CAIRO: The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council has selected prominent activist Aida Seif El-Dawla among four nominees for the position of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) said in a statement Sunday.
Seif El-Dawla, also professor of psychiatry at Ain Shams University, came second among the top four nominees to be the first Egyptian who reaches this phase, the statement added.
“Other than being a recognition of my [long years of work], such nomination means that this region is quite important [to the UN] with regards to torture-related cases,” Seif El-Dawla told Daily News Egypt Monday.
In June, EIPR presented Seif El-Dawla as a nominee for the position in recognition of her achievements and advocacy for human rights.
A consultative group of five ambassadors representing the five regions of the member countries looked into the files of 303 potential rapporteurs and choose 18. Four of the 18 were then selected for the final round.
Seif El-Dawla has been involved in civil society since 1984. She is also a founding member of several other organizations including the Egyptian Association against Torture, the New Woman Research Center, the Association for Health and Environmental Development, El-Nadim Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and the Task Force against Female Circumcision in Egypt.
Seif El-Dawla does not rule out the possibility of the Egyptian government standing in her way.
“I don’t predict intentions. But it is expected that the government may interfere; and on the other hand [officials] might think of it as [an Egyptian] nominated to hold [an international] position,” she noted.
On Nov. 4, 2003, Human Rights Watch bestowed its highest honor upon Seif El-Dawla for her courageous work against torture in Egypt.
Representative of Human Rights Watch, Clarisa Bencomo, commented said at the time: "Dr. Seif El Dawla’s steadfast commitment to combating torture and other human rights abuses is an inspiration to her fellow activists in Egypt and abroad."
The UN Special Rapporteur (also called Special Procedures) is a title given to individuals working on behalf of the UN who bear a specific mandate from the UN Human Rights Council to investigate, monitor and recommend solutions to human rights problems. They work independent of the governments of their homelands.
Appointed by the UN Secretary General, these experts are "of high moral character and recognized competence in the field of human rights."
The UN Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the UN system made up of 47 states responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe.
The council is expected to choose the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture at the end of the council’s 15th session due to be held Sept. 13–Oct. 1.
