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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 July - 2 August 2000 Issue No. 492 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 July - 2 August 2000 Issue No. 492
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters From the top down
By Amira HoweidyJust as Information Technology [IT] has become a buzz word in official discourse, human rights issues seem to be earning similar government attention. However, while lip service is paid in abundance, government action remains limited and controversial, according to rights groups.
In the spirit of the announcement last April of the imminent establishment of a national human rights institute, the Foreign Ministry and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) joined forces to launch a workshop on human rights for prosecutors and police officers. The event took place from 9-20 July and offered 50 police officers and district prosecutors 11 days of intensive training in a wide array of pertinent subjects.
The speakers and their research papers dealt with issues such as "problems facing Egypt in implementing its obligations stipulated in international human rights agreements," "human rights in Islam," "court action to protect human rights" and "human rights under emergency law." These are issues of concern for local and international rights groups, on the one hand, and of great sensitivity to the government, on the other.
The workshop is the outcome of a one-year agreement for cooperation between the UNDP and the Foreign Affairs Ministry in "capacity building in human rights." The UNDP financed the workshop under the terms of this agreement and "hopefully, it won't be the last activity of its kind," Adel El-Safti, project coordinator, told Al-Ahram Weekly. If the UNDP does not finance future workshops, he added, the ministry will seek funding elsewhere.
Indeed, it was the Foreign Ministry that had voiced repeated concerns for the lack of a basic human rights culture, especially in the security services. The Foreign Ministry's Human Rights Desk, established in 1992, is the only official body that responds to allegations and questions by international organisations concerning the human rights situation in this country.
The diplomatic and relatively Westernised cultural background of officials manning the ministry's Human Rights Desk has often been at odds with the performance and mentality of their counterparts in the security services. It is no surprise, therefore, that Hani Khallaf, who headed this desk until he was posted as Egypt's ambassador to Libya, was the one to come up with the idea of establishing a human rights institute. The move, however, was not viewed favourably by rights groups who perceived it as an attempt to marginalise their role.
Although the Police Academy and faculties of law have recently included human rights courses in their curricula, the organisers of the workshop deemed it necessary to introduce other related topics in their programme. "Human rights is an ever changing issue," said El-Safti. "Until very recently, for example, there was no such thing as viewing a healthy environment as a basic human right. It's necessary, therefore, to keep up with such developments." Moreover, he argued, human rights violations, "not only in Egypt but also in many parts of the world," are often committed by security forces.
The topics of discussion and the speakers were carefully selected by the project, without any attempt at interference from official bodies, said El-Safti. There were also clear criteria for the choice of trainees. "We wanted rank-and-file prosecutors and police officers, but they had to apply for attending the workshop, they had to take the initiative and prove they actually wanted to get this training. They also had to be recommended by their work places," he explained.
Twenty-five police officers and 25 district prosecutors, representing various departments, took part.
The workshop's last day was devoted to a visit to one of eight prisons located at Tora, south of Cairo, but not the prison where Islamist militants -- the subject of concern by rights groups -- are kept. El-Safti said that this was not intentional. "We just wanted to visit Tora and did not specify the prison we wanted to see," he explained.
The workshop's speakers included human rights activists, government officials and independent intellectuals.
"The fact that they chose relatively unpopular rights activists to address prosecutors and police officers is a major plus," one of the speakers, Negad El-Bora'i, a lawyer and rights activist, told the Weekly. "The concept of the workshop... is also a major step forward."
But El-Bora'i also pointed to drawbacks, such as the high ranks of some of the trainees and the fact that there should have been more prosecutors and police officers from the departments accused of flagrant human rights violations. "My impression is that young prosecutors were more open-minded and prone to accepting our arguments than older, high-ranking police officers... Besides, more trainees from the mabaheth [criminal investigation department], prison workers and the state security forces should have attended. These are the departments that need this [training] the most," he added.
Yet, a gap persists between the demands of rights groups and what the government actually offers. This was manifested when one of the invited speakers at the workshop, Saadeddin Ibrahim, a sociology professor at the American University in Cairo (AUC) and director of an NGO, was arrested four weeks ago. El-Safti finds no irony in this at all. "I don't see the link; Ibrahim wasn't arrested because of anything that has to do with human rights; he faces completely different charges," argued El-Safti.
Related stories:
Rights at a crossroads 18 - 24 May 2000
Rights NGO wins legal status 11 - 17 May 2000
Overseeing human rights 4 - 10 May 2000
Rights flouted left and right 23 - 29 July 1998Related links:
The Arab Organisation for Human Rights
