Tactics and tools for the protection
of Human Rights Defenders

Cairo, Geneva - 29 December 2011 - Today, the offices of 6 local and international NGOs in Egypt were raided by teams of investigators and prosecutors accompanied by uniformed military and security forces. Warrants have been issued to search and investigate a total of 17 organizations under the accusations of “receiving funding from foreign countries” and other crimes according to the heavily criticised 2002 “NGO law”.

The organizations visited today are:

1. The Arab Center for Independence of Justice and Legal Professions (ACIJP)
2. The Budgetary and Human Rights Observatory
3. The National Democratic Institute (NDI) (Cairo and Assyut offices)
4. The International Republic Institute (IRI)
5. Freedom House
6. The Konrad Adenauer Stiftung

The warrants stated that they would confiscate all papers, documents, publications and devices which may be used in the commission of the crimes being investigated. Staff members of these organizations have been warned against using their cell phones, laptops and computers, and are being isolated from contact with the outside world. Additionally, at least with regards to the ACIJP office, authorities have restricted access to the entire building, preventing people from entering or exiting the building.

In view of the grave consequences which such a crackdown on Egyptian civil society organisations could have, especially at a time when the number of human rights violations reported by these and other organisations is increasing daily and will certainly continue to grow as the one year anniversary of Egypt’s 2011 revolution arrives, Alkarama has called on the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights to urgently intervene with the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) and the Egyptian Government to remind them of their international obligations to protect human rights defenders, in accordance with the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the General Assembly in March 1998.

In particular, paragraph 5 of the 2009 General Assembly resolution on Human Rights Defenders, in which the General Assembly:

5. Also calls upon States to respect, protect and ensure the rights to freedom of expression and association of human rights defenders and, in this regard, to ensure, where procedures governing registration of civil society organizations exist, that these are transparent, non-discriminatory, expeditious, inexpensive, allow for the possibility to appeal and avoid requiring re-registration, in accordance with national legislation, and are in conformity with international human rights law;

Alkarama calls on the Egyptian authorities to immediately submit the NGO law to the newly elected parliament for it to be reviewed, in the same way that the Political Parties law and the Trade Union’s law has been.

Finally, Alkarama called on the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Assembly and the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression request to visit Egypt immediately, to meet with the relevant ministries, civil society organizations, judicial authorities and members of parliament in order to advise them on how to review this law so that it be in accordance with international law. The Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Assembly should also request from the Egyptian authorities as well as civil society that his questions about best practices for the respect for the right to assembly be answered, taking into account the current events.

Though these attacks on the rights of people to associate freely are not the worst or most violent taking place in Egypt today – torture, arbitrary detention and disappearances being regular occurrences – these attacks on the NGOs which bring to light the worst violations committed by state forces could mean a black out on further violations. The voices which daily denounce the worst violations in Egypt cannot be allowed to be silenced.

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