30 June Revolution: Civil, political human rights in Egypt on road to New Republic

CAIRO – 24 June 2023: Over the past decade, Egypt has announced concrete steps to move toward the “New Republic” with enhancement of civil and political human rights being one of its pillars.

The “New Republic,” as called by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, aims to “consolidate citizenship rights and to guarantee equal rights and duties for all citizens.”

A few days later, Egyptians will be celebrating the tenth anniversary of the 30th of June Revolution, 2013, when millions of Egyptians rushed into streets to protest against the Muslim Brotherhood group after only one year in power.

Following the revolution, Sisi, the president since 2014, has vowed to advance Egypt’s human rights situation as well as the social, economic, educational, cultural, health and humanitarian situations as part of the comprehensive concept of human rights.

Sisi said the 3 June Revolution is the birth of the New Republic, which protects its people’s resources.

Over the past three years, Egypt has expedited the pace of development in human rights situation, starting with launching its first long-term homegrown human rights strategy.

National Human Rights Strategy

In September 2021, President Sisi announced the launch of the National Strategy for Human Rights that runs until 2026 and aims to enhance rights of all society’s segments.

The strategy marks a milestone in Egypt's history, Sisi said during the launch, considering this as a key step for upgrading human rights in the country.

Sisi added that the National Council for Human Rights, representatives of civil society from various governorates and members of the advisory authority contributed to crystallizing the strategy.

During the launching ceremony, Sisi stressed the Egyptian state’s commitment to respecting and protecting rights of physical safety, personal freedom, participation in political life, freedom of expression and formation of non-governmental organizations.

The strategy addresses citizens’ political rights as well as their social, economic and cultural rights. This is in addition to the rights of marginalized groups, including women, children and people of determination.

Civil society year

In January last year, Sisi decided to declare 2022 as year of the Civil Society in Egypt to honor their role in promoting human rights in the political, economic and social fields.

Sisi has called for the civil society to continue their hard work along with the state institutions with the aim of achieving sustainable development in all realms.

Sisi also called for cooperation with the civil society to promote the culture of human rights in a way that fulfills the aspirations of the Egyptian people.

Case 173 of 2014

Over the past years, charges against dozens of Egyptian and foreign NGOs of receiving illegal foreign funding have been dropped in the Case 173 of 2014.

With the start of the National Dialogue in Egypt, there have been reassurances about planned permanent closure of the case, a demand that has been reiterated by human rights groups.

National Dialogue

In May, the National Dialogue kicked off in Egypt as per a call by President Sisi last year to reach a common ground among political forces and societal segments on priority issues in the political, economic and social fields.

In every session of the dialogue since its launch, participants representing different political parties have been calling for the release of prisoners of conscience in order to ensure public freedoms.

Sisi, who said last year that the dialogue will include all political powers without discrimination or exception, pledged recently to support the outcomes of the dialogue “without conditions or restrictions.”

In the dialogue, participants have been expressing themselves and their parties’ view with regard to the performance of the government and the human rights situation in Egypt as well as the state’s economic policies and their efficiency.

Freeing prisoners of conscience

In April 2022, Sisi called for the revival of the Presidential Pardon Committee, first formed in 2016, to pardon prisoners who have not been involved in violent or terrorist activities.

Since then, more than 1,000 pretrial detainees have been released as per decisions by the Public Prosecution and several others were released by presidential pardons.

Released prisoners have included many well-known political activists, journalists and writers.