 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 May 2000 Issue No. 480 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 May 2000 Issue No. 480
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Overseeing human rights
By Amira Howeidy
The government-sponsored National Human Rights Council remains, a week after its planned formation was announced, an official project, unrelated to rights groups and, in many ways, shrouded in secrecy.
Rights groups are keeping a close watch and, as in the case of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR), are biding their time before making statements on the surprising decision by the Justice Ministry to establish the council.
"We found out about it from the newspapers, just like everyone else. We don't know why the government decided to do this. But we will wait until things are clearer before we make a statement," Hisham Qasim, an EOHR board member, told Al-Ahram Weekly.
Aimed at what Justice Minister Farouk Seif El-Nasr described as "the enhancement" and "protection of human rights in Egypt," the council will be affiliated to the presidency. The president will appoint its chairman from among some 20 members.
The council will be constituted after a committee, appointed by Seif El-Nasr, completes in three weeks a review of an 11-article bill governing the body's activities.
The council will be the third official body with a human rights agenda. In addition to the Foreign Ministry's human rights desk, established in 1992, there is also a human rights division in the prosecutor-general's office. The Foreign Ministry desk, currently headed by Ambassador Hani Khallaf, is the administration's focal point, serving various sections of the Ministries of Justice and the Interior, as well as the prosecutor-general's office. The desk's mandate is to provide information on all developments and trends in the field of human rights and determine how Egypt can benefit from them. It also responds to allegations and questions emanating from international organisations concerning the human rights situation in the country.
The section in the prosecutor-general's office is, theoretically, more involved in investigating claims of human rights abuses. However, local human rights groups complain that it has never responded to the stream of complaints they have sent to it.
Why, then, a third government body? "It is to protect human rights, promote Egypt's civilised role in this respect and conduct human rights-related research and studies for the concerned ministries," explained Seif-El Nasr. "The council will also work on disseminating the culture of human rights... with the aim of promoting citizens' awareness of their constitutional rights."
On the international level, the council will represent Egypt officially "at all international and regional events related to human rights."
The reports which Egypt has to present to UN bodies on the state of human rights, as part of its commitments under human rights conventions, will be prepared by the council, in coordination with the Foreign Ministry's human rights desk.
But the government-sponsored council is viewed with suspicion by some human rights groups, such as the Centre for Human Rights Legal Aid (CHRLA). In a statement, CHLRA said, "It is unreasonable that the government should form a human rights council in a country where human rights are violated by the government." The council's role, CHRLA argued, will be limited to "coming up with justifications for organisations, international events and public opinion. How else should we interpret the government's position during the past two decades regarding the reports issued by rights groups on violations?"
If anything, the council "is only a negative addition that will further curtail the activities of independent civil society in the fields of human rights."
Rights groups are said to be already reeling from the controversial NGO law, which they view as restrictive, allegedly because it imposes government control over their activities.
Says EOHR's Qasim, "We have no idea who will be appointed on this council or why it will be formed in the first place. One can only assume that Egypt is acting to improve its blemished human rights image." Stressing that he was speaking only for himself, not the EOHR, Qasim argued that "this is a situation where the government will be monitoring the performance of the government... I'm a little wary of the whole thing."
CHLRA has called for a meeting of rights groups to discuss the issue.
Related story:
Turning a new page - 23 - 29 March 2000
