Egypt review will test United Nations Human Rights Council members

Robust action is needed by Member States at the United Nations Human Rights Council to stop a major crackdown on Egyptian NGOs, challenge impunity for human rights violations and lift sweeping restrictions on freedoms of expression, association and assembly, Amnesty International said today. The organization has urged states to hold Egypt to account during the country's upcoming Universal Periodic Review examination on 5 November 2014, given their track record of failing to do so in the regular work of the Human Rights Council.

Amnesty International's submission to the Universal Periodic Review points to a country in crisis, with hundreds of protesters killed as a result of excessive force by the security forces, rampant torture and other ill-treatment, and mass arrests targeting the political opposition, with media workers and human rights activists also caught in the dragnet.

States participating in the examination of Egypt should take the country's authorities to task for shrinking the space for civil society, Amnesty International said. Egyptian human rights activists fear a sweeping crackdown will begin just days after the Universal Periodic Review examination, with a government deadline that requires NGOs to register under the draconian Law on Associations (Law 84 of 2002) or be held "accountable" set to expire on 10 November 2014. Human rights defenders in the country believe that they face the imminent threat of arrest and criminal prosecution, and that their organizations may be closed as they will not be able to obtain the necessary registration.

The Universal Periodic Review must also address the near-total failure of the Egyptian criminal justice system to hold to account those responsible for unlawful killings, torture and other ill-treatment and other human rights violations. Not a single official, member of the security forces or of the army has been held to account for the gross human rights violations since Mohamed Morsi's ousting as president on 3 July 2013, including the mass killing of protesters at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square on 14 August 2013. Instead, judicial authorities have facilitated a sweeping crackdown on dissent, ordering the detention of and indicting thousands of the government's political opponents.

States should call Egypt out on the continued arbitrary detention of media workers, protesters and human rights activists who are languishing in prison for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. In particular, the Universal Periodic Review should examine the cases of those jailed under the Protest Law (Law 107 of 2013). The law, enacted in November 2013, prohibits groups from protesting without notifying the government in advance and gives the Interior Ministry powers to ban or re-route planned demonstrations. Those detained under the law include student protesters who demonstrated peacefully in support of deposed former president Mohamed Morsi, as well as prominent leftists, leaders of the opposition 6 April Youth Movement and human rights activists.

New legislation vastly expanding the scope of military trials for civilians should also come under the spotlight. A new law, passed on 27 October 2014, considers "vital public" institutions to be military institutions and states that military courts will deal with any offences against them. The legislation is likely to pave the way for mass military trials of civilians, including peaceful protestors and university students. It also raises the spectre of the unfair trials of thousands of civilians before military tribunals during the months of army rule after Hosni Mubarak stood down in February 2011.

The Universal Periodic Review examination should further scrutinize new legislation, ostensibly enacted to cut off the financing of armed groups, that is likely to be used against human rights organizations. Restrictions introduced to the Penal Code on 21 September 2014 prohibit the funding of acts harmful to "national interest", Egypt's "independence or unity or territorial integrity" or which "disturb public security and safety". Offenders face life sentences and fines running into thousands of Egyptian pounds. Courts may even hand down death sentences if they deem the offenders' intentions be terrorism-related.

In this respect, Amnesty International notes that Egypt has seen a rise in deadly armed attacks, mainly targeting government buildings, the army and security forces, particularly in the restive North Sinai region. An attack on 24 October 2014 killed over 30 military personnel. While the Egyptian government has a duty to prevent, investigate and punish violent attacks, in doing so it must abide by its obligations under international law.

If the Universal Periodic Review does not challenge the Egyptian authorities' narrative of "security and stability", the members and observers of the Human Rights Council will in effect have handed them a mandate to intensify the crackdown on human rights organizations, government critics and the remnants of the political opposition.

Questions should also be asked over how Egypt has upheld its obligations to guarantee economic, social and cultural rights. Projects to expand the Suez Canal and create a security buffer zone at the border with Gaza have raised concerns over the prospect of mass forced evictions.

This Universal Periodic Review examination comes as the Egyptian authorities seek to restore their standing in the international community, following the political turmoil that followed Mohamed Morsi's ousting from power. Addressing the UN General Assembly on 24 September 2014, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pledged to "respect and enforce the rule of law, guarantee freedom of speech and religion, and work towards growth, prosperity and a promising future for all Egyptians". Egypt's national report to the Universal Periodic Review paints a rosy picture of the national situation, while almost completely ignoring the gross human rights violations that have characterized the past four and a half years.

States must question a portrayal of the human rights situation in Egypt which differs so starkly from that experienced by human rights defenders in the country, as well as journalists and activists. While Egypt will be posturing tomorrow and will present a fictional picture of the state of human rights, states should not be fooled and demand answers, Amnesty International said.

Background

The Universal Periodic Review, which all UN Member States must go through every four and a half years, will cover the tumultuous period since Egypt's last such review in February 2010. The review period will include the 18-day uprising that began on 25 January 2011 and which ended the rule of Hosni Mubarak on 11 February 2011, the subsequent period of direct military rule by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the one-year rule of President Mohamed Morsi from 30 June 2012 and the political turmoil that has followed his ousting on 3 July 2013.

States conceive of the Universal Periodic review as a co-operative mechanism not designed to address crisis situations and situations of gross and systematic human rights. States intend the Human Rights Council to address such situations in its regular work and in special sessions. Amnesty International considers that United Nations Member States must take every opportunity offered to them by the Human Rights Council to address such situations.