#First7Steps Before talking about a “breakthrough” in the situation of rights and freedoms in Egypt
Five Egyptian human rights organizations announced today a list of seven necessary, specific and urgent measures to stop the unprecedented deterioration that Egypt is witnessing in the human rights situation over the past years.
The five organizations – the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, the Nadeem Center against Violence and Torture, and the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information – said that the seven steps represent the minimum set of measures that are all capable of immediate implementation, and before tomorrow morning, once a political decision is made to accept them. They added that whether or not these first seven steps are implemented is the true test of the seriousness of any rumored recent official pledges about reforms or “breakthroughs” in the human rights file.
The five Egyptian organizations called on all civil society institutions, parties, unions, individuals, and Egyptian communities abroad, as well as regional and international bodies, to adopt these seven steps as minimum demands that must be implemented immediately, provided that they are naturally followed by necessary procedures, reforms and other steps to stop the systematic violations of the rights of Egyptians.
The 7 Steps are:
Free Political Prisoners of all backgrounds imprisoned or detained in the thousands for their peaceful actions.
Halt “Endless” Detentions, which are a tactic to keep critics in indefinite pretrial custody by launching multiple cases against them.
Lift the State of Emergency in force since 2017 in violation of the Constitution that authorities have exploited to suspend all due process rights.
Stay All Executions in political and criminal cases until their review by a presidential pardon board.
Stop Criminal Prosecutions of Human Rights Activists and close the infamous Case 173 of 2011 (“Foreign-Funding” Case) targeting civil society organizations.
Withdraw the Draft Personal Status Law that reverses years of progress on women’s rights and launch a national debate on a new fair family law with equal rights for women.
Reverse the Blocking of Websites imposed illegally in the absence of court orders to censor critical media and content.
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression
El-Nadeem Center against Violence and Torture
Arab Network for Human Rights Information
Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms
