Sectarianism, Lack of Rights Continues in Egypt and Middle East
CAIRO -- The Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies on Wednesday published their annual report on civil society and democratization in the Arab world for 2009, and the outlook does not look optimistic. According to the research center, sectarianism in Egypt continues unabated and religious minorities across the region face many hardships.
The report revealed that the past year has witnessed the failure of most Arab countries in the development of democratic governance and parliamentary institutions "capable of ensuring the balanced participation of all segments of society or to achieve some measure of justice regarding the distribution of wealth among different groups."
It added that the regional discussions on religious minorities was dominated by reservations "while seeking to minimize its importance, and had never engaged in a dialogue at the state level with regard to minorities on the pretext that it is imported from a foreign agenda."
Civil society organizations, according to the report, also received a number of "painful blows," which tried to undermine the work of civil society organizations and NGOs.
"The most aggressive threat was received by the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), the oldest and the first human rights organization in Egypt, from the Department of Social Solidarity to disband or not to be approved of its granted licenses, citing security approvals."
The report addressed sectarian tension, stressing that, in addition to the attacks against Egyptian Copts, "which have not stopped for nearly 40 years," the report monitored 36 incidents in 2009, an equivalent to three per month. It attributed these sectarian events to the lack of a common unified law for houses of worship in Egypt.
The report also said that the restrictions imposed on freedom of expression is ongoing, as the first half of 2009 had seen more than 73 lawsuits filed against 17 Egyptian newspapers and 69 Journalists were held accountable to the judiciary and the proportion of sentences of deprivation of freedom reached 74 and that "religious freedoms didn't witness any improvement, as confirmed by the International Religious Freedom Report issued by the US Congress, which stressed that religious minorities face multiple forms of violence and repression and become victims of violence and religious intolerance in a time when the [Egyptian] government did not attempt to take measures to protect these minorities from the violence inflicted upon them. "
While the situation of women also did not experience any "improvements, despite the People's Assembly approval of the draft law amending the quota, to allocate a certain number of seats for women."
It added that women still face harassment and abuse and monitored 7 cases of rape and beating that led to death.
The report added that the prosecution of the Shia minority has continued, "since Egyptian police arrested 306 people" and charged them with "undermining national security and contempt of religion."
The center commented briefly on the continued struggle of the tiny Baha'i community in the country after their homes in Sohag were attacked and burnt by angry residents.
Ibn Khaldun also confirmed in its report that the situation of minorities in Egypt has not improved from previous years, but is "becoming more violent," demanding the need for movement of all state institutions in Egypt to face this danger.
The report called on the forces of change and democratization of "trying to attract the masses of Egyptians for change and integration in organizations and political bodies are structured to be able to awaken awareness and raise their anger and mobilizing for change."
By Mohamed Abdel Salam

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