Egypt rights groups call on government to address current problems.

Egypt rights groups call on government to address current problems.
CAIRO: The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies called on the government to address numerous problems which have recently surfaced. The repeated attacks against Coptic Christians and the Nubians’ right to return to their original homeland, the right of Sinai Bedouins to own their land and to put an end to their persecution of them by security forces are among the present tribulations discussed. The institute called on the government to address these issues in its report to the United Nations on economic, social and cultural rights in Egypt.
 
 In a meeting held by the Human Rights Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the centre mentioned the restrictions imposed on the employees’ right to strike in a report prepared by the government which set to be forwarded to the United Nations in February. The institute also demanded the government address the issue of the workers’ right to raised wages, discrimination against women, health insurance, laws restricting the right to form trade and professional union and the non-implementation of the government to relevant jurisprudence.
 
In a related context, the report prepared by researchers of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, published, revealed the relationship between Muslims and Copts over the past 10 years. The report stated that the Archdiocese of Naga’a Hammadi had a prominent political role and the “high electoral participation of its Copts and the high political tensions associated with the participation and influence on the outcome of legislative elections".
 
The report questioned the relationship between attacks which took place on January 6, and the electoral alliances or conflicts of influence in the constituency of Nag Hammadi, in preparation for the legislative elections, set to begin in autumn 2010. It also made inquiries questioning the presence of sufficient security to safe guard the Coptic churches and communities in the Naga’a Hammadi and Farshout districts during the New Year and Christmas celebrations and the aftermath of events from November 2009 to January 2010.
 
In light of the recurring violence in the region the Initiative recommended the need to instigate a “formal, thorough and independent investigation, either through the office of the Attorney General or by an independent and private committee panel which has legal authority. It stressed the significance of bringing those responsible for sectarian attacks in both, Naga’a Hammadi and Farshout, to stand trial, and “pay a fair compensation to the victims’ families in addition to the immediate release of both Muslim and Christian individuals detained without circumstantial evidence". It also called to hold accountable those who conducted arbitrary arrests without evidence.
 
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) announced its report on Wednesday, which was sent to Naga’a Hammadi, which revealed that the incident of Farshout contributed to  “rousing the situation in Upper Egypt where its manifestations took place with the events of Nag Hammadi, due to the intervention of some parties in the situation which led to the escalation and the breakout of sectarian incidents".
 
The organization ascertained that there is a variety of reasons and factors behind the events and aggravation of sectarian strife in the Egyptian community including the poor performance of government agencies on all levels in dealing with such crises by not making it public and hiding important information of events.
 
It also highlighted   the failure of both Al-Azhar and the Coptic Church religious institutions to take any action that would look into the grounds that led to this crisis. Stressing that only soothing methods were practiced while ignoring searches in order to prevent its recurrence".
 
The report conducted by the EOHR wrapped up the report emphasizing that, “in order to avoid recurrence of such events it is imperative that , there be political will and conscious interaction in which all state institutions, incorporating action by the Ministry of Awqaf Endowment, Al-Azhar, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Information and the Interior Ministry with the cooperation of the Church, civil society and political parties to cooperate in designing plans for an urgent interim long-term strategy in an effort to save the country from the consequences of such events.”

BM