Reports
Cairo: June 2003

Introduction           Section one            Section two           Section three     

Summary of the 2002 Annual Report

Section 3: The Activities of EOHR During 2002

 This section compares the outputs of EOHR’s activities in 2002 with those from previous years.  The following activities have been analyzed:

1. Fieldwork Unit: the mechanism for treating complaints, fact finding missions, monitoring trials and investigations, and visiting prisons. 

2. Informing public opinion: the use of press releases, reports, conferences, and intellectual forums to better inform the public about the human rights situation in Egypt.

3. Influence of EOHR’s activities in the media: the monitoring of important cases which were followed up by EOHR and were covered in the Egyptian and Arab media.

4. EOHR’s international activities: the participation of EOHR in conferences, and regional and international meetings outside Egypt.  This section also includes the efforts by EOHR to deal with UN human rights mechanisms such as the UN Human Rights Committee, and the Committee Against Torture.

5. The Refugee Legal Aid Project: established in 2001 and concerned with providing legal aid to refugees currently residing in Egypt.  The clinic provides legal aid to approximately 20-30 persons per month.  In 2002, UNHCR accepted 57% of the clinic’s cases.  This is a marked improvement from the first months of 2002, during which only 19% of cases were accepted by UNHCR.

6. Women’s Legal Aid Project: established in 1994 and considered one of EOHR’s principal projects, the Women’s Legal Aid Project provides legal aid and consultative services to economically disadvantaged women in Egypt.  In 2002, the project witnessed an increase in activity.  The project’s lawyers followed up on many judicial cases involving impoverished women – some of these cases were filed in 2001 and were carried into the following year; others were new cases that were filed in 2002.  They are as follows:

   1. 9 misdemeanour cases (assault, forgery, issuing cheques without credit)

   2. 9 civil cases

   3. 43 family law cases