CAIRO: Egyptian rights groups embarked on meetings with United Nations officials in preparation for Egypt's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) scheduled to take place at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on Feb. 17. Independent Egyptian human rights groups have begun initial discussions with UN figures regarding the discrepancies between the independent groups' reports and the report presented by the Egyptian government. The Secretary-General of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights Hafez Abu Saeda met with the UN Human Rights Council's heads of special procedures, civil and political rights and special investigations. "We discussed the Egyptian government's human rights report and the state of human rights in Egypt, comparing the official report with that presented by independent rights groups, Abu Saeda told Daily News Egypt. He added that talks also revolved around the Egyptian authorities' stance vis-à-vis the UN's special rapporteurs, highlighting Egypt's refusal to host all but the rapporteur on terrorism, who was the only one to be officially allowed into the country. Abu Saeda said that during the meeting, he presented the EOHR report which highlighted the deteriorating state of human rights in Egypt, economically, socially, and politically in the areas of health, education, housing as well as political and civil rights. The report surveyed human rights violations by the Egyptian government between 2000 and April 2009, which include 285 torture cases, 118 of which have allegedly led to death. The EOHR will attend the Feb. 17 UPR as an observer, as well as participate in the discussion of a joint report prepared and presented to the UNHRC by 16 local human rights NGOs.
