How Egypt's Benefactors Help Uphold Repression: Daily Brief

Egypt's human rights record under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's rule has been deplorable and the situation is deteriorating. This week's trial in Rome of four Egyptian security officers accused of the brutal killing of an Italian student in Cairo, as well as numerous extrajudicial executions by security forces disguised as shootouts, demonstrate the breadth of the abuses. Yet, unconditional military and financial foreign support from the US, the European Union, and other governments continues and severely undermines Egyptians’ brave struggle for democracy. International partners need to urgently halt military assistance and impose targeted sanctions if they don't want to supply al-Sisi with the tools and political cover to continue his repression.

Earlier this week, new research by Human Rights Watch documenting the degrading treatment of adult and young migrants in Calais made the headlines in France. Two days later, the French Minister of the Interior denied the allegations. His rebuttal, however, not only flies in the face of the facts laid out in the report but also ignores credible research by other rights organizations and France's Rights Defender findings of  "degrading and inhumane treatment" of migrants in the Calais area. Rather than deny the facts, the government should renounce its approach to migration which not only fails to deter people from arriving, but also results in serious suffering.

Six years ago, Chinese authorities abducted the Swedish book publisher Gui Minhai from his home in Thailand. After a forced confession on state media and a sham trial, Minhai is now serving a 10-year sentence. China's authorities haven't provided any information on his location, he is feared to be in poor health, and Swedish efforts to demand his freedom appear to be feeble. Seeing that standard diplomatic interventions have proven ineffective with Beijing, Sweden should make Gui Minhai's release a priority in its relations with China. 

The International Criminal Court will be electing two new deputy prosecutors in December using a new vetting process that aims to ensure an assessment of the candidates’ “high moral character,” as required by the ICC’s Rome Statute. The changes are meant to address findings by an independent expert review of the Court which exposed a culture of fear and distrust among the Court's staff. While the due diligence mechanism is a step forward, it was established quickly and without civil society consultation. Member countries should now take steps to widely publicize the shortlisted candidates.

Slovania's Prime Minister Janez Janša sparked outrage on Thursday with a now-deleted tweet that took aim at a number of Members of the European Parliament (MEPS) and which had striking anti-Semitic connotations. Janša’s tweet came as a delegation of MEPs was visiting Slovenia to examine the state of the rule of law and media freedom in the country. Slovenia currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU.

The noncompetitive elections for seats at the United Nations Human Rights Council for 2022 to 2024 have led to the election of a number of countries, like Cameroon, Eritrea or the United Arab Emirates, whose rights records are abysmal. The elections which virtually guaranteed seats for rights abusing candidates send a terrible signal that UN member states are not serious about the council’s fundamental mission to protect human rights. In future, member countries should ensure that all elections are competitive. 

Another Syrian migrant has been found dead by Polish police near the border with Belarus. Rights groups have denounced Poland's pushbacks and the European Commission expressed concerns over the situation of children stranded at the border. Meanwhile, the lower house of Poland's parliament has approved a draft bill to build a wall on the border with Belarus to deter further crossings.