Brussels, 17 November 2016 – EuroMed Rights expresses its utmost concern and outcry at the new draft law approved by the Egyptian Parliament on 15 November on the activity of civil society organisations.
This law, if enacted, would effectively put an end to any independent civic and social work in Egypt. This draft, the worst in many years, would replace the Mubarak-era Law 84 of 2002 on Associations and Foundations. It develops a full set of restrictive measures contrary to international human rights standards, that would put civil society organisations (CSOs) under the tutelage of the government and the security apparatus.
Indeed, government authorisations would be required for all normal civic activities, from conducting research, to collaborating with international organisations, to receiving domestic and foreign funding. Prison sentences of up to five years are foreseen for workers and representatives of CSOs that would ignore these provisions, and the dissolution of organisations would be facilitated on very broad grounds. The status of foreign CSOs would become even more precarious and the fees for registration would be so high as to discourage their establishment in Egypt. This violates article 22 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
This new draft comes in the context of a sweeping government crackdown on civil society in Egypt that has intensified over the past year. Concrete steps to suppress independent civil society organisations have already been taken as part of case no 173/2011, known as the “foreign funding case”. The case has not gone to trial, but the following temporary measures have been taken: the assets of several organisations were frozen and current and former directors were banned from travelling.
We call on the UN, the EU and their Member States to immediately call on the Egyptian authorities in the strongest terms to repeal this law that would eradicate independent civil society work in Egypt.