Open letter to EU Member States Ahead of the Universal Periodic Review

Your Excellency,

The next Universal Periodic Review (UPR) ofEgypt’s human rights record is scheduled for 13 November 2019, under theauspices of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. We are writing to strongly urgeyour government to use this occasion to address the unprecedented levels ofrepression in Egypt.

Since the last review of Egypt’s record in2014, human rights violations have increased sharply and the undersignedorganisations and our partners have documented an unparalleled stiflingof human rights organisations and humanrights defenders. The UPR is an opportunity for States to contribute to reversingthese trends and promoting respect for human rights in Egypt.

We urge your government to takepart in the UPR process and to make concrete recommendations tothe Egyptian authorities to urgently address the following issues:

1. Establish a moratorium onthe use of the death penalty with a view to abolishing it. Review thepenal code, code of criminal procedure, military code; the Law onCounter-Terrorism (Law 94/2015), and the Law on Terrorist Entities (8/2015), inline with minimum fair trial guarantees and ensure that civilians are notreferred to exceptional or military courts on any grounds; and respect theprinciple of individual criminal responsibility by putting an end to the use ofmass trials.

2. End the useof torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment orpunishment, including incommunicado detention and prolonged solitary confinement. Allow detainees requiring urgent medical attention tobe transferred to appropriate medical facilities and give them prompt andregular access to their legal representatives and families. Investigateallegations of torture, enforced disappearance and ill-treatment. To ensure accountability, the authorities shouldallow independent, unrestricted and unannounced visits to all places ofdetention; adopt a comprehensive anti-torture law in line with the 2014Constitution and the United Nations Convention against Torture.

3. Amend, adopt and effectively implementlegislation to eliminate all forms of discrimination and criminalise all formsof violence against women and girls, including by amending the PersonalStatus Law and introducing legal provisions prohibiting domestic violence,including marital rape, as well as sexual harassment, assaults and rape. Further,the authorities should further effectively carry out the National Strategy toCombat Violence Against Women in partnership with independent civil societyorganisations with recognised expertise in the field.

4. Immediately and unconditionally release allhuman rights defenders, civil society activists and all those detainedor imprisoned solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression,assembly and association, including lawyers, journalists, labour rightsactivists, minority rights activists, and LGBTQI activists. Put a stop toexcessive police probation measures and the use of prolonged pre-trialdetention to punish dissenters, close Case 173/2011 against Egyptian NGOs and lift arbitrary travel bans on human rightsdefenders.

5. Protect freedom of expression,association and assembly by immediately repealing or amending, incompliance with the 2014 Constitution and international standards, the deeplyrestrictive Protest Law (Law 107/2013) to allow gatherings by notifying theauthorities in advance and to limit theuse of force by security forces, the Assembly law (Law 10/1914), the Media Law(Law 180/2018), the Cyber-Crime Law (Law 175/2018), and the Law of Associationsand Other Foundations Working in the Field of Civil Work (Law 149/2019). Stopclosing down human rights organisations by administrative orders. Stop blockinginternet sites, especially websites belonging to human rights organisations andnews websites.

6. Allow, humanitarian aidorganisations, independent observers and journalists access to North Sinai and investigate all abusesby the militant groups and government forces. Compensate all residents whosehouses were demolished, cease home demolitions until further consultations withlocal communities and make sure that displaced populations are offered adequatehumanitarian aid and support for temporary housing.

7. Support requests by UN treaty bodies andspecial procedures to carry out official missions to Egypt and ensure thatno one is subjected to reprisals, such as arbitrary arrest or intimidation, forcooperating with the UN human rights mechanisms.

We urge your governmentto keep a close watch on the human rights situation in Egypt after the outcomeof the review has been adopted. This can be done, for instance, by requestingan update one year down the line. Mostof the recommendations Egypt accepted during the previous UPR review have notbeen carried out. This highlights the need to follow up on the UPRrecommendations and the importance of this UPR in reiterating to Egypt thatits disregard of human rights remains unacceptable.

Finally, as to ensure that thisUPR is a forum for effective engagement on Egypt’s human rights record, Egyptshould lift the arbitrary travel bans imposed on human rights defenders, sothat they can participate freely in the UPR in Geneva, and to do so withoutfear of reprisals.

With assurances of our highestconsideration,

AmnestyInternational

Andalus Institutefor Tolerance and anti-Violence Studies

Cairo Institute forHuman Rights Studies

CIVICUS

Committee to ProtectJournalists

DIGNITY - DanishInstitute Against Torture

EuroMed Rights

InternationalFederation for Human Rights (FIDH)

Front Line Defenders

Human Rights Watch

International Commissionof Jurists

International Service for Human Rights

Ligue des droits de l'Homme

People in Need

Reporters WithoutBorders

SOLIDAR

The Tahrir Institute for Middle EastPolicy (TIMEP)

World OrganisationAgainst Torture

An Overview of the Human Rights Situation inEgypt

Inutter disregard for its constitutional and international human rightsobligations, Egypt has reached unprecedented levels of repression, often in thename of security. Inrecent years, the authorities have accelerated the use of the deathpenalty, while denying minimum fair trial guarantees and frequently subjectingdetainees and prisoners to human rights violations.

The United Nations Committee AgainstTorture in 2017 reached the “inescapable conclusion that torture is asystematic practice in Egypt.” In 2018, 75 defendants were sentenced to deathin an unfair mass trial in connection with the 2013 Rabaa sit-in. The UN high commissionerfor human rights described the trial as “a grossand irreversible miscarriage of justice.”

In contrast, no securityofficial has been brought to justice for the massacre of over 800 demonstratorsat the sit-in.This is a clear illustration of the impunity for state-sponsored crimes inEgypt.

The Egyptian authorities are increasinglyemploying repressive tactics such as prolonged pre-trial detention, enforceddisappearance, and judicial harassment to suppress all independent voices,including through unfounded investigations for national security-relatedcharges. Egypt is one of the world’s biggest jailers ofjournalists and independenthuman rights groups are being systematically annihilated.

The Egyptian government enacted a new lawregulating the work of nongovernmental groups (NGO law) on 22 August, said tobe an improved version of the draconian 2017 law. However, the new lawmaintains the repressive essence of its predecessor, such as imposing largefines for vaguely defined violations and preventing organisations fromundertaking any work viewed to be “political.” Human rights defenders have beenbanned from travelling and had their assets frozen since the 2014 reopening ofinvestigations into the “foreign funding” of their organisations.

Constitutional amendments have furtherundermined the rule of law, increased unfair trials, enshrined impunity of thearmed forces and placed them above all elected authorities. These were hastily adopted through areferendum in April amid a worsening crackdown onfreedom of expression that includes the censoring of over 500 websites insideEgypt and severe restrictions on independent media, as well as the arrest ofcritics and opponents.