Egypt: Open Letter to UN Special Procedures Following Election of New House of Representatives

Open letter to the following United Nations Special Procedures − Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to Freedom of opinion and expression (SR FRDX), Special Rapporteur against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (SRT), Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering Terrorism (SR TERROR), Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association (SR FPAA), Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (SR HRDs), Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) − asking them to call upon the new Egyptian House of Representatives to uphold their mandate under the 2014 Constitution by reviewing all laws adopted by the executive in the absence of a House of Representatives and revoking or amending all laws deemed to violate Egypt's international human rights obligations.

Honourable Special Rapporteurs, members of the Working Groups,

In November and December 2015, parliamentary elections took place in Egypt. The new House of Representatives, however, is only expected to hold its first session at the end of December, as the President has not yet designated the five percent of Members of Parliament that he can appoint under the electoral law and Article 102 of the 2014 Constitution.

We recall that the previous House of Representatives – the Shura Council − was dissolved on 4 July 2013 following the ousting of former president Mohamed Morsi and his government. In the absence of a House of Representatives since that date, the executive branch has been acting as a legislator and adopted decrees that have legal force, as specified under Article 156 of the Egyptian Constitution. This competence was first delegated to Adly Mansour, then interim president, before it became Abdelfattah El Sisi's after he was sworn into office as the new President of Egypt in June 2014.

While this competence of the executive branch was supposed to be temporary and exceptional, the Parliament has not yet regained its legislative role and will not before the end of December 2015. In the meantime, hundreds of decrees have been ratified by the executive branch. Under Article 156 of the Constitution, the House of Representatives shall discuss and approve these decrees within 15 days from the commencement of its first session. Then, if "such decrees are neither presented nor discussed by the House, or if they are presented but not ratified thereby, their force of law shall retroactively be revoked without need for issuing a decision to that effect, unless the House confirms its effectiveness during the previous period or decides to settle the consequences thereof."

Hence, the new Parliament will be called to review all decrees that have been adopted by the executive branch and declare if they adopt them as such, revoke, or amend them. We believe that the Parliament is vested with a crucial task of which the outcome will define the future of human rights in the country.

In fact, we argue that since July 2013 the authorities have adopted several decrees − particularly the ones highlighted below − that, directly or indirectly, violate human rights standards embodied in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention against Torture (UNCAT) and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR). We particularly refer to:

1. Procedure Act n°83 of 2013, 23 September 2013;
2. Law n°107 of 2013 on the "Right to Public Meetings, Processions and Peaceful Demonstrations", 24 November 2013;
3. Law n°136 of 2014 for the "Securing and Protection of Public and Vital Facilities", 27 October 2014;
4. Law n°8 of 2015 on Terrorists Entities, 17 February 2015;
5. Law n°95 of 2015 for Confronting Terrorism, 15 August 2015.

(For more on these laws, please click here).

In addition, several other decrees undermine the protection of human rights in the country. First of all, the State of Emergency in the North Sinai in force since October 2014 not only led to the forced displacement of thousands of individuals and the destruction of thousands of houses, without fair compensations to all families, but also to numerous cases of extrajudicial killings of civilians. Moreover, the authorities have amended the regulations on prisons, restricting prisoners' rights even further while giving carte-blanche to the authorities to ill-treat them as soon as they do not obey an order.

Finally, the authorities also ratified decrees that changed the nature of police stations, which are not suited to accommodate detainees for periods of times exceeding pre-trial detention, transforming them into prisons, without substantive changes made to their infrastructures. Overcrowded, these police stations have seen the death of hundreds of detainees because of poor conditions of detention, torture and ill-treatment and denial of medical care.

Honourable Special Rapporteurs, members of the Working Groups,

Since July 2013, Egypt has been the scene of unprecedented human rights violations. Thousands of arbitrary detentions, systematic torture and ill-treatment, and extrajudicial executions occurred in addition to thousands of enforced disappearances, unfair mass trials and restrictions on the freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and association. While the civil society, locally and internationally, has repeatedly called on the international community to take a strong stance against the deteriorating situation in the field, these systematic violations have led to very few and effective condemnations, let alone actions, from international actors.

We, the Alkarama Foundation, have documented hundreds of cases to the United Nations Special Procedures in the past years and we continue to receive dozens of cases every week. We believe that the decrees adopted since July 2013 have aggravated the situation across the country and provided an additional breeding ground for violations, in a country where the culture of impunity for human rights violations was already deeply entrenched.

In March 2015, on the occasion of the adoption of the outcome of Egypt's Universal Periodic Review, the authorities committed to improve the protection of human rights in the country by accepting the majority of recommendations made by United Nations Members States. However, more than 10 months later, not a single credible measure was taken to address the issues highlighted during the UPR process, while human rights violations continue unabated.

We argue that, with the election of a new House of Representatives, Egypt is at a critical time of its modern history. Without taking into account the potential influence that the House of Representatives could have on the future of the country, it should be clear for all that this forum is mandated to review all decrees adopted since its dissolution. By revoking or amending the decrees highlighted above, the Members of Parliament could have a decisive impact on the promotion and protection of human rights in Egypt and pave the way for a better future for all Egyptian citizens.

If we are advocating for such changes, we are also aware that we − civil society − are stronger when all international actors, including UN Special Procedures, join their voices to ours. We therefore call upon you to issue a statement asking the new Egyptian House of Representatives to uphold to its mandate under the 2014 Constitution, by effectively reviewing all decrees that have been adopted since July 2013 and revoking or amending all laws deemed to infringe on Egypt's international obligations to protect and promote human rights.

We thank you for your consideration of this most important issue.

Yours respectfully,

Mourad Dhina,
Executive Director
Alkarama Foundation