Egypt:New Human Rights Report Enroute To Geneva, Will it Matter?

Egypt: Overcoming torture, human rights abuses « Bikya Masr

Bikya Masr runs an outstanding human rights blog among other involvement with politics in Egypt and I have followed his work closely. His latest report concerning new human rights development in Egypt is worth a share. According to his blog:
"The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) believes that the recent report sent to Geneva by the National Council for Human Rights is an opportunity for the country to establish new laws to help combat torture and human rights abuses in the country."
Of course for Egypt this is incredible news as this is a country with a poor human rights record which we can discuss with more detail. Furthermore Bikya continues:

"Despite the hope, ANHRI “is quite cautious regarding these efforts and declarations especially that the Egyptian government did not admit the existence of any problem to start with,” highlighting one of the growing tenuous issues facing rights in the country.

According to the watchdog, the Egyptian government “mentioned nothing to be the reason behind the deteriorating human rights condition in Egypt in the last four years.”

If you ask the government of Egypt there is no problem with human rights. Why then did the ANHRI have to send a report to Geneva Switzerland to begin with? Why then did a convicted convict for torture be returned to work in Egypt as a police officer?

Furthermore, CIA Factbook

indicates that Egypt's human rights record has not been one of great respect"

"current situation: Egypt is a transit country for women trafficked from Eastern European countries to Israel for sexual exploitation, and is a source for children trafficked within the country for commercial sexual exploitation and domestic servitude, although the extent to which children are trafficked internally is unknown; children were also recruited for domestic and agricultural work; some of these children face conditions of involuntary servitude, such as restrictions on movement, non-payment of wages, threats, and physical or sexual abuse tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Egypt is on the Tier 2 Watch List for the third year in a row because it did not provide evidence of increasing efforts to investigate and prosecute traffickers; however, in July 2007, the government established the "National Coordinating Committee to Combat and Prevent Trafficking in Persons," which improved inter-governmental coordination on anti-trafficking initiatives; Egypt made no discernible efforts to punish trafficking crimes in 2007 and the Egyptian penal code does not prohibit all forms of trafficking; Egypt did not increase its services to trafficking victims during the reporting period (2008)
Illicit drugs:
transit point for cannabis, heroin, and opium moving to Europe, Israel, and North Africa; transit stop for Nigerian drug couriers; concern as money laundering site due to lax enforcement of financial regulations" This does not go well for the international communities outlook of Egypt overall from a human rights perspective whatsoever. Global Human Rights Are For Everyone! William

20 yr old Christian Man Tortured in Pakistan Jail?

Rights Group in Pakistan Seeks Answers on Christian’s Death - NYTimes.com
Prominent Human Rights group sources allege that a 20 yr old young Christian man was found dead in his cell with evidence of torture found on his body. Christians are a minority in Pakistan being a Muslin dominated state. The man's death is under investigation. According to the report from NY Times.com:
"Mr. Fanish was arrested on Saturday in the village of Jathikai and charged with blasphemy, a controversial statute often used against minorities in Pakistan, human rights groups say. A Muslim family accused him of "desecrating a Koran", but his local supporters said the family claimed he had been "admiring their daughter."

Furthermore according to the Times:

"The police said Mr. Fanish had hanged himself in his cell, using a strip of material ripped from his clothing. The Joint Action Committee for People’s Rights, an alliance of more than 30 human rights groups, said in a statement it had talked to witnesses who saw marks of torture on his body.

The group said evidence in the case “raises strong suspicion of the involvement of the jail officials” in Mr. Fanish’s death.

Ms. Jahangir said local politicians often collude with attackers, covering up their crimes, partly out of a deep-seated prejudice against minorities — Christians and Ahmadis, a minority sect in Islam — and out of a reflexive sympathy with other Muslims."

Apparently, we will quite possibly not get to the bottom of this, but maybe there is a chance. There is a strong coalition of Human Rights groups "The Joint Action Committee For Peoples Rights "on it" so we will see how they manage. Let us just hope that this young man's family receives some sort of justice for whatever happened to there son in that Pakistani jail cell for "blasphemy against a Koran". Please, is this really a trumped up way of getting rid of non-believers of anything other than the Muslim faith?

William

United Nations Radio: The US joins the UN Human Rights Council.

United Nations Radio: The US joins the UN Human Rights Council.
This link will of course take you to the sound clip of this monumental occasion; that being the US announcement that came as of yesterday! The US will no longer "observe" but were to become members "officially" of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Politically this is a SIGNIFICANT step for the US.
As an "observer" basically the US has stood by its sovereignty not to be "bound" by customary or international human rights legislation "per say" as the United Nations had previously interpreted it to be. Thus the term "observer" status. This official union by way of this announcement is not to be taken lightly by the rest of the world community-or the US itself; and has tremendous political and legal human rights implications .

Personally my gut feeling is that every Human Rights NGO on this planet, likely is standing on there feet applauding the American decision to get on-board with the United Nations, while also putting aside past differences with them, on other unrelated issues. This will definitely further champion the human rights effort!~

I could not be happier to hear this announcement! I do believe the new and most recent developments (see recent post)at Bagram AFB is a testimony to the United States commitment to human rights, and the new administrations renewed philosophy.

I really applaud President Obama for allowing this to go forward and I am sure that so do many many others worldwide!

William