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EOHR Announces the Release of its Annual Report 2006
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2/9/2007
EOHR announces the release of its 17th Annual Report 2006 on the 4th September 2007 during the press conference, at 12:00 noon at EOHR premises. The report contains monitoring and documentation of human rights situation in Egypt during 2006. EOHR's Annual Report is considered the most important publication issued by EOHR, as it gives a general indication to the situation of human rights in Egypt through the whole year based on data acquired and documented by EOHR's Fieldwork Unit. This report coincides with the continuous violations of basic human rights such as the right to life, personal safety and freedom. The crime of torture and inhumane treatment are still considered the most sever violations monitored by EOHR. 567 cases of torture were documented by EOHR since 1993, including 167 cases resulted to the death of the victims. The right to assembly and freedom of association are also subjected to violations, which took place in the course of discussing the amendment of NGOs' Law 84/2002, to increase the governmental control over NGOs, in stead of facilitating their work and activities in Egypt. The release of the report also coincides with the Shura Council elections, which also witnessed an innumerous amount of violations, which included acts of violence and intimidation, and the closure of polling stations. Voters were also put off taking part in the election process, and NGO monitors were prevented from entering polling stations in addition to group voting.
On another side, this report comes in the shadow of the new terrorism law, which is expected to be more harsh than the current emergency law. The new terrorism law will be a tool to confiscate rights and freedoms and will be used as a pretext to illegal and unconstitutional practices used by the police.
Through 2006, EOHR monitored and documented human rights violations in different categories. EOHR's Fieldwork Unit documented violations of right to life, freedom, personal safety, forced disappearance, prisoners treatment, fair trial, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, political participation, freedom of association and parties establishment. EOHR also monitored violations related to social and economic rights, such as the rights of Egyptians abroad, right to work, to health, housing, education and clean environment.
In this context, EOHR states that what is monitored is only an indication to the existence of violations and doesn’t include all violations took place in Egypt in 2006. EOHR maintained neutrality and subjectivity in monitoring such violations.
EOHR's Annual Report 2006 is divided into three main parts:
Part One: An evaluation and assessment to legislative developments and judicial decisions related to human rights in Egypt during 2006.
Part Two: It is the core of the report representing the outcome of monitoring and documenting of human rights situation in Egypt through 2006.
Part Three: demonstration of EOHR's activities statistically, including the Women's Legal Aid Program.
The report concludes to a group of recommendations related to the rights tackled in the report. EOHR hopes that these recommendations would be taken into consideration by the Egyptian authorities, and to be of interest to intellectual and human rights activists in Egypt, aiming to unite all the efforts to reduce human rights violations and their consequences on the whole democratization process.
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