Egyptian authorities must repeal the newly enacted Law 71, which criminalizes media coverage and other reporting on criminal trials, in a flagrant violation of the right to a public trial and the right to freedom of expression, the ICJ said today.
The ICJ today addressed the UN Human Rights Council in the Interactive Dialogue on the Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on COVID-19 responses and human rights.
The ICJ joined civil society organisations in a statement to the UN Human Rights Council to express deep concern about at a global backlash against LGBTIQI during the interactive dialogue with the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The joint statement reads as follows:
“This is a joint statement.
This June marks 10 years since the first resolution on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We welcome the Expert’s work and his essential role connecting the lived realities of LGBT people and communities and defenders with the UN.
We also welcome this report and the analysis of gender grounded on international human rights law it provides.
We support the Expert’s intersectional approach, as well the sustained focus on identifiying root causes of violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We highlight with concern the Expert’s acknowledgement that ‘trans and gender-diverse persons suffer an unacceptable state of extrajudicial executions, forced disappearance, torture and ill-treatment, as well as systematic exclusion from education, employment, housing and health care’.
In the context of the growing anti-human rights movement, we witness a global backlash against the human rights of women and LGBTQI people, as well as an increase in criminalization and persecution of defenders in the context of governments’ purported responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have seen increased targeting, harassment, attacks and detention specifically of trans and gender-diverse human rights defenders who are targeted because of the work they do and because of who they are.
With respect to promoting and protecting human rights, the Expert clearly highlights the critical role of national, regional and international civil society; while noting that civil society spaces are actively being shrunk. We echo the Expert’s call on States to ‘uphold an enabling environment for civil society working for the human rights of trans, non-binary and gender-non conforming persons, and to respect and protect their rights to freedom of assembly and association’.
The voices of LGBTQI human rights defenders must be heard in order to keep governments accountable for human rights violations, and to continue to demand that the UN system fulfill its human rights mandate.
In this vein, we deplore the systemic underfunding of the UN human rights system and the drive for so-called efficiency, including the cancellation of general debates in June. General debates are a vital part of the agenda by which NGOs can address the Council without restrictions. We call for the reinstatement of general debates at all sessions, with the option of civil society participation through video statements.
Finally, we welcome the Expert’s recognition of the Yogyakarta Principles and the Yogyakarta Principles plus 10, as authoritative articulations of existing international human rights law in relation to issues of sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as their broad application in international, regional and national fora.
Thank you”
Signatories:
Amnesty International;
Article 19;
CHOICE for youth and sexuality;
International Commission of Jurists;
Outright Action International;
Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Rights (RFSL)
Accountability International;
Association Humanity First Cameroon;
Campaign Against Homophobia, Poland;
International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights;
ERA – LGBTI Equal Rights Association for Western Balkans and Turkey;
Edge Effect; GATE, Trans, Gender Diverse and Intersex Advocacy in Action;
Human Rights Defenders Network-SL;
Intersex Asia Network;
Lesbian and Gay Federation, Germany;
Mulabi;
Planet Ally;
Organization Intersex International – Chinese;
The Norwegian Organization for Sexual and Gender Diversity;
Synergia – initiatives for human rights;
Young Queer Alliance.
The undersigned organizations express their deep concern about the continued disappearance of dentist and former parliamentarian, Mostafa Al-Naggar, on its 1000th day, and call on the Egyptian authorities to immediately disclose any information related to his whereabouts and to reveal his fate.
هذا البيان المشترك متوفر باللغة العربية أيضاً
The former parliamentarian, Mustafa Al-Naggar, a dentist and former head of the Justice Party, travelled to the southern Egyptian governorate of Aswan on September 27, 2018. Since then, his whereabouts and fate remain unknown. According to his wife, the last phone call between her and Mustafa Al-Naggar was on September 28, 2018, when he told her that he was in Aswan, and after that, the communication with him was cut off.
However, on October 10, 2018, his wife received a phone call from an unknown person on her home land line who told her that Al-Naggar had been arrested. Accordingly, on October 12, 2018, the family telegraphed the Public Prosecutor regarding his disappearance, and Mostafa Al-Naggar’s lawyers filed a complaint with the Aswan Prosecution on October 31, bearing the No. 1010 of 2018 Aswan petitions. The State Information Service issued a statement on October 18, 2018, denying that the security services had arrested Al-Naggar.
The Administrative Court of the State Council decided to accept a lawsuit filed by the family of Dr. Al-Naggar to reveal his whereabouts. According to the lawyer of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, the Circle of Rights and Freedoms in the State Council ruled on January 20, 2020 to “stop the implementation of the negative decision and oblige the Minister of Interior to disclose the place of detention of dentist and former parliamentarian Mustafa Al-Naggar” in lawsuit No. 56032/73 J, which was filed by Shaima Ali Afifi, Dr. Al-Naggar’s wife.
The ruling council of the International Parliamentary Union had issued a decision in November 2020 regarding the disappearance of Mustafa Al-Naggar, in which it expressed its concern about the failure of the Egyptian authorities to take any measures towards revealing the fate of the former parliamentarian, and calling on the Ministry of Interior to open an investigation into his disappearance.
During its session held in May 2021, the same Council reiterated its continuing concern about the Egyptian authorities’ unwillingness to disclose Mustafa Al-Naggar’s whereabouts. The same Council renewed its call on the Ministry of Interior to take the investigation into his disappearance seriously, and to take the necessary measures to locate him.
It should be noted that Dr. Al-Naggar suffers from asthma and kidney stones, and depriving him of treatment may put his life at risk. We also note that Mustafa Al-Naggar has taken legal measures to appeal the ruling by the Cairo Criminal Court issued on December 30, 2017, against him and others in absentia, imposing a sentence of three years’ imprisonment following the “insulting the judiciary case” (in case No. 478 of 2014). On 15 October 2015 the court of cassation upheld the prison sentence.
The undersigned organizations call upon the Egyptian authorities to immediately disclose any information related to Mustafa Al-Naggar’s whereabouts and fate, as well as on the Public Prosecution – as the investigative body entrusted with following up and investigating citizens’ complaints – to immediately and urgently investigate the complaints submitted by his family, and on security forces to immediately stop the practice of enforced disappearance against Egyptian citizens, and those who oppose government policies, and immediately disclose the places of detention of the forcibly disappeared.
Signatory organizations
Stop Enforced Disappearance Campaign
Arabic Network for Human Rights Information
Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
Committee for Justice
Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms
Egyptian Front for Human Rights
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
El-Nadim Center
Freedom Initiative
Human Rights Watch (HRW)
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
Intersection Association for Rights and Freedoms
Rafto Foundation
World Organisation against Torture (OMCT)
Contact:
Said Benarbia, Director, ICJ Middle East and North Africa Programme, t: +41-22-979-3817; e: said.benarbia(a)icj.org
Asser Khattab, Research and Communications’ Officer, ICJ Middle East and North Africa Programme, e: asser.khattab(a)icj.org
The ICJ is concerned that the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHRPRA) are prioritizing young fit healthy persons to receive vaccinations. In the context of severe shortages of vaccines in South Africa and Southern Africa more generally, and in light of the stated aim of South Africa’s own vaccine roll-out plan to prioritize the most vulnerable in line with WHO advice, the vaccination of younger ‘elite athletes’ and young diplomats would appear unjustifiable on public health grounds. They are simply not priority groups for vaccination, especially where there is vaccine scarcity, inequality, and the promise by government of equality.
ICJ Africa Director, Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh stated,
“To date South Africa has administered just over 2.23 million vaccines mostly to health care workers and persons over 60 years old. This represents just 3.76% of the population. South Africa has the highest number of confirmed cases in Africa with more than 1.86 million who have been infected and where 59 000 have lost their lives. According to the South African Medical Research Council the excess deaths, which represent a more accurate representation of Covid-19 related mortality, is at 173 000. In this context the slow pace of vaccination coupled with the unfair and unequitable prioritisation of certain groups is contributing to a devastating third wave.”
A decision taken by SAHPRA appears to contradict the eligibility criteria of the Sisonke vaccine trial (a process where a vaccine was made available to health care workers using a research programme prior to the requisite approvals and licencing processes) to include among others ‘elite athletes’, enabling them to enjoy special privileged access to some of the remaining clinical trial stock, while others at risk could have been study subjects instead.
No reasons or public health-based justifications have been made publicly available as to why athletes and other persons working in sport as well government officials were given priority access. Ramjathan-Keogh added,
“No reasons or public health-based justifications have been made publicly available as to why these athletes and as well as sports and government officials have been prioritised to receive these vaccines from the Sisonke trial. If they cannot be justified on public health grounds, we are concerned that they may be non-compliant with human rights imperatives, and we question the ethical considerations of the approach”.
According to the Africa Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention as of 24 June there are 5.2 million cases reported across Africa, with 139 000 total deaths in Africa. Most new cases are from these five countries – South Africa (35%) Ethiopia (5%), Egypt (5%), Morocco (10%) and Tunisia (7%). The highest number of new cases are emerging from Southern Africa and from these countries: South Africa, Zambia, Namibia, and Uganda representing 63% of new cases in Africa.
The ICJ calls on South Africa to follow the World Health Organization’s guidance which is to prioritise those who are more vulnerable in respect of equitable access and fair allocation of vaccines. Further, South Africa has an international legal obligation to protect the right to health as a State party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The supervisory body for that treaty, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) has affirmed that all healthcare goods, facilities, and services must be available, accessible, acceptable and of adequate quality. In addition, these goods, facilities, and services should be “accessible to all, especially the most vulnerable or marginalized sections of the population, in law and in fact, without discrimination on any of the prohibited grounds.” The right to health should be accessible without discrimination “even in times of severe resource constraints” such as those brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read the letter.
Further Reading:
ICJ, “The Unvaccinated Equality not Charity in Southern Africa” (May 2020): https://www.icj.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Africa-The-Unvaccinated-Publications-Reports-2021-ENG.pdf
ICJ and Human Rights Watch, “More than words: it is time for urgent action on COVID-19 vaccines (UN Statement)” (21 June 2021): https://www.icj.org/more-than-words-it-is-time-for-urgent-action-on-covid-19-vaccines-un-statement/.
WHO, WHO SAGE values framework for the allocation and prioritization of COVID-19 vaccination (September 2020): https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/334299/WHO-2019-nCoV-SAGE_Framework-Allocation_and_prioritization-2020.1-eng.pdf
UN CESCR, Statement on universal and equitable access to vaccines for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) (December 2020): https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=E%2fC.12%2f2020%2f2&Lang=en
UN CESCR, Statement on universal affordable vaccination against coronavirus disease (COVID-19), international cooperation and intellectual property (23 April 2020): https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=E%2fC.12%2f2021%2f1&Lang=en.
Contact
Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh, ICJ Africa Director, Kaajal.Keogh(a)icj.org
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