On the occasion of the International Human Rights Day, Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs asserted the importance of world cooperation to create a better future for young generations.
The Ministry said, in a statement on Thursday, that Egypt aspires to a new world that balances between political, civil, economic, social, and cultural rights, without prioritising certain rights over others, or exploiting human rights to achieve narrow political ends.
The Foreign Ministry indicated that Egyptian diplomacy during the current year exerted its best to achieve the interests of African and developing countries, through several initiatives that deal with important issues such as terrorism, human rights, the right to work, and empowerment and promotion of women’s rights. Egypt has spared no effort in supporting the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, and supporting international resolutions aimed at promoting coexistence, rejecting discrimination, and combating racism, the Ministry added.
It pointed out that Egypt has taken very important steps towards improving the human rights situation at the national level, as it held the Senate election earlier this year. The current year also witnessed the issuance of the executive regulations for a law on civil work in Egypt, the most important of which is confirming the establishment of civil society organisations through only notification of concerned authorities, and facilitating the necessary administrative and financial procedures for that.
In a parallel track, the Permanent Higher Committee for Human Rights has completed the founding steps and started its tasks, including working on formulating a national strategy for human rights for the first time, to serve as an overarching national framework for coordinating and stimulating Egyptian efforts in this field. The committee has also developed an integrated plan to finalise all overdue periodic reports to be submitted before the end of next year.
With regard to religious freedoms, the Ministry stressed that during the current year, efforts continued in the field of strengthening religious freedoms, consolidating the achievements made in this field. The competent ministries and official religious state institutions, led by Al Azhar and the Egyptian churches, continued to promote tolerance and confront extremism. The government has also embarked on the implementation of a $70m plan to restore some Egyptian religious monuments, including synagogues in Cairo and Alexandria.
