GENEVA – The Egyptian authorities should put an immediate end to systematic violations of women’s rights, first and release women human rights activists, the Geneva Council for Justice and Justice said today.
The Council criticized the rise in the incidence of violations against women in Egypt, whether those targeting women human rights defenders who expressed opposition or independent opinions on different issues like women’s issues, violations of women’s accountability and law enforcement.
GCRJ stated that the Egyptian authorities continue to lead the country in the worst human rights crisis in decades, systematically using torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance to silence political opposition and the trial of thousands of civilians by military courts.
It illustrated that this was taking place at a time when the Egyptian government was not providing adequate protection for victims of sexual and gender-based violence, and in some cases punished them for talking about the case.
On May 9, activist Amal Fathi posted a video on her Facebook page about sexual harassment in Egypt, criticizing the government’s lack of protection for women. The next day, pro-government and state-owned media began a defamation campaign against Fathi for authorities to arrest on 11 May.
On September 29, a criminal court sentenced Fathi to two years in prison for “broadcasting false news” and a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($ 560) for “public disgrace.”
GCRJ said women activists and groups working on women’s rights were facing trial for their human rights activities, including Mazin Hassan, president of Kakra for Feminist Studies, and Azza Suleiman, head of the Egyptian Women’s Legal Aid Center under the travel ban.
The Human Rights Council monitored the escalation of targeting women in Egypt during 2018, both in terms of targeting or committing grave violations during arrest, investigation, detention and trial. The state used its authorities to ensure justice and the rights of citizens in political plots or crimes against women.
In its arbitrary practices against women, the Egyptian country exploits the state of social normalization with violence and abuse against the owners and associates of any political orientation or political ideas opposed to the political system.
This has resulted in depriving women detainees of their most basic rights to legal representation, fair trial and the protection of their human rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the law during arrests and detentions.
Over the past year, more than 77 girls and women have been arrested in ways that have violated justice. These arrests have been accompanied by flagrant violations of their human rights, ranging from abduction from home to abuse of their relatives, enforced disappearances, unknown places of detention, intimidation of their children, inhuman conditions of detention, denial of the right to health or treatment, and in some cases documented insult, torture, sexual harassment, threats of sexual violence and other abuses.
Geneva Council stressed that the philosophy of justice and accountability is supposed to aim at developing a secure society that respects the dignity, dignity and/or human rights of its members without distinction, even while being held accountable for possible crimes.
It affirmed that torturing women, especially women activists in the field of human rights and the practice of enforced disappearance against them are crimes under international law and Egyptian.
Geneva Council for Rights and Justice called for effective international intervention to stop the crimes against women in Egypt immediately and to support their rights to expression, criticism and opposition, to exercise political action, and to commit fair and humane investigations and prosecutions to women who are likely to commit crimes and ensure procedures and conditions of detention that take into account the perspective of justice and human rights principles.
