Human Rights Developments

Defending Human Rights

The Role of the International Community

United Nations

The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in an opinion issued on September 15, 1999, requested the government to remedy the situation of Mahmoud Mubarak Ahmad, a medical doctor held without charge or trial since January 1995, in contravention of Egypt's international legal obligations. The working group had raised the case with the government in June 1998 but received no response. In its December 1999 report, the U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances stated that it had submitted new information to the government on seven cases, and had received a response on one case.

The U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on May 2 and 3 considered Egypt's initial report on the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In its concluding observations, adopted on May 12, the committee noted improvements in the educational system and the reduction of illiteracy, granting divorce rights to women, and improvements in the public health system. However, it criticized the state of emergency for limiting "the scope of implementation of constitutional guarantees for economic, social and cultural rights," and expressed concern about infringements of workers' and women's rights, child labor, media censorship, and freedom of association. The committee recommended, among other things, that the Law on Civil Associations and Institutions (Law 153/1999) be repealed or amended to conform with Egypt's constitution and its international obligations, noting that the law "gives the government control over the rights of NGOs to manage their own activities, including seeking external funding." The committee further recommended that the new Personal Status Code be reviewed to remove provisions that discriminate against women, and that new labor laws be promulgated "to protect children from abusive working conditions" and to eradicate child labor.

European Union

The European Parliament, in a January 20 resolution, expressed concern about "sectarian clashes between Copts and Muslims in Egypt, which resulted in the deaths of more than 20 Egyptian citizens in several villages in Upper Egypt on 1 and 2 January 2000." The resolution called on Egypt to "raise awareness about religious tolerance and respect for human rights and minority freedoms by launching a campaign on sectarian hatred and violence," and to consider the abolition of the death penalty. It also expressed support for the stated efforts of the Egyptian government to investigate the clashes and to compensate those injured.

The E.U. Commissioner for External Relations Chris Patten visited Egypt on April 1 for talks with Prime Minister Atef Obeid and senior cabinet members focusing on E.U.-Egypt relations, the Middle East peace process and the Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement. Negotiations over the Association Agreement were concluded in June 1999 but as of October 2000 Egypt had not signed it. On September 6, the European Commission adopted a series of recommendations in preparation for the Fourth Meeting of Euro-Mediterranean Foreign Ministers, scheduled to be held in Marseilles on November 16 and 17. These urged Egypt to sign the Association Agreement and, referring to E.U. economic assistance mechanisms, advocated "greater emphasis on human rights issues," in order to make financial assistance programs "more dependent on substantial progress in these areas."

United States

The U.S. remained Egypt's largest provider of foreign aid, with military assistance in fiscal year 2000 estimated at U.S. $1.3 billion and U.S. $727 million in economic support funds, but U.S. criticism of Egypt's human rights record remained muted. For fiscal year 2001 the Clinton Administration requested U.S. $1.3 billion in military assistance and U.S.$695 million for economic support funds, describing Egypt as "a key supporter of the Mideast peace process ... [and] an indispensable ally in the region." The administration's budget document stated that 10 percent of the economic support funds were for educational and health programs, as well as to "support democracy by assisting civil society organizations' role in public decision-making."

In the case of Sa'adeddin Ibrahim (see above), who held dual Egyptian-U.S. citizenship, the State Department several times called on the Egyptian government to press formal charges or release him from detention.

In its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1999, the State Department said that Egypt "continued to commit numerous human rights abuses, although its record improved somewhat over the previous year, mainly due to a decrease in terrorist activity by Islamic extremists." In its Annual Report on International Religious Freedom for 2000, released on September 5, the State Department claimed to observe "a trend toward improvement in the Government's respect for and the protection of the right to religious freedom."

President Mubarak visited Washington, D.C., in late March, and President Clinton stopped briefly in Cairo on August 29 to discuss Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. In neither case was there any indication that human rights issues were on the agenda. Prior to President Mubarak's March visit, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom as well as several U.S. legislators publicly urged President Clinton to raise the issue of sectarian violence and alleged discrimination against the Coptic Christian community.