UN rights review roundly criticizes Egypt over prison conditions, civil society violations, discrimination |

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  • UN rights review roundly criticizes Egypt over prison conditions, civil society violations, discrimination | | Mada Masr
    https://madamasr.com/en/2019/11/18/news/u/un-rights-review-roundly-criticizes-egypt-over-prison-conditions-civil-soc

    Despite intensive lobbying to stem criticism of Egypt’s track record on civil liberties and the conditions of civil society, United Nations member states issued 372 recommendations to Egypt during the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session held in Geneva on Thursday.

    Many of the recommendations concerned prison conditions, violations against civil society and discrimination against women, according to Mohamed Zaree, the head of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies office in Egypt. A member of the institute attended the UN session.

    The Universal Periodic Review is a mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council aimed at improving human rights practices in each of the 193 UN member states. Under this mechanism, the human rights situation of UN member states is reviewed every five years on a rotating basis. Egypt’s last review was in 2014.

    As part of the process, the government of the country under review submits an official report on its rights record. The UN High Commission on Human Rights also submits a report, based on input from local, regional, and international rights organizations. During the review, any member state may direct questions, comments, and recommendations to the country under review.