Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s September 11th announcement of a new National Strategy for Human Rights is cautiously welcomed by Liberal International’s Human Rights Committee. The document is the first of its kind adopted under the rule of Al-Sisi at a time in which Egypt desperately needs one. The strategy calls for reforms to promote and protect human rights in the country.
The LI HRC commends the adoption of the strategy but recalls that it holds no weight if it is not underpinned by genuine political will. While we celebrate the release of Egyptian human rights activist and LI Prize for Freedom nominee Esraa Abdel Fattah in July this year, we continue to remember that tens of thousands of political prisoners remain behind bars in Egypt, there have been upwards of 2700 enforced disappearances and counting in the past five years, and the country continues to enforce travel bans on some human rights defenders.
In order for this human rights strategy to hold legitimacy, the Egyptian government must now act decisively to free those who remain arbitrarily detained and end practices of authoritarian repression.
Photo Credit: Norwegian Mission to the UN, Esraa Abdel Fattah, September 27, 2012, Photo by: Hansine Korslien/NorwayUN. Flickr
