19/04/16: Parliamentary Roundtable discussion on human rights in Egypt

Posted onAuthorHumanRightsAPPG

The All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) held this meeting with an Egyptian lawyer and former activist, as well as Amnesty International UK and the Amnesty International Egypt team.

The main points raised during the meeting were as follows:

  • Repression of civil society in Egypt is worsening. The criminal justice system is being used as a tool of repression against activists, for example through the increasing use of detention and military trials, including to hand down the death penalty.
  • Human rights NGOs are the latest to be attacked in the crackdown on civil society and fundamental freedoms. Many NGO representatives are now in prison, facing travel bans or have had their assets frozen.
  • In April, officials from the Health Ministry and the local government attempted to close down a leading human rights group, El Nadeem Centre for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence. Judges are now overseeing a criminal investigation into the funding of NGOs; asking the courts to freeze the assets of two well-known human rights defenders, Hossam Baghat and Gamal Eid.
  • The recent torture and murder of Italian student Guilio Regeni has drawn international attention to human rights abuses in Egypt. His case is indicative of wider repression and human rights violations in Egypt.
  • Egyptian human rights NGOs are vital in exposing wider human rights issues in Egypt, including disappearances and torture.
  • The war against terrorism has been used as justification for the crackdown on civil society, and the Egyptian Government has conflated terrorism with legitimate protest and free expression.
  • As a close partner of Egypt, the UK must raise issues of human rights more forcefully with the Egyptian authorities.
  • The Foreign Office must allow for funding to be available to NGOs that are not officially registered through the new Magna Carta Fund. A registration requirement would bar applications for funding from many Egyptian and other NGOs from countries where official registration is problematic.

The PHRG raises human rights issues in Egypt as a matter of urgency and will continue to follow developments closely. Our latest actions include a letter to the Foreign Office on this issue as well as an EDM (See EDM 1172).