Over 100 orgs call on governments to establish UN monitoring mechanism on human rights in Egypt

More than 100 leading human rights groups from around the world have called on foreign governments to establish a monitoring and reporting mechanism on the human rights situation in Egypt at the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council scheduled to begin on February 22.

“We are at a critical juncture for human rights organizations and the wider struggle for human rights in Egypt,” the human rights organizations wrote in an open letter published on Tuesday and addressed to foreign ministers around the world. “The Egyptian government is attempting to annihilate human rights organizations and eradicate the human rights movement in the country.” 

The letter highlights the crackdown on the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) in November when authorities arrested three senior members of the group and held them in remand detention for two weeks on terrorism charges before releasing them amid a global outcry.

The EIPR arrests “demonstrate the Egyptian government’s determination to escalate its sustained, widespread and systematic attacks against human rights defenders and civic space in Egypt,” the letter said. “The release of the three EIPR staff after two weeks does however demonstrate the impact that international coordinated and public pressure can have, and therefore creates an opportunity to protect individuals, organizations, and the broader Egyptian human rights community.”

The letter specifically names a number of detainees currently held in remand detention in Egypt, including lawyer Mohamed al-Baqer; journalists Esraa Abdel Fattah and Solafa Magdy; Ibrahim Ezz Eddin, housing rights researcher at the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms; and Patrick Zaki, gender rights researcher at EIPR.

“The inaction of the UN Human Rights Council on the human rights crises in Egypt appears to have emboldened the government in its efforts to silence dissent and crush independent civil society,” the letter said. “The international community is able through joint action at the upcoming Council to send a clear message that such an attack is not acceptable and will come with costs.”

While the letter was endorsed by over 100 human rights organizations, the full list of signatories was not publicly shared “due to security concerns of some of the organizations.”