Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 21 - 27 September 2000 Issue No. 500
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

	Egypt Elections Development Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Special Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters

Physician heal thyself?

By Omayma Abdel-Latif

This year's US State Department report on the status of religious freedom in Egypt maintained what several commentators consider a somewhat "more balanced" approach than previously. Nevertheless, simplistic assumptions and preconceived ideas continued to permeate the report, Egyptian analysts told Al-Ahram Weekly.

The report on international religious freedom is the second to be released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human rights and Labour of the US State Department. The first was issued in September 1999 and came on the heels of the approval of a controversial law called Freedom from Religious Persecution Act. The law, authored by two Republican Congressmen, Frank Wolf and Arlene Specter, was passed in September 1998. It provided for the documentation of cases of religious persecution around the globe as well as the appointment of an ambassador at large for religious freedom monitoring. Senator Robert Ciple was appointed to monitor the status of religious minorities around the globe.

It was noted that the year 2000 report maintained a positive line when referring to the Egyptian government's efforts directed towards protecting the right to religious freedom. "The government undertook a series of initiatives to address the concerns of the Christian community including the facilitation of church repairs, the appointment of Copts to senior positions in the ruling political party and expanded treatment of Coptic themes in the media," the report noted.

To some Egyptian analysts, such statements only reflected a reality that has long been ignored by previous similar reports.

The observers, however, noted that the report was ambivalent because it vacillated between long preconceived ideas of religious discrimination and the existing realities on the ground of which it began to take note only this time.

"The report editors could not rid themselves of the old assumptions which view Egyptian Copts as a minority," Samir Morqos, head of the Middle East Church Council, told Al-AhramWeekly.

Egyptian analysts viewed as positive the report's acknowledgment of the "common history and national identity which Muslims and Copts share". It points out further that "Christians and Muslims live as neighbours. At times religious tension flares up and individual acts of prejudice occur," but that "discrimination is practiced by members of both faiths."

The report, on the other hand, insists that "discrimination against Copts exists". As evidence, it suggests "the suspected statistical under representation of the size of the Christian population". It argues, therefore, that a long and winding road lies ahead of the government before it reconciles with the nation's Coptic minority.

In response to this particular accusation, Nabil Abdel-Fattah, editor-in-chief of the annual State of Religion in Egypt Report published by the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, said that the issue of statistical under representation has never been a fundamental concern. "This notion of statistical under representation defies the basic principles of the modern state -- and Egypt is -- whose only criteria in dealing with its citizens is citizenship. Therefore, religious, ethnic, political, partisan or social affiliations do not, and should not, in any way play a role in shaping the relationship between the state and its people," Abdel-Fattah explained

He argued that statistical under representation of Copts, if true, should not be linked to religious discrimination, but is due to the crisis of democratisation, political participation and political exclusion of some segments of society from the political process in Egypt. "This has led some to suggest that political representation in the People's Assembly should be based on the quota system, but this is again another form of religious discrimination, whereas the modern state should allow all its citizens, regardless of number and religious affiliation, the same mechanisms and the same opportunities in the political sphere," Abdel-Fattah said

Morqos, who authored a book on the Wolf-Spectre law, noted that while the report maintained an ambivalent tone vis-a-vis the government, it nevertheless failed to make any mention of the civil society's efforts towards cementing stronger Coptic-Muslim ties.

"The report, whether deliberately or not, fell short of monitoring the attempts made by intellectuals and civil society forces to deal, for example, with what happened in [the Upper Egyptian village of] Al-Kosheh. If they are monitoring the whole map of Egypt, they may just as well have monitored all the non-governmental efforts in this domain. This would have revealed that the eradication of the roots of prejudice on both sides will have to emanate from society itself, and not be imposed from above," Morqos told the Weekly.

Morqos also said that an Islamic-Coptic dialogue, initiated during the period covered by the report, was not monitored.

"It is important to put on record such meetings between Muslims and Copts, since they deal with common, shared concerns, including such issues as citizenship, social justice, political participation and poverty. They seek to establish common ground on national issues, and this was not mentioned in the report for some reason," Morqos said.

Other observers questioned the wisdom of having the US holding itself solely responsible for monitoring the status of religious minorities around the globe. Such posturing, the say, carries with it the implication that the US is a role model to be looked up to on issues of human and minority rights.

But for Morqos, the report's most astonishing revelation is that it offers an insight into the ever-expanding role of the US embassy in Egypt. According to the report, "The [US] embassy [in Cairo] investigates every complaint of religious discrimination brought to its attention. The embassy also discusses religious freedom with a range of contacts including academics, businessmen, and citizens outside of the capital area as well as those from a lower income background."

Morqos expressed deep concern, saying that "the report reads as if the embassy had been turned into a local complaint office standing between the state and Egyptian citizens on the question of religious discrimination."

In response, embassy officials said that they were only one of a variety of sources through which the data for the report were gathered.

 

	weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg