The European Parliament held a forum on the sidelines of its meetings last week in which it discussed the human rights situation in Egypt and the Arab world. It reviewed a report that was recently issued by Cairo Center for Human Rights Studies entitled "The human rights situation in the Arab world in 2008". The center's CEO and member of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network Mo'taz al-Figawi said: "The symposium was held at the European Parliament in cooperation with the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network. It was attended by Bahey Eddin Hassan, director of Cairo Center for Human Rights Studies, and Helen Floater, the chief of the European Parliament's subcommittee on human rights." In a phone call with Al-Masry Al-Youm from Brussels, al-Figawi said Floater leveled sharp criticism at the inaction of the European side, especially the Euro-Mediterranean, in supporting the issues of human rights in Arab countries, especially as there are partnership agreements between the two parties in this regard.
Al-Figawi added that the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network has issued its report on freedom of organization in the region, as he put it. The report monitors restrictions suffered by the advocates of human rights and democracy in Egypt and the region. It was presented at the opening of the eighth general assembly of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network, which was held in Barcelona two days ago in the presence of more than 100 European and Arab human rights organizations.
The report, which was issued by Cairo Center for Human Rights Studies last week, criticized the human rights situation in the Arab world in 2008, adding that it had "growing deterioration."
The report analyzed the situation in 12 countries, namely Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Syria, Iraq, the occupied Palestinian territories, Sudan, Lebanon and Yemen. It said that those countries suffered from increasing rates of repression against advocates of reform, human rights defenders, independent press, e-media and leaders of social protest movements with their various forms of political mobility. The report pointed out that this has been accompanied by great efforts to export repression, which exceeded - according to the report - the Arab world's needs through the United Nations and the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, which have witnessed growing pressures from Arab governments to muzzle non-governmental organizations, empty the mechanisms of international protection of human rights of its content and adopt decisions contrary to the human rights system.
The report emphasized that the majority of the Arab ruling regimes are subjected to a process of "erosion" in their political legitimacy as a result of its chronic failure to develop Arab societies. These regimes try to restore their legitimacy through closer ties with Salafist groups that do not oppose them, which would result in religious extremism.
