A group of human rights organizations met yesterday, Tuesday, October 21, with the EU Special Representative for Human Rights Stavros Lambrinidis at the office of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies to discuss developments in the state of human rights defenders in Egypt.
The meeting focused on the problems facing human rights organizations in Egypt especially in light of the ultimatum given by the ministry of social solidarity, for what it called “unregistered entities” to register under the draconian 84/2002 law on associations. The ultimatum is set to expire on November 10.
The meeting was held a few days ahead of the UN’s Universal Periodic Review of Egypt, which is set to take place on November 5. The meeting also addressed the challenges and threats facing the work of human rights organizations and human rights defenders specifically, and civil society in general, including legislative restrictions, security harassment and threats, and the security driven media attacks on civil society.
The following nine Egyptian rights organizations attended the meeting:
Association for Freedom of Expression and of Thought, The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Nazra for Feminist Studies, The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, The New Woman Foundation, The Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners, Arab Penal Reform Organization, Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, And Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies.
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