Egyptian activists urge international community to counter terrorism

CAIRO – 12 November 2019: Egyptian participants on the conference titled "Terrorism and Human rights", held at the headquarter of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, criticized strongly on Monday the silence of the international community towards countries that support terrorism in Egypt and the Middle East.

They pointed out that terrorism represents pressure on the political and economic conditions and consequently on the human rights situation.

This conference was organized by Human Rights Foundation, Egyptian Center for Thought and Strategic Studies and Association of Women and Development in Alexandria, and managed by the Chairperson of the Forum for Development and Human Rights Dialogue, Said Abdel Hafez.

During the conference, Abdel Hafez stated that the human rights situation in Egypt is witnessing remarkable progress and urged to continue the dialogue with Egyptian government institutions to improve the human rights situation in Egypt.

Moreover, the professor of political science at the American University in Cairo and a member of the advisory board of the Egyptian Center for Thought and Strategic Studies, Noha Bakr, said that Egypt has been witnessing serious reform steps in the field of economy since 2014 as political will has joined people in support of the decisions issued in this regard, but after the reform measures carried out by the government over the last five years, Egypt has witnessed an improvement in economic growth rates.

Also, experts in the security and defense program at the Egyptian Center for Thought and Strategic Studies, Ahmed Eliba, said that Hundreds of tunnels in Sinai used to smuggle weapons and infiltrate terrorist elements into Sinai, were destroyed. He asserted that terrorist operations increased in Egypt following the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group.

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Omar Marwan left Cairo on Sunday for Geneva, to attend the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Egypt, before the UN Human Rights Council next Wednesday.

Head of the government's National Council for Human Rights Speaker Mohamed Fayek also left for Geneva.
Marwan confirmed earlier that the government had held meetings with a number of ministries and civil society organizations to review Egypt's efforts in the field of human rights, in preparation for the Geneva session.

He also affirmed that the Egyptian government had abided by its international commitments and had implemented many of the recommendations made in the previous session in 2014.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on November 6th affirmed Egypt's support to human rights from a comprehensive perspective that includes economic, social, health, and educational rights, the Presidency said in a statement.

During the 12th periodic conference of the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions held in Cairo, Sisi said that the concept of human rights was not only limited to political aspects, presidential spokesman Bassam Radi also reported.

He affirmed, in this regard, the keenness to enhance efforts of continental integration, to meet the aspirations and developmental and economic ambitions of the African states’ peoples.