HRC43: Oral statement during Egypt UPR outcome

Agenda Item 6: UPR Outcome, Egypt

Organisation: Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)

Speaker: Claire Denman

Thank you Madame President,

CSW welcomes several positive steps observed in Egypt with regard to freedom of religion or belief in recent years, including the legalisation of many churches and places of worship, the issuing of permits to build and renovate new churches, and increased efforts to crack down on hate speech and incitement.

However, legislation on church building and renovation still includes expansive and ambiguous grounds on which an application can be refused. As such, we welcome supported recommendations to eliminate undue restrictions on the building and renovation of churches and further urge Egypt to extend revised legislation to cover the houses of worship of all religious groups.

We also call on Egypt to amend Article 64 of the constitution and Article 98(f) of the penal code in accordance with Article 18 of the ICCPR, and to repeal Law 263 on religious minorities, ceasing any state-sponsored initiative that promotes one religion or belief system over another.

We are also concerned by continued reports of reconciliation sessions in Upper Egypt which are often characterised by bias and unbalanced rulings that deprive victims, primarily Coptic Christians, of justice.

We call on Egypt to ensure that any attempts at reconciliation are unbiased and are not used to avoid bringing perpetrators of violence to appropriate justice.

CSW is also concerned by ongoing restrictions on free speech and human rights defenders and echoes state recommendations to release those detained for peacefully exercising their rights.

We are particularly concerned by the detention of Coptic Christian activist Rami Kamil, who was arrested in November 2019 and is facing unfounded terrorism charges.

Mr Kamil’s detention has been extended on multiple occasions, despite the fact he has still not been formally charged or tried. It is widely believed that he is being targeted because of his human rights work documenting violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief.

CSW continues to call for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr Kamil, and all those detained on account of their work defending human rights. We also welcome and echo the multiple recommendations made to Egypt calling on the State to guarantee the protection of human rights defenders.

Thank you.