New Report Urges Egyptian Government Not to Obstruct
Proposed UN Human Rights Council

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) urged the Egyptian Government in a new report issued today to stop obstructing the establishment of a new United Nations Human Rights Council.

The 48-page report, entitled "Egypt's Position regarding Proposed UN Human Rights Council", comes less than one month before the World Summit 2005, which is to be held at the UN headquarters in New York from 14-16 September. Some 170 heads of state and government are expected to attend the summit in what would be the largest gathering of world leaders in history. The Summit is widely viewed as a historic opportunity to make radical decisions on security, development, human rights and reform of the United Nations.  

Among the expected outcomes of the summit is a decision to establish a permanent, elevated Human Rights Council as the world's foremost intergovernmental human rights body. The proposed Council will be subsidiary to the UN General Assembly and replace the Commission on Human Rights, which has become largely ineffective and discredited due to excessive politicization, selectivity and double-standards. 

EIPR's new report, however, reveals a series of hostile steps taken by Egypt's Foreign Ministry over the past six months in order to delay the process of establishing the Human Rights Council. These steps included initial objections to the Council's idea; trying to limit the effectiveness of its independent experts; attempts to restrict the participation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in its activities; and, most significantly, seeking to strip the Council of its monitoring and protective functions that are essential in guaranteeing its independence and effectiveness in the promotion and protection of human rights anywhere in the world.

"The position of Egypt's Foreign Ministry regarding the reform of the international human rights machinery has added Egypt to a list that includes Cuba, China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Belarus," said Hossam Bahgat, Director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. "This is not a list about which Egypt should feel proud".  

In addition to a detailed documentation of the different elements of Egypt's official position concerning the establishment of the Human Rights Council, the report introduces an overview of the process of reforming the UN human rights system, which has led to the current proposals that world leaders will discuss in their summit next month.  

"Creating a new UN body with a new mandate is the only hope to move from an era of moral promises and standard setting into the era of implementing and enforcing the rights protected by these standards," Bahgat added. "It is unfortunate for Egypt to choose the wrong side at this significant moment."

The EIPR called on the Egyptian Foreign Ministry to cease its efforts to obstruct the process of establishing the UN Human Rights Council; ensure that the new council will have a mandate that allows it to fulfill its role in protecting human rights; guarantee that this body will preserve the strengths of the current machinery, namely the role of independent experts and the participation of NGOs; inform the public opinion of the elements of Egypt's official position regarding this process; and hold consultations with Egyptian independent human rights organizations about the subject before next month's World Summit.

The organization also urged Egypt's National Council for Human Rights to take immediate steps to influence Egypt's official position on the process of establishing the new UN Council and to declare its position regarding negative steps taken by the Egyptian government in this regard.

The report can be viewed in Arabic at www.eipr.org and an English version will be available online next week.