CAIRO: The National Council for Human Rights has received over 9,228 complaints from people reporting violations of their human rights over the past six months, council head Botrous Botrous-Ghali said this week. Disaggregating the figures, Ghali said that the majority (50 percent) of complaints concerned violations of economic rights. Fifteen percent are concerned with social rights while 8.5 percent address political rights. Quoted by the MENA news agency Ghali said that there has been a noticeable rise in the number of annual complaints received by the council, "reflecting the credibility it now enjoys. Ghali suggested that the fact that responses from government bodies to complaints submitted to them "is continually increasing every year reflects the "compliance of these bodies. Ghali added that the council had dispatched four fact-finding missions in the past six months to Alexandria, Sharqeya, Gharbeya and Cairo. Head of the council's "mobile complaints units Mohamed Fayeq said that the mobile units undertook nine visits during this period. Fayeq added that further visits are planned to Beni Suef, Assiut and Sohag as well as Sinai. Moataz El-Fegeiry, executive director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, said that Egypt's human rights community has been disappointed by the council's performance since its creation in 2003. El-Fegeiry suggested that the fact that the council has received thousands of complaints "does not indicate that it enjoys people's trust. "These complaints have also been received by Egyptian NGOs, and in fact the Council sends some of the complaints it receives onto NGOs. Thousands of complaints are sent in Egypt. I don't consider this a criterion of success, El-Fegeiry told Daily News Egypt. "People will trust the council when it creates pressure. Pressure is the decisive element. The council avoids confrontation with the government and has been soft in its approach to many issues such as torture and the counter-terrorism law currently in the drafting process. El-Fegeiry suggested that "rather than being an intermediary between the people and the government, the council is used by the government to defend its image against criticism.
