Your Excellency, Dr. Nabil El Araby
Secretary General, League of Arab States
Ahead of the upcoming Ministerial Council of the League on September 3rd, 2013 we the undersigned, representing 35 NGOs and networks from 13 countries, urge the Secretary General of the League of Arab States (LAS) to put forward the current alarming situation in Egypt as a priority of discussion on the agenda of the Council.
In light of the events over the last weeks in Egypt and the ongoing violence by state security forces and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and the growing human rights violations, which lead to the death of over 1,000 individuals in addition to thousands of injured as well as the damage caused to dozens of private property and state institutions, we call on the LAS to take an active role in addressing the situation in uttermost urgency.
We note the steps taken by other international and regional institutions, namely the United Nations and the African Union, on the situation in Egypt, while the political bodies of the LAS have remained silent. The United Nations has moved on multiple levels (through continual statements issued by the Secretary General, sending a special delegation headed by the Assistant to the Secretary General for Political Affairs, and a request by the High Commissioner for Human Rights to allow a delegation to visit Egypt to evaluate the current human rights crisis). Moreover, the African Union also established the AU High-Level Panel on Egypt which has visited Egypt twice for the same purpose.
We reiterate the call made by 22 Arab NGOs on 29 August 2013 for a thorough, independent and impartial fact finding mission under the auspices of LAS, as a neutral body, into the events, especially in the light of conflicting claims by the various parties and the growing incitement to violence rhetoric deployed by all sides, to guarantee that the truth is found and that necessary measures are taken to ensure accountability for human rights violations and to stop any further escalation to the situation which may put Egyptians at further risks to their lives, property, livelihood and security.
Signatories:
- Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
- Al-Khatim Adlan Centre for Enlightenment & Human Development, Sudan
- Appropriate Communications Techniques for Development, Egypt
- Arab Network for Human Rights Information
- Arab NGO Network for Development
- Arab Penal Reform Organization
- Association Jeunes pour Jeunes morocco
- Bahrain Human Rights Society
- Bahrain Transparency Society
- Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights
- Centre De Tunis Pour Liberte De La Presse
- Committee for the Respect of Liberties and Human Rights, Tunisia
- Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Network
- Group for Human Rights Legal Assistance, Egypt
- Human Rights and Democracy Media Center (Shams), Palestine
- Human Rights First Society, Saudi Arabia
- Human Rights Information and Training Center, Yemen
- International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
- Iraqi Election Information Network
- L’Association Adala (Justice), Morocco
- Lawyers for Justice in Libya
- Loaloa Center for Human Rights
- Moroccan Instance of Human Rights
- Palestinian Human Rights Organization
- Sudan Monitor for Human Rights
- Sudan Social Development Organization
- Tammuz Organization for Social Development, Iraq
- The Arab World Observatory for Democracy and Election, Palestine
- The Collective of NGOs in Sidon, Lebanon
- The Gulf forum for Civil Society Institutions
- The Mauritanian Scholars Club for Democracy and Development
- The Palestinian Working Women’s Society for Developmentt
- Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights
- Yemen Center for Transitional Justice
- Yemen Organization for Defending Rights & Democratic Freedoms