Representatives from international bodies, local organizations, and the Egyptian government gathered Thursday to commemorate Human Rights Day at an event sponsored by the Human Rights Capacity Building Project (BENAA). The event, which was held at the downtown campus of the American University of Cairo (AUC), maintained a largely positive tone about human rights in Egypt, despite ongoing criticism by non-governmental organizations on human rights practices here.
The purpose of the event, according to Ahmed Haggag, the national coordinator for BENAA, was to “make people think about human rights.”
“Human rights is an abstract idea,” Haggag said in an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm before the event began. “We would like people to, from the beginning of the new year, reflect a little bit about the status of human rights, either in Egypt or in the world.”
To this end, the event featured speeches by representatives from AUC, Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Union, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the National Council for Human Rights. The speeches focused primarily on abstract concepts and progress that has been made so far regarding human rights in Egypt.
Ramy Raoof, who maintains the Egyptian Blog for Human Rights, dismissed the event as “a governmental show.”
“They’re all underground NDP people,” Raoof said of BENAA. “In the public image, ‘No, no, we’re independent, we’re fine, we’re not NDP.’ But the real point is they are NDP. And you can see this from their reports about human rights in Egypt.” The NDP is the National Democratic Party, the ruling party of Egypt.
Human Rights Watch, a leading international human rights watchdog, has issued harsh criticism of the government of Egypt, citing, in a 2008 report, cases of police torturing activists, violently dispersing demonstrators, jailing the political opposition, killing migrants, forcibly returning refugees to danger, as well as a number of other violations. Last week, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies issued its own report criticizing human rights practices in Egypt.
Wael Abo El-Maged, the deputy assistant minister of foreign affairs for human rights affairs, asked the audience of his speech to “take stock of where we are, where we were, and how far we’ve come in the implementation of the noble idea.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is one of BENAA’s financial backers. Abo El-Maged encouraged Egyptians to “celebrate how far we’ve come with equal doses of vigilance and optimism.”
“It’s getting harder and harder to be a [human rights] violator and get away with it,” he said.
Abo El-Maged also cited a report that will be produced in February by the Egyptian government as a cause for optimism. The report will be a part of the Universal Periodic Review required by the UN. “Egypt is looking for a positive, honest dialogue on human rights in Egypt,” he said.
Raoof, however, is skeptical. “It’s an internal review, they don’t have to criticize anybody,” he said. Raoof also said that independent local civil society organizations were barred from participating in the review process.
The event’s keynote speaker was Mohamed El Said El Dakak, the president of Alexandria University and a member of the National Council for Human Rights, who discussed creating a culture of human rights in Egypt. El Dakak criticized what he perceives as a double standard in the international community when it comes to human rights and praised the Egyptian government for respecting human rights.
Marc Franco, the EU representative in Egypt, also spoke at the event, citing the EU’s financial support for BENAA and emphasizing the need to “instill a culture of human rights at every strata of society,” which he said BENAA is addressing. James Rawley, a representative of the United Nations in Egypt, gave brief remarks and read from a speech prepared by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
The human rights day commemoration also featured a concert, a film about BENAA, and an awards ceremony for journalists who have written outstanding articles about human rights issues.
