Human rights group says Egyptian government is undermining civil society

Hayden Pirkle

CAIRO: The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) accused Egypt’s interim military government of campaigning to defame and besiege Egyptian civil society organizations, in a press release this Saturday.

ANHRI says that the Egyptian government has worked to undermine civil society organizations, such as human rights groups, for blowing the whistle on the human and civil rights violations committed by the interim government.

“This unfair campaign was initiated by the Egyptian government almost four months ago against the Egyptian civil society organizations, particularly rights organizations after they had addressed the flagrant violations against thousands of Egyptians, among of which military trials, virginity tests, the restoration of a censor on mass media, and attempts to besiege press freedom,” stated the ANHRI.

According to the press release, the smear campaign is led by Faiza Aboul-Naga, a minister within the Policies Committee of the National Democratic Party, formerly led by the recently deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s son, Gamal Mubarak.

The primary tools used by this covert campaign to defame civil society groups are governmental newspapers and other media outlets closely aligned with the current regime. Many of these newspapers are run by directors formerly linked to the Mubarak regime.

Egyptian civil society organizations have strived to increase transparency and improve observation and financing for the organizations themselves by putting forth a revised law to the Minister of Social Solidarity and the Egyptian Prime Minister, Essam Sharaf.

Efforts made by civil rights associations to develop and reform the current laws applying to them have fallen on deaf ears. Sharaf and the Ministry of Social Solidarity refuse to meet with the organizations.

The government campaign is alleged to be in cooperation with the US embassy based in Cairo, which cooperates with several Egyptian institutions.

”The American embassy also does not declare the names of the institutions it funds, and releases statements that portray the American ambassador as the defender of the Egyptian civil society, emphasizing the flawed image of the civil society in the eyes of the public opinion, and concealing the fact that it is the public at large that works at these organizations and benefits from their activities,” according to the ANHRI.

BM


(2011-11-2/bikyamasr.com)