While the head of the Egyptian delegation to Geneva insisted Egypt had witnessed a qualitative “leap” in the status of human rights, human rights groups have widely condemned Egypt's record on basic freedoms over the last four years. More than 300 recommendations, questions and comments from member states were included in the UN outcome report that followed Egypt's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) last week. Reservations were expressed over laws regulating NGOs, human rights, judicial procedures and the right to protest. Egypt's Foreign Ministry, however, was keen to point out that amid the criticisms there were positive remarks. “From at least 100 countries,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdel-Atti told Al-Ahram Weekly. “A number of countries praised the unprecedented human rights and freedoms given to people in the constitution. Egypt has also taken steps to improve human rights and increase awareness of these rights and spread their values by including them in the school curricula,” Abdel-Atti said. UNHRC meetings are a procedural review of the human rights record of member states conducted every four years. “The recommendations of member countries will be studied and we will decide which can be implemented straightaway and which will take a longer period of time to enact. Some recommendations, like abolishing capital punishment, contradict Islamic Sharia, the base on which all laws are issued” and are therefore likely to be rejected, Abdel-Atti explained. Egypt is expected to respond to all recommendations when the general assembly of the UNHRC convenes in March 2015. Many Egyptian human rights organisations have expressed deep concern at what they say is a noticeable deterioration in human rights over the last 4 years. Leading human rights lawyer Amir Salem says the UNHRC recommendations are justified, and cover a wide range of issues including women's status and rights, sexual harassment, NGOs and the absence of reliable mechanisms to implement justice. “It is the first time a country receives so many recommendations. It is clear Egypt needs to develop its own mechanisms to safeguard human rights and freedoms,” he said. While Baheieddin Hassan, the head of Cairo Institute for Human Rights, agrees that the UNHRC recommendations are significant, he is even more concerned by the extent of worry expressed by various countries during both the UPR meeting and the meetings that preceded it. “It is a symptom of the genuine and great deterioration in Egyptian human rights. It is not only the US and European countries that are worried about the future of Egypt, but states close to Egypt like Saudi Arabia and UAE. Their concern is sparked not only by the deterioration in human rights but also out of worry for their interests in the country,” he said. What these countries and other countries — most notably from Latin American — cannot understand is why the regime is entering into conflict with so many parties, says Hassan. “Why is it in a stand-off with the media and with secularists for instance?” he asks. Minister of Transitional Justice Ibrahim Al-Heneidi, head of the Egyptian delegation to Geneva, noted at the end of the meeting that though “this test tackled a very exceptional period in the country's history” Egypt had “passed” the review with great success. He applauded what he described as a “huge leap” in the fields of freedom of expression, opinion and the press. In his opening speech to the review Al-Heneidi lauded how Egyptians had launched two revolutions to defend their freedoms and rights. “Human rights and citizens' freedoms are priorities of the national government that is following the political roadmap formulated after the 30 June Revolution. The best evidence of this is the fact I am standing before you as the minister of the transitional justice and parliament, a ministry founded after 30 June in recognition of the reasons behind the revolution,” he said. Al-Heneidi also itemised Egypt's advances in the last four years in women's rights, freedom of speech and religious tolerance. The status of political detainees in Egypt was among the concerns expressed by member states. Mohamed Khallaf, who represented Egypt's general prosecution in the delegation, denied there were any political detainees in Egypt, or persons being detained without trial being held in Egyptian prisons. “There is no prisoner in Egypt detained on expression-related charges. All detainees are being held for breaking criminal laws,” said Khallaf. Women's rights and measures against sexual harassment were brought by states in Africa, South America, Asia and Europe. In response Mervat Al-Tellawi, head of the National Council for Women, pointed to articles in the constitution that allocate 25 per cent of seats in local municipalities to women and to the recently passed anti-sexual harassment law which includes harsher penalties for anyone found guilty of harassment. Concerns over civilians being tried in military courts were also raised. A law referring anyone suspected of attacking “public and vital facilities” to military tribunals was issued by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi in the immediate aftermath of last month's terrorist attack in Sinai that left 30 security personnel dead. The law has been widely criticised by human rights organisations for expanding the jurisdiction of military tribunals over civilians. Austria and Iceland expressed concern over last August's violent dispersal of two pro-Morsi sit-ins, in Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Nahda, and the excessive use of force. Germany, Hungary, France, Switzerland and Uruguay were among the states recommending Egypt abolish the death sentence from its penal code. The protest law and new NGO draft law were also a focus of worry. In response Assistant Foreign Minister Hisham Badr said the right to assemble was protected by the constitution. He added that the NGO draft law has yet to be finalised and that discussions are taking place with concerned groups to build a consensus before it is sent to the House of Representatives following parliamentary elections which are expected early next year. On the eve of the UPR seven Egyptian rights groups announced they would not be participating. They cited fears of retaliatory measures and persecution by the Egyptian authorities as the reason for their withdrawal. Hassan's organisation was one of the groups that withdrew. He claimed that some groups had received threats. “We did participate by submitting reports and a statement to the UPR. We also held meetings with senior officials. I met with top officials in Geneva and New York to discuss the present situation and issued a statement after the meetings,” he added. The Forum of Independent Human Rights Organisations, which comprises 19 domestic rights groups, submitted an independent report to the UNHRC in March detailing a “huge deterioration” in Egypt's human rights record during the last four years. Ahead of the UNHRC meeting several local rights groups issued a comprehensive statement focusing on state abuses and listing more 100 recommendations for the Egyptian authorities. The recommendations include amending laws that conflict with international treaties to which Egypt is a signatory; amending the protest law to allow freedom of assembly; restricting the use of live ammunition and excessive force by the police on other security personnel; outlawing all forms of discrimination against women; ending routine pre-trial detention and amending constitutional article 204 to ban the military trial of civilians. The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre, Egyptians Against Religious Discrimination and Nazra for Feminist Studies were among the groups that signed the statement. The Universal Periodic Review is held at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva. Egypt's delegation was headed by Al-Heneidi and included Badr and Maha Abdel-Latif as representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hani Mehanna and Abu Bakr Al-Guindi representing the Ministry of Social Solidarity and Interior, and Tellawi from the National Council for Women. It also included Khallaf, Medhat Bassiouni, deputy justice minister for human rights and Ashraf Ashmawi, Al-Heneidi's advisor for human rights. The government submitted its own report on human rights in Egypt in July. Egypt's first review was held in 2010 when it received 165 recommendations. It adopted 119, is still working to adopt 25 and rejected 21.
