EU – Egypt Association Council
Action Plan's Human Rights Section Falls Short of NGO Expectations
Brussels, Cairo,
March 7th 2007
Following the meeting of the Association
Council between the European Union (EU) and Egypt held yesterday, the
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Euro-Mediterranean
Human Rights Network (EMHRN), the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT)
and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), the Egyptian
Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) and the Cairo Institute for Human
Rights studies (CIHRS) take note of the adoption of an EU/Egypt Action Plan,
developed within the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy.
This bilaterally
negotiated document presented a precious opportunity for the development of
the first-ever roadmap for human rights reforms in Egypt. Unfortunately, and
despite repeated warnings from our organizations, the human rights language
included in the document has been significantly watered down, rendering it
closer to a declaration of intentions than to a program for action. The
document's human rights elements fail to reflect the recommendations of
United Nations bodies and experts, or even those of Egypt's official
National Council for Human Rights.
Our organisations take
positive note of the fact that the document calls on both parties to,
promote the independence of the judiciary; improve prison conditions; tackle
pre-trial and administrative detention systems; promote freedom of
expression, assembly and association; protect the rights of women and
children; fight against discrimination, racism and xenophobia; incorporate
international human rights and labour law into domestic legislation; combat
impunity; and ensure respect for human rights in the fight against terrorism
in accordance with international law.
We also welcome the fact
that a regular dialogue on human rights and democracy will be held under the
framework of the Association Agreement.
Nevertheless, our
organizations are deeply disappointed that
on the majority of issues, the human rights section of the Action Plan stops
short of stipulating any concrete commitments for the parties, and thus
fails to respond to the concerns raised by civil society on a number of
occasions. Among the most serious shortcomings of the document are the
following:
- The
entire human rights chapter lacks any specific, measurable and time bound
commitments;
- The
issue of torture is never mentioned in the document, while it has been
documented as systematic by various UN experts on a number of occasions and
cited as "the biggest single human rights violation in Egypt" in a 2005
country report issued by the European Commission.
- While
acknowledging the generic role of civil society, the Action Plan does not
foresee any specific role for civil society in monitoring and reviewing the
application of the document.
We therefore call on
Egypt and the EU to adopt a forward-looking approach with a view to
addressing the aforementioned shortcomings.
We call upon both parties
to establish a political mechanism for dialogue, evaluation, and systematic
and regular monitoring of the situation of human rights and reforms, in a
specific Subcommittee on Human Rights in the framework of the Association
Agreement. The Subcommittee should hold regular and systematic consultations
with civil society to seek its assessment of the evolution of the situation
of human rights in Egypt.
Contacts
FIDH: Antoine
Madelin: +32 2 609 4422,
amadelin@fidh.org
EMHRN :
Emilie Dromzée, +32 2 5030686,
edr
@
euromedrights.net
OMCT : Vivien
Blot, +32 2 218 37 19,
vivien.blot
@ euro.omct.org
EIPR: Hossam
Bahgat: +20 10 628 8928,
hossam @eipr.org
EOHR :
Hafez Abu Saeda: +2012 218 8309,
eohr @eohr.org
CIHRS :
Moataz El Fegiery, +202 7951112,
moataz
@cihrs.org
