Egypt Watch

100 international human rights organisations call to stop violations in Egypt

More than 100 leading international human rights organisations called on Monday on democratic governments to support the formation of an international system to monitor the deteriorating human rights situation in Egypt.

The organisations warned, in a joint letter to the foreign ministers and the delegates in the UN Human Rights Council, about the crackdown of the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on the human rights movements in Egypt, which aims to “annihilate this community.”

The letter came days before the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council to be held in Geneva on 22February. “The inaction of the UN Human Rights Council on the human rights crises in Egypt appears to have emboldened the government in its efforts to silence dissent and crush independent civil society,” said the letter. “The international community is able through joint action at the upcoming council to send a clear message that such an attack is not acceptable and will come with costs.” In the same vein, the Italian member of European Parliament Fabio Massimo Castaldo demanded the EU take “a strong attitude against Egypt with sanctions” against recurrent human rights violations.

The well-known Egyptian human rights defender Bahey Hassan, the chairman of Cairo Centre for Human Rights, who was recently briefly detained, said, “The current levels of despotism are unprecedented in modern Egyptian history.” He warned that this could have a terrible effect on human rights in Egypt and territorial security.