EU lawmakers urge UN to monitor Egypt human rights

Politicians from 13 nations and the European Parliament have urged the foreign ministers of their own countries, as well as ambassadors to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to address the human rights crisis in Egypt.

“We are extremely concerned about the international community’s persistent failure to take any meaningful action to address Egypt’s human rights crisis,” read the statement signed by 175 parliamentarians from the EU bloc and the UK.

“This failure, along with continued support to the Egyptian government and reluctance to even speak up against pervasive abuses has only deepened the Egyptian authorities’ sense of impunity,” it added.

“Despite this devastating picture, the international community has by and large limited its reaction to rare, occasional statements of concern at the U.N. Human Rights Council,” added the statement.

The open letter detailed human rights abuses in Egypt, including the arbitrary detentions of activists and journalists, the lack of opportunity for a fair trial, torture inside prisons, the increasing number of executions and legislation designed to impede civil society organisations from working.

The signatories asked that delegates to the UNHRC consider during the next session, which will be held in March, establishing a special human rights monitoring and reporting mechanism focused on Egypt.

Egypt is currently only subject to the council’s “universal periodic review” of its human rights situation. The requested monitoring mechanism would allow examining the human rights situation in Egypt more thoroughly.

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