The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) in cooperation with Lawyers for Lawyers and a large number of NGOs from around the world, delivered an oral statement during the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council. In the statement, the NGOs expressed their support for a joint declaration by UN member states condemning the human rights situation in Egypt, and expressed concern for widespread human rights violations committed with impunity by the Egyptian authorities.
The statement reads as follows:
As NGOs from around the world we welcome the joint declaration made by states under this Agenda Item condemning the widespread human rights violations being carried out by the Egyptian government – and view this declaration as the beginning of a long overdue process to ensure strong and consistent attention at this Council on the human rights crises in Egypt.
Earlier this year more than 100 NGOs from around the world wrote to UN member states to warn them that the Egyptian government is attempting to annihilate human rights organizations and eradicate the human rights movement in the country through sustained and systematic attacks.
Such attacks have occurred in the context of an “increasingly brutal crackdown on human rights defenders and civil and political rights more broadly,” often carried out under the guise of “counterterrorism.”
The message today to the Egyptian government is clear: you will no longer be given carte blanche to imprison, torture, violate the right to life or murder peaceful critics.
Going forward, we urge this Council and its members to demand that Egypt begin to immediately release and provide remedy to all those arbitrarily detained, including human rights defenders, journalists, academics, artists, lawyers and politicians, as well as those whose cases have been raised by the Special Procedures and OHCHR.
