In view of the upcoming debate on Egypt at the European Parliament with EU High Representative Catherine Ashton on March 13th, the Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) is urging the European Union to exercise maximum leverage on the Egyptian government in the context of a receding human rights climate plaguing the country.
EMHRN members from Egypt* met EU representatives on 6-7 March and gave a worrying account on how severely the situation of public freedoms and human rights, including women’s rights, has deteriorated in Egypt in the last 8 months.
‘What is happening in Egypt right now is not a transition to democracy, it is a transition from a former authoritarian regime to another repressive authoritarian regime,’ informed the EMHRN delegation.
‘What is at stake here is not a conflict between secular views and religious one. What is at stake in today’s Egypt is the fight to make sure the fundamental rights of every single Egyptian citizen are protected. Every day, we witness bloody repression of peaceful protests by police but also by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, on some occasions.’
More specifically, the EMHRN warned EU officials of the repressive laws threatening to paralyse NGOs operating in the country and reported distressing trends of using sexual violence against women as a political tool to shame Egyptian women away from taking part in political life in Egypt.
‘The situation is ever so alarming. Egyptian civil society is now facing extermination ploys from the Government. Women are being attacked in all impunity and steadily marginalised from Egypt’s public space. The EU has a duty to act fast and use every means it owns to condition any support it provides to the Egyptian authorities to the respect of human rights,’ added the EMHRN delegation.
The EMHRN is therefore asking the EU to send a clear message to the Egyptian government that the level of its political, financial and technical engagement will be tightly measured against progress made in human rights, including gender equality.
* Bahey Eldine Hassan from the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), Nawla Darwish from the New Woman Foundation (NWF) and Ahmed Samih from Al Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti Violence Studies have been meeting French President Cabinet and the French Foreign Ministry in Paris as well as top EU officials in Brussels.
For more info:
Read our Joint Declaration on Egypt (Eradicating Dissent in Post-Mubarak Egypt, 11 February 2013)