CEOHR.ORG

Will The Egyptian Government Get Away With Murder, Again?

Abdelaziz Abdelaziz, LLM*

Still in denial weeks after its security forces crushed a peaceful protest by Sudanese refugees in Cairo, killing 28 and injuring hundreds more, Egypt has rebuffed calls from civil society for an international inquiry, launching instead one of its own. Recently, the European Union (EU) adopted a resolution condemning the violence of the Egyptian police, and urged Egypt to involve the United Nations (UN) and civil society in its investigation, but stopped short of calling for an international probe. If the international community allows Egypt to have its way, those responsible will walk away with impunity.

States where the rule of law does not prevail, and where governments have repeatedly demonstrated unwillingness or inability to conduct transparent and credible investigations into human right abuses committed by their officials should not be permitted to conduct their own probes.

Only a few months ago, the EU rightfully imposed sanctions on Uzbekistan for rejecting calls for an international probe to investigate the Andijan massacre of May 2005. The premise of the EU position is that the Uzbek Government could not be entrusted with the task of investigating itself.

If Egypt and Uzbekistan have anything in common it is their repressive governments and police brutality. Similarly, the Egyptian Government’s notorious record of investigating its own human rights abuses against minorities, members of the political opposition, civil society and independent journalists leaves little doubt that it is either willing or able to conduct a credible self-assessment.

The behaviour of the Egyptian Government in the aftermath of the tragedy spoke volumes and clearly conveyed its contempt for the refugee. The Government’s attitude has so far pointed in the direction of a cover-up rather than seeking justice for the victims.

Adding insult to injury, an unrepentant Minister of Foreign Affairs blamed the victims for “breaching” the 1951 Geneva Convention, and stated that Egypt “has wisely addressed the crisis of the Sudanese refugees”

The Government-controlled media supported this position, publishing stories which routinely degraded and dehumanized the refugees, who were mostly Christians, casting them as “filthy”, “drunken”, “arrogant”, “aggressive”, and “disrespectful of public order”. The editorial pages congratulated Government and security officials for their “patience” and “wisdom” in handling the protest.

Egypt managed to secure an endorsement for its violence by the Sudanese Government, which is less than sympathetic to the Southern Sudanese, who had formed the majority of the protesters and victims. After all, it was due to the repression of the Sudanese Government that those refugees are among two to three million Sudanese refugees in Egypt today.

The Egyptian Government also appears to have effectively silenced the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). After receiving a scolding by Egypt for “jumping to conclusions” and due to concern about the fate of the remaining refugees in Cairo, UNHCR swallowed its initial statement of “shock”. In the days following the crackdown, UNHCR’s spokeswoman in Cairo, Astrid Van Genderen Stort, said that the UNHCR could not “point any finger at anyone”.

Meanwhile, the Government continues to detain hundreds of Sudanese protestors without allowing them access to international organizations. The Government has also threatened to expel some refugees to the political uncertainties of Southern Sudan.
In sanctioning the attack which led to the death of the Sudanese refugees, the majority of which were women, children and elderly, Egypt has failed to honour its international human rights obligations under both the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
If the Egyptian Government expels any of the refugees under its custody it would be in violation of the 1951 Convention and the Convention Against Torture (CAT), both which prohibit the expulsion or return of refugees to territories where their lives or freedom could be at risk.
The accountability of Egypt for its failure to live up to its international human rights obligations, and the task of providing effective legal remedies for its victims could not be entrusted to the Egyptian Government anymore than it could be to its Uzbek counterpart.

A point of first departure for an independent inquiry should be the United Nations ‘Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials’ which establishes an international standard of protection of individual rights guaranteed under international human rights law. The Code obliges law enforcement officials to “respect and protect human dignity and maintain and uphold the human rights of all persons”, and restricts their use of force “only when strictly necessary and to the extent required for the performance of their duty.” The Code also stipulates that police may not “inflict, instigate or tolerate any act of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”, and that they “shall ensure the full protection of the health of persons in their custody.”

The outcome of Egypt’s violence against the refugees is not limited to the immediate tragedy of death and injury, and the subsequent negative impact on the sense of security of the refugees currently living in Egypt. It also has an extremely negative impact on the process of democratization and reforms in Egypt, since violence remains Egypt’s first option in dealing with dissent.

But, perhaps, the most disheartening about these events is that a horrific message has been sent to countless other individuals and families who are desperate to flee their homes for fear of persecution, both in Sudan and other war-ravaged African countries, that Egypt is not a safe haven, and that the international community, as embodied by the UN, is complicit.

An Egyptian impunity will not only reinforce that message, but might also prompt other governments in the region to follow suit in order to discourage asylum seeking on their territories.

The UN can offset that negative outcome by leading international efforts to pursue accountability for human rights violations committed by Egypt. Holding the Egyptian Government accountable for the violations of its officials will not only benefit the refugees, but will also help expedite the long overdue democratic reforms in that country. An international inquiry would send a strong message to the Government of Egypt that it can no longer flout international law without consequence.
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(*) Human Rights Researcher and Consultant on Minority Rights, New York.
azizabdelaziz@gmail.com