National Democratic Party (NDP) Media Secretary Ali Eddin Helal said that respect for human rights is not a religion, but indeed a global right. He added that the right to education and health, freedom of opinion, democracy, power rotation and social justice are included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which set the foundations for all social, political and economic rights. He said this at symposium held yesterday by the Arab Politicians Foundation for the 60th anniversary of the signature of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Helal said that, while these rights are universal, they are applied in different ways according to each country's economic conditions. He also affirmed that Egypt was one of the founding members which drafted the Declaration, adding that more than 50 NGOs work in the field of human rights in addition to the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), which was set up by initiative of the NDP and the Human Right Committee of the People's Assembly [Egypt's lower chamber of Parliament]. He pointed out that the most dangerous thing for the NDP is to be taken over by a mono-partisan culture while there are other political forces and parties. He criticized most of the reports issued by NGOs, saying they have a foreign agenda and are issued by the US Department of State, as they criticize human rights condition in Egypt and deal with fictional issues, as he put it. Al-Masry Al-Youm asked him how human rights can be respected while the Emergency Law is still in force. "No one wants the State of Emergency to continue, but it depends on the way this state is applied" he answered. He pointed out that the State of Emergency gives the authorities the right to take any car in order to use it in case of necessity as well as the right to confiscate any newspaper. However, he said that more than five daily newspapers criticize the Egyptian president in their headlines and are not shut down. The majority's leader at the People's Assembly, Abdel Ahad Gamal Eddin, said that commemorating the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was a chance "to review ourselves and what we have and have not achieved". "We're still at the beginning of the road and must make more efforts" he added. He explained that human rights have two legal aspects. The first has to do with general international law as well as international law related to international treaties, pacts and charts signed by Egypt. The second has to do with International Humanitarian Law (IHL), the law on human rights in wartime and the implementation of the conventions signed in Geneva and elsewhere.
