The US Congress has stirred up a new whirlwind in bringing up allegations of Egypt’s violations of human rights again.
As expected, this came as new US President Joe Biden took office. Biden is striving to pay the bills for his arrival to the White House from among the representatives, especially those who have controversial relations with Arab and non-Arab parties in the Middle East.
Democrat representatives Don Bayer and Tom Malinowski recently announced their intention to form a committee to monitor human rights in Egypt. This has sparked discontent in Egypt, as members of the House of Representatives and Senate declared their refusal of outside interference in Egyptian affairs.
Egypt’s two houses called on the US Congress to take care of the affairs of their own country, especially after the recent events in Washington, and the concerns raised over fraud in the recent presidential elections.
In fact, the events Egypt experienced on 30 June 2013, and the subsequent external, internal, and regional attempts to undermine the country so that it would fail to achieve any significant achievement, confirm that Egypt possesses all the components of what is called a “conscious state” as classified by political references. It is a unified, sovereign state that possesses the political, economic, and military capabilities that enable it to achieve its goals.
It is unsurprising that Egypt’s human rights file would be reopened with Biden’s arrival in the White House. It was also expected that the new US administration would give Egypt’s human rights record special attention, given that it gained little attention from the Trump administration.
Former President Donald Trump was well aware that human rights organisations are just a lie, despite their receiving billions in funding from the US budget.
We do not need to confirm that Egypt is an ancient, sovereign state that does not interfere in the affairs of any country, and all other countries must respect that. It also adheres to the universal principles of human rights and has institutions that monitor the human rights situation following international standards.
Issuing judgments without an objective view that reflects Egypt’s reality is unacceptable, especially since most of the reports from human rights organisations abroad depend on politicised and incorrect information. They are frequently based on false allegations and stories propagated by the Muslim Brotherhood through its media platforms to spread chaos and lies to harm Egypt’s reputation.
In this context, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry has said, “Egypt can criticise human rights situations in other countries, but the Egyptian state is convinced that assessing human rights conditions is the task of every society according to its circumstances and the challenges it faces.”
The Egyptian administration’s messages confirm that any interaction with the issue of human rights must be based on real information provided by the Egyptian people, not groups that do not represent them and use the human rights file for their own agenda.
Egypt is undertaking serious work to advance human rights at all levels, by continuing to promote the culture of human rights and to ensure there are no violations.
The most important aspect related to this issue is the right of the Egyptian people to live in safety and peace, by confronting the threat of terrorism and takfiri organisations.
By Dr Hatem Sadek, Professor at Helwan University
