In a Monday statement for International Human Rights Day, Egypt’s government professed its commitment to a track towards human rights, adding that it stems from its duty to the people under the national constitution.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry stated that despite its challenges, the country would continue to build a modern, democratic state, based on the values of citizenship, equal rights, freedoms, public duties, non-discrimination and the rule of law.
The statement held that 2014’s constitution laid unprecedented provisions in Egypt’s history for the safeguarding of human rights and fundamental freedoms, which were built upon in 2018 as the national year of disabilities. The previous two years were allocated to youth and women.
Egypt had begun integrating human rights into the curricula, the statement continued, while establishing a permanent high commission to develop a national human rights strategy, build capacity, disseminate a culture of human rights, and deal with international human rights mechanisms.
The ministry added that Egypt’s celebration of Human Rights Day confirms that the UN’s lofty human values – recognized by the world’s countries 70 years ago in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – are still valid in today’s world, and are even more relevant to the reality of contemporary human societies than ever before.
The Universal Declaration and the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights still constitute a reference to internationally-recognized rights, the ministry wrote.
It observed that such covenants are based on the principles of equality and non-discrimination, which are the cornerstone of any effort to promote respect for human dignity.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm.
