appropriate social, health and psychological life. For the child. In the field of health, in September 2018, the government launched the "100 million health" initiative.

However, there are some observations that a large number of Egyptian youth still suffer from difficult economic conditions, and there is still an urgent need for greater legislative and procedural reforms to overcome the phenomena of child exploitation and besiege the phenomenon of street children, as well as to overcome the problem of child labor in hazardous work, which is what Requires amending child laws, labor, foster homes, penalties.

The report emphasized that the country is still facing difficulties in covering all areas that are deprived of basic services, including drinking water and sanitation, despite the decline in annual inflation rates during 2018 to 17.5% compared to 31.8% in 2017. With expectations of a decline in inflation to 12.5% in 2017. During the year 2019, however, the prices of some commodities will continue to rise, in addition to the rise in the prices of electricity and fuel.

Commenting on the conditions of civil and political rights and the pledges made by the Egyptian government, Aqeel indicated that with regard to joining international treaties, and although Egypt has signed many of them, it has not lifted its reservation on Articles (2 - 9 - 29) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination. Against women, and she did not sign some optional protocols.

With regard to promoting human rights practices related to law enforcement agencies, the government amended the “Police Authority” law twice, the first in 2016 and the second 2018, and these amendments included for the first time the duties of the police in protecting rights and freedoms and preserving human dignity. However, some individual practices are still practiced. By policemen, contradict the essence of these legal amendments.

Within the framework of cooperation with the UN mechanisms, the Egyptian government allowed the United Nations rapporteur on the right to housing, Leilani Farha, to visit Egypt from September 24 to October 3, 2018. On November 16, 2018, the Prime Minister issued a decree establishing the Permanent Higher Committee for Human Rights, which will take over Managing the human rights file, and the committee will also be responsible for developing a national strategy for human rights and action plans for implementation by the concerned authorities and following them up.

With regard to the protection of the rights of minorities, the law on building and restoring churches was passed, which provided for the formation of a committee to reconcile the conditions of churches. 627 churches were legalized out of the original.

With regard to combating illegal immigration and human trafficking, on October 17, 2016, Parliament approved the “Combating Illegal Migration” law, which provided for the establishment of a national committee to combat and prevent illegal immigration.

With regard to the protection of peaceful assembly, and despite the amendment of Article 10 of the Protest Law, this law still faces objections from political forces and human rights groups, as they demand to amend other articles such as Articles 12-13.

With regard to improving the organizations' work environment, President Al-Sisi assigned the government to form a committee to prepare a complete vision for amending the Associations Law, especially in light of the difficulty of implementing Law No. 70 of 2017, which imposes strict and unprecedented restrictions on the work of NGOs.

With regard to combating violence against women, and despite the Egyptian government's launch of the National Strategy to Combat Violence Against Women 2015/2020, which deals with protecting women from violence, crimes of sexual violence have not stopped in the private and public spheres.

With regard to strengthening efforts to combat terrorism, President Al-Sisi issued a decision to form the National Council for Combating Terrorism in July 2017, which is a positive step in terms of the existence of an institution concerned with at least the coordination of efforts to combat terrorism and extremism and the approval of a national strategy for this, but so far it has not been practiced This council functions as required.

With regard to combating torture, the government is working to try those accused of torture, as happened, for example, in the reality of the torture of the citizen Muhammad Abdel Hakim, known as “Afroto” in the Mokattam Police Department.

With regard to fair trial guarantees, the current criminal procedure law establishes guarantees for a fair trial. However, it does not allow for an acceleration of litigation to reach a prompt justice.

With regard to promoting women's rights, women received 8 portfolios in the new government formation with a ratio of 25%, and there are four female ministers out of a total of 14 MPs, representing approximately 30% of representatives, and there are two women in the position of governor and five women in the position of deputy governor, and at the end of the report Maat presented a set of recommendations, which were: -

  • Demanding the government to accede to international conventions that it has not yet acceded to, lifting reservations on articles related to the Convention on Discrimination against Women and submitting reports to treaty committees on the specified dates.
  • Investigate all allegations of torture and refer the perpetrators to trial, with the necessity to amend Articles 126 and 129 of the Penal Code.
  • The speedy amendment of the Civil Associations Law, and allowing civil society organizations to operate without restrictions.
  • Work to continue efforts to combat corruption.
  • Intensifying efforts aimed at combating violence against women, and continuing to work to empower women economically, socially and politically.
  • Intensifying efforts aimed at combating all forms of terrorism and extremism, and providing the necessary capabilities for the National Council to Combat Terrorism to carry out its duties as required.

 

Egypt comprehensive periodic review

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