Torture; "recycling" of detainees; political prisoners; enforced disappearances; enactment of abusive laws on criminal procedure, asylum, and associations; crackdowns on journalists and rights defenders; women's rights; inadequate social spending, and other systematic human rights violations in Egypt were all highlighted in the outcomes report of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Egypt adopted this week. The report reveals the failure of all the Egyptian government’s attempts to hide the ugly face of the deteriorating human rights situation in Egypt over the past years.

The outcomes report, adopted on 31 January in Geneva, includes over 370 recommendations submitted to the Egyptian government by 137 countries from all geographical groups during the review session that starts in mid-June, the UN Human Rights Council will discuss and adopt the final report, including the number of recommendations accepted by the Egyptian government. 

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), which observed the review session in Geneva, said the Egyptian government must realize that all the propaganda and denial attempts it made before and during the session do not deceive anyone, and that the world clearly sees all the dimensions of the catastrophic human rights situation in Egypt that urgently needs to be addressed. 

The Egyptian government dispatched to Geneva this week what a diplomat described as a "small army" to present its report to the session. The delegation consisted of 39 state officials, including three ministers, in addition to their aides, as well as pro-government members of the National Council for Human Rights and NGOs tasked with defending its shameful human rights record. Nonetheless, UN member states raised a wide range of human rights violations committed in Egypt, detailed in reports submitted by independent Egyptian and international human rights organizations, as well as the report of UN human rights mechanisms and bodies compiled by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the report of the African Union’s African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, and even the report submitted by the UN Country Team in Egypt, which included inputs from 14 UN organizations operating inside Egypt. These reports collectively dispelled the false claims in the government’s national report to the review, which described a parallel reality of an Egypt experiencing the utmost respect and protection of human rights.

The 22-page outcome report included numerous references to the notorious practice of "recycling", whereby similar charges are re-brought against political prisoners in new cases to ensure that they are not released after decisions to release them have been issued, or after they have served their sentences or exceeded the legal maximum limit for pre-trial detention. Costa Rica, Belgium, Germany and Britain referred to the practice of "recycling" by name. The issue of the release of detainees who have already served the maximum limit of pretrial detention was raised by Bulgaria, Switzerland, Australia and Canada. For its part, Morocco called for expanding the use of alternatives to pretrial detention. New Zealand, Denmark, Australia and Britain recommended the release of political detainees and prisoners of conscience. But the UK and Luxembourg also recommended the immediate release of political prisoner Alaa Abdel Fattah after he served an unjust five-year prison sentence for sharing a Facebook post about the torture of another prisoner. Zambia, Thailand, Greece, the Netherlands and Canada called for fair trial guarantees to be respected. Austria, Australia and Britain raised concerns about the flawed draft criminal procedures code, currently being debated in the Egyptian parliament. Cameroon and Chile called for ensuring the independence of the judiciary and the Public Prosecution.

The widespread practice of torture and the failure of Egyptian authorities to investigate and prosecute its perpetrators were raised by countries including Colombia, Montenegro, Norway, Austria, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Russia, as well as Italy, which specifically demanded the prosecution of those responsible for the "brutal murder" of Italian student Giulio Regeni in 2016. Many countries, including Madagascar, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Denmark, North Macedonia, Slovenia, Sweden and Liechtenstein, raised concerns related to the widespread and systematic torture in Egypt, with most of them calling on the country to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, which stipulates the establishment of a national preventive mechanism through inspections of places of detention. South Africa and Russia recommended improving prison conditions.

The issue of enforced disappearance was addressed in recommendations from 14 countries, most of which calling on Egypt to accede to the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and to allow all detainees immediate access to their families and lawyers. These countries included Gambia, Ghana, Mexico, North Macedonia, South Korea, Ukraine, Mongolia, Spain, Angola, Canada, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia and France.

The Egyptian government also received at least 25 recommendations to end its targeting and intimidation of human rights defenders, journalists, and lawyers and to ensure the free functioning of civil society organizations. These recommendations were made by Latvia, Norway, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Liechtenstein, Spain, Cape Verde, Luxembourg, Sweden, Chile, Albania, New Zealand, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Belgium, Brazil, Nigeria, South Korea, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic. Several countries, namely Lithuania, Austria, the Czech Republic, New Zealand and Belgium, specifically recommended amending the flawed law on non-governmental organizations issued in 2019.

The blocking of news websites and freedom of the media both offline and online were raised by India, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland and New Zealand. Costa Rica specifically addressed the use of spyware. Mexico, India, Ireland, the Czech Republic and others recommended amending the 2015 Terrorism Law, with some referring to the vague and overly-broad definition of terrorism contained in its first article.  They also recommended respect for fundamental human rights in the fight against terrorism. 

The human rights situation in North Sinai was mentioned in the recommendations of Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, who all called on the Egyptian government to ensure the protection of children and schools in North Sinai, refrain from using schools as military bases, and join the Safe Schools Declaration.

The large number of recommendations related to the death penalty reflects the growing international concern about the dramatic increase in the number of death sentences issued over the past years. Amnesty International’s 2024 annual report on the death penalty ranked Egypt second globally (preceded only by China) in terms of the number of death sentences, with a total of 590 death sentences in the year preceding the review session.

Recommendations were put forward by at least 29 countries on reducing the number of crimes punishable by death, declaring a moratorium on the implementation of death sentences as a step towards abolition and ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights related to the death penalty. Two such recommendations came from the African nations of Mozambique and Sierra Leone, refuting the alleged cultural justifications used by the Egyptian government. Other countries that made the recommendations included Paraguay, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Portugal, Estonia, Finland, France, Liechtenstein, Germany, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Italy, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Ukraine, Albania, Croatia, Czech Republic, Iceland and Ireland.

The flawed asylum law passed last month and the need to ensure its compliance with Egypt's obligations under international law were raised in recommendations by France, Ecuador and Switzerland. Egypt also received recommendations from Niger, Senegal, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brazil and Honduras to respect the principle of non-refoulement of asylum-seekers and to respect the rights of refugees, migrants and those seeking asylum.

The Egyptian government's failure to adopt a law on equality and non-discrimination and establish an anti-discrimination commission as mandated by the Constitution of 2014 was raised by Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa, Togo, Bulgaria, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, Congo and Bahrain also raised the issue of freedom of religion and belief and combating discrimination and violence against religious and faith communities. A large number of countries addressed the issue of discrimination against women in the employment and the labor market (10 recommendations), ratifying the International Labour Organization’s Convention No. 190 on violence and harassment in the workplace (Mauritius and Denmark), and the promulgation of a law combatting violence against women and the criminalization of all its forms (14 recommendations). 

Four countries called for the amendment of the Personal Status Law to eliminate discrimination against women, with India referring specifically to discrimination in divorce matters. Five African countries – Namibia, Rwanda, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Eswatini – also suggested Egypt accede to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Chile, Spain, Canada and Iceland raised the issue of prosecuting and criminalizing individuals on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, and the need for Egypt to halt forced anal examinations and amend the article on “debauchery” used to criminalize consensual sexual conduct between adults.

The propaganda initiatives used by the Egyptian government to project progress on human rights were also addressed in recommendations that revealed their limited value or effectiveness. With regard to the National Human Rights Strategy (2021-2026), Lebanon recommended the adoption of an executive program and the provision of necessary financial and human resources for its implementation. Bahrain recommended the development of follow-up and assessment mechanisms to implement the strategy. Thailand recommended that the obligations contained in the strategy be implemented, specifically with regard to civil and political rights. On the National Dialogue launched by the state in 2022, Turkey recommended that the government periodically evaluate the implementation of its outcomes, in an implicit reference to the fact that not a single recommendation issued by the dialogue’s political pillar has been implemented to date, including in the field of human rights.

The National Council for Human Rights received numerous references in light of the decision to downgrade its global status due to non-compliance with the UN Paris Principles on independence and effectiveness. Recommendations to reform, support and ensure the independence of the council came from several countries including Kenya, Senegal, Gambia, Turkey, Malaysia, Cuba, Portugal and Denmark. The government also received a large number of recommendations, including from Gambia, Brunei, Belarus and North Macedonia, on the impact of the unprecedented economic crisis on social protection and the rights of the poor and marginalized. Specific recommendations, including from New Zealand and the Dominican Republic, addressed the inadequate spending on health, education and social security.

Commenting on the UPR outcome report, EIPR said the Egyptian government should realize that it cannot deceive the whole world all the time, and that all the dimensions of the full-fledged human rights crisis cannot be hidden by a giant delegation presenting strategies on paper and cosmetic procedures that cannot hide the apparent reality. The only way to improve Egypt's image is to change Egypt's reality, EIPR added. 

In the lead up to the review session, EIPR submitted five separate reports to the mechanism, including an individual report that provided an overview of the deteriorating human rights situation since the previous review in 2019. The other four collective reports included one on systematic violations within the criminal justice system, such as torture, enforced disappearances, unfair trials and poor detention conditions; a report on human rights defenders and the abuse of terrorism laws to punish them; a third report tackling the crisis of the rights of women and girls; and a fourth devoted to violations of digital rights and the freedom of expression and media.

EIPR Executive Director Hossam Bahgat participated as a panelist in the UPR pre-session in Geneva last November, where he presented a report on the unprecedented deterioration of economic and social rights in Egypt during the review period. EIPR further issued a commentary on the government's UPR report, entitled "Parallel Reality".