facility:cairo institute

Egypt While a bad year for civil society, all vow to find ways to continue | MadaMasr
▻http://www.madamasr.com/en/2016/12/26/feature/politics/while-a-bad-year-for-civil-society-all-vow-to-find-ways-to-continue

Between bills, court cases and security measures, civil society groups have been bearing the brunt of state repression. Yet, for many of them, the question is not whether to continue but how

2016 was the first time that Karim-Yassin Goessinger felt paranoid and threatened.

Goessinger set up the Cairo Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences in 2013 with a small personal investment. Three years on, CILAS has grown to become a key learning space that provides a yearlong theoretical, discussion-based and practical educational program in the humanities, arts and culture and natural sciences.

In the past year, CILAS offered courses on elitism, oppression and resistance. But despite the growth, 2016 has seen several hiccups, including authorities refusing to allow a development grant through and limiting the institute’s ability to continue to use the space from which they have operated since being established. The programming was disrupted; some team members left.

Ominously, the year opened with the murder of Italian researcher Giulio Regeni, a commonly seen figure at CILAS. Regeni was found dead on a highway outside of Cairo in February, his body bearing signs of torture. In the course of the investigation, which is still ongoing, it emerged that the PhD student had been under surveillance by Egyptian security services.

Update : Egypt’s parliament passes new NGO law | MadaMasr
▻http://www.madamasr.com/en/2016/11/29/news/u/parliament-passes-new-ngo-law

Article 24 makes the approval of the National Authority for the Regulation of Non-Governmental Foreign Organizations necessary for the receipt of foreign funding. While the earlier draft presented by the government had the same condition, it considered the lack of a response within 60 days equivalent to approval, while the current draft considers the lack of a response within the same period equivalent to a rejection.

The penalties in Article 87 of the new law range from one to five years imprisonment, in addition to a fine between LE50 thousand and LE1 million.

The law stipulates prison terms of up to five years and fines between LE50,000 and LE1 million. Crimes considered punishable by five-year sentences include cooperating with a foreign organization to practice civil society work without obtaining permits, and conducting or participating in field research or opinion polls in the field of civil society without prior approval.

It is not permissible for an association to open headquarters or offices in any governorate without prior written approval from the minister of social solidarity, according to Article 21. Those who move an association’s headquarters to somewhere other than the originally registered location may be eligible for prison time of up to a year and a fine up to LE500,000.

Associations are obliged “to work according to the state’s plan and its developmental needs,” Article 14 stipulates.

Mohamed Zaree, the head of the Cairo office of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) previously told Mada Masr that the new law does not only target human rights organizations, but all local development organizations and individual initiatives. For him, the law indicates that the state is at war with civil society.

#Egypte #ong

Des ONG défendant les droits de l’homme quittent l’Egypte accusant le pouvoir « de leur avoir déclaré la guerre » - Ahram

▻http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/117591.aspx

An Egyptian human rights group has said it will transfer its regional and international activities abroad because the state has “declared war” on civil society groups.
The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) said on Tuesday that it feared “constant threats” against non-governmental organisations and a clampdown on all “critical voices” would hinder its work.

The group citied a government ultimatum to thousands of groups, which expired on 10 November, to register under a law from the era of Hosni Mubarak as one of the main motives behind the move.

The centre said it feared it would also be obliged to relocate its local activities “if the hostile climate against independent human rights group continues.”

Regional activities will be moved to Tunisia, where the group is legally registered, the centre said.

Some regional activities were relocated to other Arab countries amid restrictions that either impede or bar foreign rights campaigners and academics from entering the country, a statement by the centre said.

Last month, the government gave a deadline for groups doing NGO-type work and registered as civil companies or law firms to correct their status by registering under the Mubarak-era statute.

NGOs also fear a new draft law regulating their activities will further strengthen the state’s grip on them and severely restrict their operations.

Social Solidarity Minister Ghada Wali said she was “astonished” by the group’s move, in comments carried by state news agency MENA.

The minister said she had previously accepted the group’s call for a dialogue, stressing that the government has taken no legal action against the group or cracked down on it.

Wali said the institute had not asked the government for a correction of its status.

Some rights groups have already shut their offices in Egypt, including a democracy watchdog founded by former US president Jimmy Carter.

The Carter Centre said it had closed its Cairo office in October because “the current environment in Egypt is not conducive to genuine democratic and civic participation.”

Crackdown on civil society groups now worse than under Mubarak, warn rights activists | Mada Masr

▻http://www.madamasr.com/content/crackdown-civil-society-groups-now-worse-under-mubarak-warn-rights-activis

The Egyptian state is intensifying its crackdown on civil society, human rights activists warned on Thursday, alleging that state abuses are now worse than under deposed President Hosni Mubarak.

Speaking at a press conference organized after police forces raided the offices of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) late Wednesday night, Bahey Eddin Hassan said that the attack is part of a “general atmosphere of oppression in Egypt.”

The director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) characterized the raid as a “warning bell” for Egyptian non-governmental organizations.

ECESR lawyer Mahmoud Belal described arriving at the group’s downtown Cairo office shortly before midnight and finding it surrounded by policemen, who prevented him from entering the building, before physically assaulting and arresting him.

Statement from the Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists on the Massacre in Cairo

▻http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/13610/statement-from-the-egyptian-revolutionary-socialis

Joint statement by 9 Egyptian human rights groups

Non-peaceful assembly does not justify collective punishment | Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
▻http://www.cihrs.org/?p=7060

#MB #Rabaa

Egypt : women’s rights groups demand end to defamation campaigns

▻http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/05/05/womens-rights-groups-demand-end-to-defamation-campaigns

In a Sunday statement, Nazra for Feminist Studies, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, and El Nadeem Centre for Rehabilitation of Victims of violence as well as other rights groups denounced the “continued campaigns to defame female human rights defenders by the press and media to cast doubts on their integrity”.