At a press conference in Cairo on Sunday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) announced the release of its 20th world report. The 612-page study, which surveys human rights conditions in 90 countries during 2009, covers 16 Arab states, including Egypt.
“Sadly, there are recurrent themes with regards to the oppression under which the people of the region live,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North Africa division of the New York-based rights watchdog. “People of the region are not free to talk freely; not free to associate; not free to practice their religious rituals–simply not free.”
In the report’s section on Egypt, much was said about the freedom of association, the freedom of expression, workers’ rights, torture and mistreatment, women’s rights, rights to privacy, rights of religious belief and migrants’ and refugees’ rights. While the purpose of the report was not to give an in-depth overview of the state of rights in Egypt, according to HRW, it is meant to serve as an important advocacy tool at a strategic time.
“The report comes ahead of the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review in February,” Heba Morayef, HRW researcher on Egypt and Libya, told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
The review aims to survey and evaluate the human rights records of the council’s member states. At the convention, the Egyptian government will present a report showcasing its record, while a "shadow report" will be presented by a coalition of non-governmental organizations. At the meeting, Egypt will also be expected to respond to questions concerning its human rights record. “We need to make sure that the questions raised are relevant,” said Morayef.
“The report is an advocacy tool ahead of certain markers, such as the renewal of the emergency law that is expected to take place in May,” Morayef added. Along with the extension of the 29-year-old state of emergency, this fall will also witness parliamentary elections — which have traditionally seen numerous and blatant rights violations. Abolishing the longstanding emergency law is the HRW’s team’s first recommendation to the Egyptian government.
In its chapter on freedom of association, the report condemned the arrest and intimidation of activists demonstrating early last year against the Israeli war on Gaza.
In her address, Whitson brought up the issue of Gaza in particular, piling yet more criticism on Egypt. “Egypt must end its blockade on Gaza,” she said in one of her recommendations to the Egyptian government. "If Egypt wants to put an end to the closure of Gaza, it can do so tomorrow by allowing medicines and food in and by allowing the people of Gaza to move freely to study and work abroad."
But the criticisms of Egypt regarding the Gaza blockade were challenged by some members of the audience. “While Egypt is criticized for the Gaza blockade, the report’s tone in the Israel section is much softer. Why is that?” asked Samir Omar, a journalist.
Whitson responded: “We are entirely consistent in attacking Israel and Egypt for the Gaza blockade. While we recognize that Israel is the primary occupier and responsible for the welfare of people living under the occupation, its closure cannot be successful without the collaboration of Egypt. If Egypt wanted to make a hole in this closure, it could do so by opening its borders.”
In the section on freedom of expression, the report referred to the imprisonment of three Egyptian bloggers for writing online about religious strife and marginalization. It also referred to police intimidation of journalists, bloggers and activists at the Cairo International Airport. “The government must release all those detained because of what they said and stop the implementation of laws that limit freedom of expression until those laws are annulled altogether,” said Whitson.
The issue of sectarian violence was also featured in the report, with references to discrimination on the basis of religion, particularly in the case of Copts, Bahais and certain Islamic sects. “When the government doesn’t investigate cases of sectarian violence–or only investigates them in a limited fashion that doesn’t take into account the political and sectarian dimensions of the problem–then we can assume that the state endorses this violence,” said Morayef.
The section of the report on workers’ rights, meanwhile, referred to strikes staged by real estate tax employees in an effort to form Egypt’s first independent labor union, which, can only be formed legally with government consent. The issue of torture was also mentioned in the report, as well as the arrest and intimidation of men accused of homosexuality.
“The government must revamp its security services," said Whitson, in one of her recommendations. "How many more videos must we see of workers and protestors being tortured?”
The report concluded by denouncing the shooting of African migrants, en route to Israel via Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, by Egyptian police. It also condemned the recent deportation of some 45 Eritrean refugees in a move that violated international principles of non-refoulement, or the enforced return of refugees to their countries of origin where their lives are potentially at risk.
