US deputy assistant secretary of state: Egypt’s national strategy for human rights expresses commitment to back fundamental freedoms

CAIRO – 3 February 2022: Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Democracy and Human Rights Christopher Le Mon lauded the serious steps taken by Egypt to support social and economic rights in recent times.

In a meeting with President of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) Moushira Khattab, Le Mon lauded Egypt’s launch of the national strategy for human rights as an expression of the state's commitment to support the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Egypt.

According to an official statement, Khattab received Le Mon, who is making an official visit to Egypt, which lasts for several days. Khattab and Le Mon discussed Egypt's steps to implement the national strategy for human rights in a meeting in Egypt.

Ambassador Mahmoud Karem, vice president of the NCHR and the council members, Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat and Ezzat Ebrahim participated in the meeting.

The US Department of State official expressed his desire to discuss the council’s vision on how to proceed with implementing Egypt’s National Strategy for Human Rights and learn about the area of priorities and the role of the council in light of its new formation.

Khattab, for her part, said the council’s work plan during the coming period includes enhancing cooperation with the civil society organizations and empowering workers in these institutions to support their participation in implementing the national strategy.

Khattab said the launch of the national strategy for human rights has raised the ceiling of human rights and provided evidence on the serious Egyptian efforts to promote the principles of accountability.

She added that the strategy gives the government more responsibilities represented in the commitment to implement the provisions of the national strategy in the future.

She referred to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s decision to cancel the extension of the state of emergency nationwide and the government’s approval of the NCHR’s request to extend the deadline for NGOs to legalize their status as among the most important recent steps taken to implement the strategy.

For his part, Le Mon touched on some challenges related to the human rights file in Egypt, which include freedom of opinion and expression, pretrial detention, allegations of torture in police stations and prisons, and some concerns related to the new NGOs, the Personal Status Law.