Fourteen Egyptian human rights groups today expressed their full support of the statement issued by the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights which condemned the Egyptian security forces for killing up to 60 migrants on the Egyptian side of the borders with Israeli since mid 2007.The NGOs strongly condemned the statement made by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which pointed that the fatalities “did not exceed 2% in 2008 and 4% in 2009 of the total number of illegal crossers”. The NGOs considered the government’s acknowledgement of such a high number of killings calls for an immediate investigation into the circumstances of their murder. The NGOs stated that the understatement of such a high percentage of fatalities is a reason for serious concern.

In her statement issued on 2 March, the High Commissioner Ms. Navi Pillay (a renowned international judge from South Africa) expressed her astonishment at the high number of fatalities on the borders when there is no indication that any of the killed migrants were armed or that they opened fire at the Egyptian security forces:

“I know of no other country where so many unarmed migrants and asylum seekers appear to have been deliberately killed in this way by government forces… the sheer number of victims suggests that at least some Egyptian security officials have been operating a shoot-to-kill policy. It is unlikely that so many killings would occur otherwise. Sixty killings can hardly be an accident.”

The high commissioner urged the government to order an immediate halt  of the use of “lethal force” against migrants, and to open an independent and credible  investigation into the killings that have occurred in the past 30 months.

 
Signatories
1. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
2. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
3. Egyptian Organization for Human Rights
4. Group for Human Rights Legal Aid
5. Nadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence
6. Egyptian Association for the Enhancement of Community Participation
7. Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners
8. Arab Penal Reform Organization
9. Land Center for Human Rights
10. Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression
11. Arab Network for Human Rights Information12. Center for Trade Unions and Workers Services
13. Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Non-Violence Studies
14. Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights

   At the end of a seminar entitled” The Egyptian coalition for the integrity of civil society … Challenges and hopes” which was held by EOHR in cooperation with the German Friedrich Naumann Foundation on Sunday, 28.2.2010 at EOHR’s office, members of the Egyptian coalition for the integrity of civil society unanimously agreed on the importance of reforming the legislative structure which organizes the work of civil society organizations through enacting alternative laws compatible with international standards of human rights, particularly on the right to assembly and association and to convey  the experience of the coalition to the members of  political parties, trade unions and NGOs in the different Egyptian governorates through organizing training courses on the principles of code of conduct (codes of ethics or rules of democracy)and to approve them as part of interior system of civil society organizations. They call all governmental bodies and members of the parliament to cooperate with the coalition to facilitate its tasks.

For his part, Mr. Hafez Abu Seada, chairman of EOHR and the General Coordinator of the Egyptian  coalition, confirmed that the biggest challenge facing the work of civil society organizations  is represented in the restricted law No. 84 of 2002,   the Political Parties Law No. 40 of 1977  amended by law No. 171 of  2005, trade unions law No. 35 of 1976 amended by law No. 1 of 1981, 12 of 1995. He pointed out that the coalition will engage in the next stage to develop specific proposals to amend such laws as a first step to reach new laws consistent with international standards of human rights, particularly on the right to assembly and association  and to submit these laws to People’s Assembly and Shura Council and discuss them with representative of civil society organizations in the governorates through holding seminars and workshops.

Abu Seada added that the freedom of civil society organizations  in Egypt will not be achieved without overcoming all obstacles and legal, administrative and financial restrictions in order to ensure first: their  proper democratic practice, secondly: to activate the  role of these institutions in the promotion and dissemination of the  culture of human rights and democracy inside the society  as  these  institutions are considered a mediator  between rulers and nations. This will be achieved through reforming the environment surrounding the work of these institutions as a main condition for democratic reform, also to recognize practically the values of human rights in legislations and to increase the role of civil society in the decision making process and the establishment of a partnership between civil society and the State   not a relationship of dependency, leading to a strong civil society able to  contribute to promote the values of democracy and human rights.

Abu Seada stresses on the importance of the idea of spreading awareness among civil society organizations   in the North and South governorates of Egypt  with  the concept of good governance, goals and standards, and to establish  principles or standards of good governance within these institutions, these standards  are represented  in practicing democracy, periodic elections, accountability, transparency and integrity, in other words, to set  or draw  a professional frame  for the work of those institutions, so that they enjoy with good management not just like structures which are not governed by  rules and principles for action.

In the session entitled” Declaration of the bases  of the democratic exercise of political parties and political forces …. The challenges and hopes” Mr. Essam Shiha, member of the supreme council of Al Wafd party, confirmed that the political parties play a main role in the political life in Egypt, article 5 of the constitution provided that the political system is pluralistic system based on the freedom of the establishment of political parties, however the political parties face several obstacles and restrictions. Shiha  called for the establishment of political parties through notification and the abolishment of emergency law which restricts several public freedoms calling at the same time to amend the legislative framework governing the political parties and the electoral system as a whole, and to amend Article 76 of the Constitution and encourage internal dialogues, particularly on the file of women.

Mr. Mohamed Farag, assistant Secretary General of Al Tagamou party, confirmed that the weakness of Egyptian political parties is a result from the legislative frame which organizes the right to form parties, political parties law No. 40 of 1977 and its amendments makes the establishment of parties contingent upon the approval of the parties affairs committee, despite the fact that the constitution is more pluralistic rather than restrictive.

To put in action the code of conduct, Farag called for educating members and leaders of political parties in the governorates with the importance of interior democracy and its rules and allow parties to receive funds and to set projects that fund parties and peacefully exchange the power.

In the second session entitled” Conduct rules for trade unions…. Challenges and hopes, Mr. Said Al Sabagh, Secretary General of pensioners  federation, confirmed that union organization has gone through several stages, but in fact there are some periods  that the history pauses to search and check the status of trade unions  movement in Egypt due to the bad circumstances which Egyptians face as a result of failure policies seek to fulfill private gains for the system and the group of stakeholders.

Al Sabagh criticized  the unified labor law pointing out that the government wanted to put it into force since 1990s so it deliberately undermined and dismantled the infrastructure of workers through undermining union committees through controlling the general unions, the General Federation of workers and the abolish of union supervision over elections, so the labor law of 2003 came to restrict the public freedoms and workers’ rights and their interests  and aligned  for employers  at the expense of workers, besides restricting the right of workers to strike and demonstrate except after the approval of two thirds of the public union which includes the side of strike.

Al Sabagh called upon a dialogue between national forces and workers in order to determine the priorities of their demands  and pressure methods which enable them to fulfill their needs and to draft a collective document confirms the right of workers in union plurality and to prepare a study of legal procedures to create the independent union.

Mr. Seif Hanafi, Secretary- Labor of Nasserist party, stressed on the presence of insurance coverage for workers and to focus on the preparation of a bill replacing  Law No. 35 of 1976, amended by law No. 1 of  1981 and law No. 12 of  1995 to comply with international standards and protecting the rights of Egyptian workers and union movement. He called for forming an independent union for preparing this bill.

Mr. Sherif  El Helaly, director of Arab institute for supporting civil society, declared in the final session entitled” Code of conduct for NGOs …. Challenges and hopes”  that the legal, administrative and financial restrictions which face NGOs are represented in Law No. 84 of 2002. El Helaly called for the necessary of establishing civil society organizations through the free will of founders in a full independency away from state control and to strengthen the role of civil society organizations, besides the promotion for good governance and democracy.

For his part, Mr. Farid Zahran, director of Al Mahrosa center, confirmed that there is no  clear features  for Egyptian civil society, there are religious associations like “Islamic Charitable association” and “Al Tawfeek Coptic association”, pointing out that there is a recent  sector appeared in the recent period: human rights associations and other associations work under  the government control and being manipulated in some issues like elections . He called for developing NGOs and activating the status of civil society organizations through enacting democratic laws.    

It is worth noting that the Egyptian coalition  for the integrity of civil society which was established in November 2009 with 40 representatives of political parties, trade unions and NGOs. The coalitions’ members approved  a set of principles, codes of conduct (codes of ethics or rules of democracy) for the work of civil society institutions.  A leading committee for the coalition was established and EOHR was chosen as a general coordinator for the Egyptian coalition.

Egyptian coalition for the integrity of civil society … A brief definition
Arab Council for the right to assembly and organization …. A brief definition
Mr. Hafez Abu Seada
Chairman of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights

12.30 - 1.00 the second aspect

Declaration of the foundations of democratic practice for parties and political forces …. The challenges and hopes
Speaker:. Essam Sheha
Member of the supreme council of Al Wafd Party
Commentator: Mr. Mohamed Farag

Assistant Secretary-General of Al Tagamou party

• 1.00-1.30 the third aspect

Rules of conduct for trade unions …. The challenges and hopes

Speaker:. Said Sabbagh
Secretary general of Al Ahrar party
Commentator: Mr. Sayed Hanafi
Secretary Labour of Nasserist party

• 1.30 - 1.45 Tea Break

1:45 to 2:15 the fourth aspect

Code of Conduct for NGOs … Challenges and hopes
Speaker:. Mr. Sherif Hilali

Executive Director of the Arab Association for Civil Society Support
Commentator: Mr. Farid Zahran
Director of Al Mahrosa Center
2.15-2.45 the fifth aspect
What after the conference of Arab League ?
“Freedom of assembly and organization : a road map for the future

The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights called on the Egyptian government for interacting seriously with the recommendations issued by UN Human Rights Council on the occasion of the Universal Periodic Review of the governmental report.
EOHR confirmed the need for the Egyptian government to accept the recommendations relevant to lifting the state of emergency, abolishing the death penalty, amending the NGO law No. 84 of 2002, allowing national and international elections observation in all upcoming elections, inviting the Special Rapporteurs to visit Egypt. EOHR called on the government to set a specific timetable, mechanisms and an action plan for implementing the UPR recommendations.
Hafez Abu Seada, chairman of EOHR, confirmed that the majority of recommendations accepted by the Egyptian government were related to economic and social rights, women and children, and most of the recommendations relating to the emergency law or torture that were accepted by the government were general recommendations that lacked specific mechanisms or action plan for the implementation.
Abu Seada added that the total recommendations made by Human Rights Council reached 165 recommendations as the government agreed to accept 119 recommendations as follows:
21 recommendations on women and children, 19 recommendations on economic and social rights, 11 recommendations on spreading and teaching the culture of human rights, 7 recommendations on the revision of the legislative structure to cope with the international covenants on human rights and the withdraw of Egypt’s reservations to other international conventions, and other recommendations on freedom of religion and belief ,freedom of opinion and expression, trafficking in persons , death penalty and rights of persons with disabilities , refugees, torture , terrorism ,emergency and NGOs.
Abu Seada confirmed that most of recommendations approved by the government are quite general with unspecific formulations and didn’t impose commitments on Egypt, particularly with issues such as torture ,emergency and terrorism as follows :
With regard to torture:
- Reinforce the fight against torture(Switzerland).
- Allegations of torture be effectively and independently investigated (Switzerland).
- Increase efforts to ensure that the competent authorities , in particular the public prosecutor investigate all torture allegations promptly and to bring any officials found responsible to justice (Austria).
- Expedite the reform of the Criminal Code in order to include a definition of torture in accordance with the Convention Against Torture. (France).
As for emergency:
- Put an end to the state of emergency and ensure that the provisions the future anti-terrorism law will respect human rights. (France)
- Lift the state of emergency that has been in effect since 1981 and replace the emergency law with anti-terrorism law, which guarantees civil liberties. (United States)
- Put an end to the state of emergency as soon as possible. (Austria)
With regard to terrorism:
- Speed up the adoption of anti-terrorism law, while considering lifting the state of emergency once the law has been passed. (Sudan)
- Continue the national efforts towards the early finalization of anti-terrorism law which can serve to combat terrorism while ensuring promotion and protection of human rights. (Pakistan)
EOHR confirms that the government’s approval on adopting these recommendations is a sign of hope, however the human rights file in Egypt requires serious work and to interact with the recommendations of UN Human Rights Council as an indivisible solution, EOHR calls on the government to:
- Accept the 25 recommendations postponed until June 2010 .
- Reconsider the recommendations rejected by the government especially the following :
1 - Torture
- Adhere to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (France).
- Invite the Special Rapporteur on torture without delay and facilitate his visit to Egypt (Netherlands).
- Reform article 129 and 126 of the Penal Code regarding the crime of torture in order to broaden the scope of punishable conduct and prevent impunity for perpetrators. (Spain).
- Amending Article 126 of the Penal Code to bring into line with the Convention against Torture (Ireland).
- Accede to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other cruel , inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.. (Czech Republic).
- To ensure that the crime of torture is punished in accordance with the comprehensive definition as stated in Article 1 of the International Convention against Torture. (Germany).
- Consider ratifying the Rome Statute and the Optional Protocols to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention against Torture and other cruel , in human or degrading treatment or punishment and to the Convention on the Rights of persons with disabilities. (Brazil)
- Ratify the Optional Protocols to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Optional Protocol to the Convention against torture and other cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment, and the Rome Statute. (Chile)
2 - Emergency
- End the exceptional state of emergency and lift the emergency law and abstain from legislations that introduce measures of emergency law into the constitution (Germany).
- Not to renew the emergency law in April 2010, and ensure that future legislation fully respects Egypt’s obligations under international human rights law and not entrench under statute law provisions that facilitate human rights violations. (Canada).
- That the emergency legislation under the state of emergency which is the root cause to many problems in Egypt , be repealed, and that future legislation be elaborated based on the enjoyment of all rights (Sweden).
3 - Dealing with the mechanisms of international human rights:
- Allow the visits of human rights special procedures that are pending to take place in a timely manner and consider issuing a standing invitation to the human rights special procedures. (Czech Republic).
- Respond positively to the repeated requests for a visit by the special Rappoteurs on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; on the independence of judges and lawyers; on the situation of human rights defenders, on freedom of religion and belief; on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary execution; on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography; and by the working group on arbitrary detention ( Spain).
- Extend an early invitation to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (Ireland).
- Reply favorably to the request by the UN Special Rapporteur against torture for a visit and extend its full support to such a mission. (Sweden).
- Issue an open and standing invitation to all special procedures ( Spain).
-Issue an open and standing invitation to all special procedures, particularly to the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment (Belgium).
- Allow the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism free access to detention centers and communication with prisoners during his next visit (Spain).
- Ratify individual complaint mechanisms of UN treaty bodies (Austria ).
4 - Law of NGOs
- Amend articles 11, 17 42, of the current NGOs law No. 84 of 2002, to ensure that NGOs activities and activities of all human rights defenders not be inhibited and their ability to raise finance be impeded .
(Ireland).
- Pass legislation that allows NGOs to accept foreign funding without prior government approval, legislation that allows for increased freedom of association and assembly and legislation allowing labour unions to operate without joining the Egyptian trade union federation (United States).
5 - Monitoring elections
- Invite independent national and international election monitoring teams to the upcoming elections( Austria).
6 - Abolition of the death penalty
- To engage towards the abolition of the death penalty by adopting a moratorium, commuting all sentences already pronounced and by reducing the number of offences punishable by this penalty ( France).
- Abolition of the death penalty by adopting a stop this activity, and modify both sentences, and try to limit the number of crimes that deserve the death penalty (France).
- Take the decision to suspend the activity as a first step on all death sentences, and completely elimination it (Switzerland).
- Consider the application of the death penalty to abolish it completely in the near future (Greece).
7 - Withdraw reservations to the Convention on Discrimination
- Withdraw all reservations to Articles 2, 16 of the Covenant for the elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (France).
- Withdraw all reservations to the Covenant for the elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (Ireland)
Abu Seada expressed his hope that the government adheres seriously to the approved recommendations before the UN Human Rights Council by setting a timetable and a specific strategy to deal with the main files (Emergency, Torture, laws that impede the rights and freedoms, the interaction with the mechanisms of international human rights and receive special Rapporteurs in Egypt, and the revision of the legislative structure and bring it into line with international standards, etc. ..), and to initiate a dialogue on these files with civil society organizations before the 14^th session which will be held in  June 2010 in Geneva, in order to improve the situation of human rights in Egypt. 

Chairman of EOHR

Article I of the Egyptian Constitution provided  that “Arab Republic of Egypt is a democratic state based on citizenship,” despite this constitutional amendment, the present situation confirms that the  citizenship is just like ink on paper,  the Egyptian street lacks  the culture of citizenship which is considered the culture of practicing rights and conducting duties guaranteed by the constitution and law within the framework of democratic atmosphere, on other words the rights of citizens to express about opinion and participating in public work,  take out the electoral ticket, vote on elections and general referendums, join  parties, general unions and syndicates and voluntary and civil work and defending human rights.. etc.  

Of course,  the enjoyment of citizenship will lead to  a system of rights and duties based on four central values: The value of equality, the value of freedom, the value of participation and social responsibility, and these values also do not exist  in the Egyptian society.

As for the forms and aspects of citizenship, there is a legal aspect:

This includes equality among citizens in rights and duties without discrimination on grounds of religion or race or color or sex .. Etc., this means the removal of all discriminatory aspects among  laws, also citizens should resort to  justice institutions with low charges and to provide standards of justice which are internationally approved in the work of these institutions.

As for the political aspect, it includes all citizen’s rights to share the determination of their community’s affairs through the general elections or local elections or the membership of civil society organizations, this requires the existence of societal context which encourages  to public participation whether through educational institutions such as schools or civil society organizations and the removal of legal restrictions imposed on these organizations. The third and final aspect is the social aspect, this means the right of every citizen to access to an equal opportunity to develop the quality of life he lives in. This requires the availability of public services for citizens especially for the  poor and vulnerable  groups. As for the present status, we find that the three aspects are absent in the society.

In this regard, this is an invitation for passing a new law on the citizenship rights as a first starting point to translate the principle of citizenship provided in the first article of the constitution to legislations and laws, this law is set by all concerned and national specialists on the condition of forming a committee for citizenship in People’s Assembly including official representatives in media, education, endowments, security, representatives of the church and Al Azhar, political parties and civil society organizations. This committee undertakes the affairs of citizenship and to put a practical solutions to eliminate all sectarian problems which appear from time to time and any new problems appear between Muslims and Christians. We suggest for some articles of citizenship law to provide for ” all Egyptians deserve without any discrimination all the rights provided in international covenants and conventions for human rights, these rights constitute indispensable elements for the concept of citizenship, any Egyptian may not be deprived from these rights under any circumstances”.

Finally, citizenship is not only a legal provisions and articles which demonstrate a set of rights for members of a particular group, however it  require an  awareness of  main  rights and how to  exercise it  the matter which require to occupy oneself exclusively with the culture of citizenship. As well as the importance for clergies to renew the religion speech to disseminate the culture of tolerance among all citizens and to avoid the fanatic speeches and the necessary to respect all religions and to hold dialogue sessions between the two parties to find out the sectarian problems that appear from time to time to evaluate and admit mistakes, and the prohibition on attacking religions according to  the provisions of human rights to keep the freedom of thought and belief guaranteed under  the Egyptian Constitution and international covenants on human rights ratified by the Egyptian government and became an integral part of the domestic law in accordance with Article 151 of the Constitution.

In the light of the 7^th session of the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva,

the International Federation for Human Rights held  a press conference on Thursday, 18/2/2010 in the presence of some representatives of Egyptian human rights organizations in order to comment on the governmental report and to review the shadow reports submitted by civil society organizations.  

The conference was attended by Mr. Hafez Abu Seada, chairman of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, Mr. Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for personal rights, and Mr. Sherif Azer, representative of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights.

Participants of the conference discussed the  major violations committed against human rights stated by the reports which dealt with the situation of human rights in Egypt during the past years.

As for commenting on the voluntary undertakings, participants confirmed that Egypt has to abide by these undertakings as follows:

- Reviewing  Egyptian legislations to be in line with Egypt’s international obligations.

- Reviewing  the definition of torture  crime in the Egyptian law to comply with the recognition stated  in the Convention against Torture.

- Issuing  laws related to NGOs, violence against women, rights of disabled people,  trafficking in persons,  professional syndicates and health insurance.

- Amending the  Code of Criminal Procedures so as not to revive criminal and civil action for those  who have no direct interest, which represents a violation to the freedom of thought and creativity.

- Studying the law  proposed by the National Council for Human Rights to adopt a unified legislation for  places of worship.

-Reconsidering on Egypt’s reservations on the  international conventions concerned with  human rights.

Also participants confirmed that there is no justification for shooting migrants from Africa by both Egyptian and Israeli security forces, pointing out that Israel shouldn’t force Egypt to protect its borders or close borders against refugees because this will violate the UN’s convention for refugees.

Participants called the Egyptian government for adopting the following:

 - Adopting  some recommendations discussed  at the session from  states parties  and especially the immediate termination of state of  emergency.

- Develop a mechanism to follow up the Egyptian government’s commitment to the recommendations included in the government report.

- Setting a specific schedule  for the implementation of these recommendations as soon as possible.

- Involving  civil society organizations in an effective and permanent dialogue with government agencies to ensure the government’s implementation of its obligations.

- Amending  article 76 of the Egyptian Constitution to allow independent candidates to run for presidential elections, and enable civil society organizations to monitor presidential and parliamentary elections in all stages.

- Amending  some articles on torture in the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code,  in accordance with international conventions  to include the definition of  torture crime

according to what stated in  the Convention against Torture which was ratified by Egypt in 1986 , this in order to combat impunity and to intensify  punishment against perpetrators of  torture and the inadmissibility of using  of clemency and reduced circumstances for sanction.

- Reconsidering  Article 179 of the Constitution, because it will lead to the legalization of the  state of emergency as a constitutional case, which will eventually lead to the violation of the rights and fundamental freedoms of citizens.

Mr. Hafez Abu Seada, chairman  of EOHR suggested the formation of 8 committees  headed  by members of board of trustees  as follows: (membership and regional committee, the committee on civil and political rights, the committee on economic and social rights, committee on citizenship and combat  discrimination, the committee on training and indoctrination, Women’s Committee,  the committee on supporting EOHR’s resources, the committee on combating trafficking in persons and Egyptian abroad).

Employees of EOHR congratulated Mr. Hafez Abu Seada for the chairman position as they are renewing their trust in him because of his long history  in promoting human rights cases in Egypt.

Abu Seada confirmed his  continued defending of  citizens  rights including civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, he hopes that his efforts bear fruit in this framework to achieve success at the local, regional and international levels.

It is worth noting that Abu Seada was the secretary general of EOHR since 1998 -  February 2010, also Abu Seada is a member of the national council for human rights since 2003 till now and the vice chairman of International Federation for human rights (FIDH)since 2001-2004 and the permanent mandatory of FIDH in the Arab League since 2004 till now,  EOHR  got the consultative status for economic and social council  when Abu Seada was the  secretary general and it was also registered in 2003. 

Under the auspices of Mr. Amr Moussa, Secretary-General “of the League of Arab States”, 100 representatives of Arab civil society organizations and governments, representatives of  the European Union and a number of international institutions come together in the headquarters of Arab League in Cairo from 10-12 February 2010 in an attempt to discuss the current situation for the freedom of assembly and organization in the Arab world and to set a road map for the future.

In the framework of this international conference, the project of the freedom of assembly and organization is concluded which continued for over 3 years(2007-2010), and the goal of this project is  to strengthen the legal framework of the right to assembly and organization  in the Arab world through national dialogue and empowerment of civil society organization.

This project, coordinated by Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, supported by the European Union  and carried out with  partnership of Arab organizations and under the auspice of  the Arab League, its goals  are to contribute to support reform efforts by working to make the laws of NGOs, parties and trade unions compatible with international standards for freedom of assembly and organization.

Among the major outputs of the project was the book entitled “The guide  principles of the right to assembly and organization in the Arab world” and 3 codes of conduct for Arab civil society.

In October 2009, and in the framework of the project activities, the Arab activists came together in Broumana - Lebanon and initiated the establishment of “Arab Council for the freedom of assembly and organization.” The main goal of this council is to reform laws which organize the work of political parties, trade unions and NGOs and work to promote the image and performance of civil society organizations.

During the next conference which will be held in Cairo, the council will issue a report to analyze the current status for the freedom of assembly and organization in 9 Arab countries.

While the project during the past years focused on  Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Syria, the organizers of this conference   will try to  access to other countries which are  not covered by the program for

delivering  project outputs to the Northwest Arab countries and the Gulf, Yemen, Somalia, Mauritania and other countries. It is expected that this conference will include  representatives of these countries to take advantage and benefit from the experiences accumulated in the region.

Mr. Hafez Abu Seada, Secretary-General of EOHR, confirmed that the right to assembly and organization is a fundamental and a main core for democratic structure for any civilized society. This right is guaranteed under the Arab constitutions and international covenants concerned with human rights. However, some Arab legislative provisions are not compatible in some respects with this level of constitutional protection and also with conventions and international covenants.

As for the Egyptian experiment, Abu Seada pointed out that civil society organizations (parties, trade unions and NGO’s) have reached a bill for NGOs replacing law No. 84 /2002, code of conducts stated the declaration of what so called “the Egyptian coalition for the integrity of civil society” which its meetings are being held till the end of February at EOHR -the general coordinator for the coalition - to prepare a founding document including its goals, mechanisms and its future plans.

In describing this conference, Mr. Ralf Erbel, permanent representative of Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, said that his foundation learned several lessons along fulfilling  the project over three years.

Ms. Abab Murad, director of the project, said that “We are not alone in the field. There are many initiatives in the region that would modernize the Arab legislations such as: Amnesty International, International Federation for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch and the Euro-Mediterranean for Human Rights and other initiatives which have successes and failures. “we will meet in Cairo so as to share successful experiences and learn from our mistakes and draw  a map for  the future”.

The project, which will be ended  in February 2010 created  a distinctive dynamics in the region and it is considered the first project that gathered all elements of civil society to work on the issue of common concern, namely the right to assembly and organization.

 On Monday  8/2/2010,  the security forces arrested 15 members of Muslim Brotherhood, including  3 members  from Alexandria governorate, 3 members from Al Sharkia governorate, 2 members from Giza governorate, 2 members from Assuit governorate,  2 members from Cairo and Al Gharbia governorates and 3 members from the Muslim Brotherhood’s guidance bureau: Mahmoud Ezzat, deputy of general leader, Dr. Essam Al Arian and Dr. Abdul Rahman Al Bir.

 Mr. Hafez Abu Seada, Secretary-General of EOHR expressed his  hope that the government immediately release prisoners of Muslim Brotherhood and all political prisoners, lifting the state of emergency which is incompatible with claims of reform process and to return to

the  constitutional legality and natural law. The state of emergency is the legal instrument that is being used to violate the right to peaceful assembly, the right to liberty and security of person and other rights which were guaranteed under the Egyptian Constitution and international covenants on human rights, Abu Seada added.    

  Abu Seada called the Egyptian government for  abiding by their commitments  on political and constitutional reform, and to abide by the commitments according to the ratification on the international covenants concerned with human rights, the necessary to merge the political force inside the Egyptian society and to participate in the political process, releasing the freedom of establishing parties for all political forces regardless of ideological affiliation. Abu Seada confirmed the importance of all political parties to declare their commitments and respect for constitutional legitimacy.

 It is worth noting that EOHR launched a campaign in 2003 under the title of (Together to stop Emergency Law) to lift the state of emergency and to release all prisoners.

The first case No. 9364/2008 was filed by Mostafa Bakry, editor in chief of Al Osboa newspaper,  against Yasser Barakat on 15/1/2008 charging him with libel and insult in a report No. 94/2008 issued in Al Mougaz newspaper pages 12&13.The second case No. 14131 /2008 was filed also by Mostafa Bakry against Yasser Barakat on 19/2/2008 charging him with libel and insult on  a report No. 99 pages 1&2.

In this regard, EOHR expresses its deepest resentment on the continued imposition of imprisonment sentence against journalists in publishing cases and calls for reviewing the Penal Code Act to abolish all imprisonment sentences in publishing and opinion crimes.

At the same time EOHR confirms the right to criticize public figures and members of the parliament as this right is guaranteed for the press. EOHR appeals to the Egyptian authorities, Journalists Syndicate and all society forces to  work quickly to eliminate prison sentences in publication crimes in accordance with conventions and international covenants concerned with human rights.