Human Rights
March 25, 2008
6 minutes read

CIHRS calls for ending suppression over human rights activists in the Arab region

Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), called upon the international community to exert effective efforts to urge Arab governments to duly reconsider their legislation, policy and practices contravening their international obligations to protect freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and freedom to form associations, including non-governmental organizations.

In its report before the Seventh Session of the UN Human Rights Council, which began on Monday March 3^{rd 2008, CIHRS stressed that special attention should be awarded to providing protection to human rights defenders in the Arab World. CIHRS pointed out indicated also that recently there have been huge harassments of human rights organizations and defenders have been increasingly subject to abusive and suppressive actions by government actors in of democratic rights and freedoms in the majority of Arab countries, particularly Egypt , Syria , Bahrain and Tunisia ..}

The report also addressed the recent forced closure by Egyptian authorities of the in this context, CIHRS report monitored the Egyptian authorities’ impervious practice of dissolving the Association for Human Rights Legal Aid, as well as a and closure of syndicate and trade union service headquarters. . CIHRS warned of increasingly repressive conditions being imposed on NGOs in Egypt through against government intentions to amend the Law of Associations to include, on a more restrictive regulations/laws limiting the right of association and expression trenfor non-governmental organizations.

In its report, CIHRS also described elucidated the hazards faced by Syrian activists. , in the light of either In particular, the refusal of Syrian authorities refusal to legally acknowledge human rights organizations, the prosecution, using unfair , or through a series of pursuits and trials, against of dozens tens of qualified professionals personnel belonging to human rights organizations, and civil society revival committees, including the and leaders of the National Council of the “Damascus Declaration”; a Declaration that calls calling on the government to adopt for the adoption of a comprehensive program for democratic reform.

The report also decried the prolonged forewarned also against the persistent arbitrary closure of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights since 2004 by the Bahrain government, as well as the refusal of and that the Bahraini authorities to refrained from registering a number of civil society associations and organizations. Not only this Furthermore, but the president of one civil society one of these associations was also put onto trial.

Egypt attacks human rights defenders at the UN Human Rights Council:

On the other hand, On March 12, the Egyptian government delegation to the UN Human Rights Council accused human rights defenders organizations of “violating the most basic fundamental principles of human rights and humanitarian principlesty,” without giving any supporting evidence.”!! The government delegation alleged that amendments introduced by the Egyptian government to the Law of Associations aims at enhancing the role played by NGO’s, which runs counter to the assessment of many Egyptian NGOs, including CIHRS, CIHRS report of that the aforementioned amendments; amendments tswhich clearly seek to impose further arbitrary restrictions on NGOs. The delegation also criticized also the report released by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.

It should be noted that the UN Rapporteur’s report includes information on four cases of assaults by the Egyptian government on human rights defenders including:; the closure of the syndicate and trade union service centrehouse; the prison sentence against Kamal Abbas, the founder of this centrehouse; the dissolution of the Association for Human Rights Legal Aid; as well as and; the arrest of defenders of the rights of the Shiite minority in Egypt, namely, Mohamed Al Deriny and Adham Soubh. The report criticizedcensured the Egyptian government’s breach of the Universal Declaration for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, and also probed the major violations against human rights defenders in Egypt and 13 other Arab states including Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Tunisia, The United Arab Emirates and Yemen.