As President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt seeks reelection later this year, the country’s human rights record leaves much to be desired.
Development Diaries reports that since President Al-Sisi assumed office in July 2013, Egypt’s human rights situation has deteriorated to the greatest degree in the country’s contemporary history.
Egypt was clearly an authoritarian state before 2011, but after 2013, the extent and intensity of human rights abuses significantly increased.
Recently, a group of four civil society organisations (CSOs) in the country reminded him of the need to urgently improve the country’s poor human rights records.
The CSOs – Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), Committee for Justice (CFJ), the Egyptian Front for Human Rights (EFHR), El Nadeem Centre and Sinai Foundation for Human Rights – warned that failure to immediately begin a serious process of political and economic reform will significantly worsen the threat of instability and possible state failure.
A 2022 report by Amnesty International revealed that Egypt authorities have persistently repressed the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.
According to the report, thousands of government critics or opponents, real or imagined, continue to be arbitrarily jailed and/or unfairly prosecuted.
There has been the failure of the authorities to sufficiently investigate suspicious deaths in detention involving allegations of inadequate medical care or abuse.
Additionally, death sentences were handed down after grossly unfair trials and executions were carried out, while sexual and gender-based violence remained prevalent, amid the authorities’ failure to adequately prevent and punish it.
Authorities suppressed workers’ ability to strike and did nothing to prevent them from being fired unfairly by companies. As a result of their protests against home demolitions, residents of informal communities were forcibly removed and imprisoned.
Through severely restrictive laws that have received criticism from the international community or through arrests, free media and CSOs are routinely targeted.
Development Diaries calls on President Al-Sisi to regard the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR) and other international rights treaties and adopt a style of governance that guarantees respect for human rights.
Source: CIHRS
Photo source: AFP
