Sunday, March 15, 2020
Press Release
The Egyptian human rights delegation, consisting of the Forum of Development and Human Rights Dialogue (FDHRD), the Egyptian Women Jurists Association, and the Women and Development Association in Alexandria, emphasized the need to encourage the Egyptian government for its positive action in interacting with the mechanisms of the United Nations Human Rights Council. At the same time, the delegation welcomes the Egyptian government to accept most of the recommendations received by the Egyptian report during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session, which was held at the headquarters of the United Nations Human Rights Council last November.
Saeed Abdel Hafez, FDHRD manager, explained that the delegation participating in the session of adopting the recommendations today at the United Nations headquarters, that the Egyptian government’s acceptance of the serious recommendations reflects its seriousness in interacting with the UN mechanisms and its quest to improve the human rights situation, pointing out that Egypt has already submitted about 5 reports to the treaty committees, and this It reflects a great interest in adhering to international conventions on civil and political rights.
The Egyptian human rights delegation had participated in the UPR session of the Egypt file last November and will continue its participation in the current session of the Council in the session to adopt the recommendations during the second week of March. It is reported that Egypt received 372 recommendations. The directed recommendations that countries participating in Egypt’s session focused on the importance of enhancing the human rights situation, paying attention to the right to organize and cooperate with international mechanisms, ratifying international treaties, giving more space to civil society organizations, creating a safe environment for workers for these organizations, and promoting a culture of human rights.
The recommendations also focused on the rights of women, children, people with disabilities, economic and social rights, and focus on measures to combat unemployment, create job opportunities, combat illiteracy, and provide adequate housing.
The recommendations demanded opening the way for freedom of opinion and expression, reviewing freedom-restricting legislation in opinion cases and abolishing the death penalty.
The recommendations also called on the Egyptian government to join the international treaties concerned with combating torture and mistreatment, the right to a fair trial, the establishment of a mechanism to investigate any allegations of torture, and attention to the right to education and health, combating corruption, human trafficking and discrimination. and eliminating terrorism.
Abdel Hafez explained that the delegation will participate in two oral interventions on its demands from the Egyptian government to complete the procedures for enhancing transparency and combating corruption in Egypt, as well as asking the government to issue laws to protect whistleblowers and witnesses in corruption cases, as well as issuing a law for the circulation and flow of information.Top of Form
