29th Session of the UN Human Rights Council – June 15 - July 3, 2015
Item 4 – Interactive Dialogue
Files: Freedoms of assembly and association
The case was filed in 2013 following the Edward Snowden leaks, which revealed the scale of communications surveillance by British and US intelligence practiced through the direct interception or tapping into global communication infrastructure.
Yesterday, the investigating judge in the NGO foreign funding case delegated a committee from the Ministry of Social Solidarity to visit the offices of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) in Cairo and look into its activities.
The undersigned organizations believe that these charges are aimed at harassing independent judges who support legislative reforms to improve the human rights situation
The arrest comes in the midst of security investigations regarding a call via social media channels for a public strike launched by activists and youth groups, including the 6th April Movement.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) welcomed the acquittal of the suspects in al-Bahr bathhouse case, and called on the government to stop pursuing people based on their sexual orientation, or what is believed to be their sexual identity.
In an end-of-year statement, EIPR lamented that despite its shortcomings, the new constitution had established important new protections for citizens against oppression and injustice.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights today urged the government to end the climate of suspicion and threats currently characterizing its relationship with independent human rights organizations.
The undersigned organizations call on the Ministry of Social Solidarity to engage in a serious, transparent dialogue on the role of civil society organizations in Egypt and the government’s fears and apprehensions about these groups.
The Universal Periodic Review of member states’ rights records before the UN Human Rights Council ends with the state under review announcing a commitment to a set of recommendations to improve the status of human rights and meet the demands of it
