Egyptian NGO launches event to promote oriental Christians' religious rights

CAIRO - 5 March 2019: The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, a national non-profit NGO, has announced launching a side event to defend the freedom of religion as "one of the most pressing issues facing various societies in the Middle East and North Africa.

The event is set to take place on Tuesday (Mar. 5).

In their event, the EOHR, founded in 1985, will discuss the state of religious freedoms in general and the right of Christian communities to freely worship in particular in Egypt and the Arab world and the impact extremist Jihadi terrorism leaves on the entire situation, according to a press release issued by the organization.

Entitled "Freedom of Religion: Christian Communities of the Orient," the event will touch on the UN High Commissioner for human rights initiative faith for rights and its potential role in spreading principles of tolerance and acceptance in societies that suffer religious and sectarian divisions and tensions, the organization added.

Dr. Hafez Abu Seada, president of EOHR and member of the National Council for Human Rights; and Jean Maher, president of the Franco Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (OFEDH) will give a speech during the event.

Also, Dr. Salah Salam, member of the National Council for Human Rights, vice president of Sinai University; Essam Shiha, Secretary General of EOHR, and member of the Supreme Committee of Al-Wafd party; Ambassador Ibrahim Salama, director of the Human Rights Treaties Division at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, are all set to speak during the event.