Nineteen human rights organisations, including the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, and the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, submitted 100 recommendations to the Egyptian government, to comply with international standards to improve the human rights situation in Egypt, according to a Monday statement by EIPR.
Rights groups have reviewed Egypt’s compliance with human rights obligations and commitments imposed on it as a member of the United Nation’s (UN) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and “no progress has been made towards these commitments”, read the statement. The commitments included combating torture, empowering women, and upholding freedom of expression, freedom of protest, and freedom of belief.
The recommendations addressed many specific rights, including the right of peaceful assembly, the right of fair trial, women’s rights, rights of minorities, children, and refugees.
Human rights organisations, however, focused on the right to assembly and called for amendments of the Protest Law, stating that it is the main cause of dwindling freedoms in Egypt. The groups also asked for investigations into the use of force against demonstrators.
On 26 October, 23 activists were sentenced to three years in prison for violating the controversial Protest Law. Several rights groups have condemned the convictions.
Rights groups urged the government to put an end to military trials to civilians. Also, the statement mentioned freedom of association and interference of the government in the affairs of civil society organisations.
Several recommendations focused on torture and the degrading treatment where rights groups urged the government to conduct fair investigations into allegations of torture by the police. Other recommendations were made for the freedom of expression and media and amendment of the penal code to uphold freedom of expression in Egypt.
