TWENTY-TWO human rights organisations are calling on the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights to take decisive action against Egypt’s deteriorating human rights situation, following a review that they say whitewashed systematic abuses.
The appeal comes after the Commission’s 85th session in October 2025, where Egypt presented a report covering 2019 to 2024 that rights groups say contained false depictions and blanket denials of well-documented violations.
“The Egyptian government painted a rosy picture of the dire human rights crisis in Egypt, while the African Commission’s country rapporteur adopted some of its narratives without scrutiny, dangerously amplifying them,” said Mohamed Lotfy, executive director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms.
Government Claims Disputed
In its report, the Egyptian government claimed it holds no detained journalists or prisoners of conscience and defended restrictions on independent organisations as measures to ensure “transparency and objectivity.”
The commission’s country rapporteur for Egypt rarely raised the acute crisis in public sessions and described the 2023 presidential elections as “peaceful” and “competitive” — contradicting documented evidence of repression and prosecutions targeting potential candidates and their families.
The rapporteur made an unannounced visit to Egypt in December 2024 but apparently did not meet with any independent human rights organisations. Her subsequent report repeated government narratives unchallenged and is no longer available on the commission’s website.
Documented Abuses
Independent Egyptian and international human rights organisations, UN mechanisms, and even Egypt’s government-appointed National Council on Human Rights have documented flagrant and systematic abuses, the organisations said.
Since 2019, Egypt has adopted a zero-tolerance policy toward dissent and effectively criminalised freedoms of speech, assembly, and association. Tens of thousands of activists, journalists, human rights defenders, and peaceful protesters have been detained or prosecuted merely for exercising their rights.
Constitutional amendments introduced in 2019 severely undermined judicial independence and inserted the military into public life in unprecedented ways. New laws in 2019 and 2024 further restricted basic rights.
The government has also failed to fulfil socioeconomic rights. Education spending has been reduced to its lowest level in years, healthcare budget allocation falls below constitutional minimums, and cash assistance programs cover fewer than one-third of those living in or near poverty.
Previous Resolutions Ignored
The African Commission has issued four resolutions on Egypt since 2013, denouncing violations including severe restrictions on journalists, arbitrary arrests, and mass death sentences. Egypt has failed to implement the vast majority of recommendations.
The country has also failed to comply with several final decisions where the commission found it in breach of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, including three decisions adopted since 2019.
Call for Action
The organisations are urging the commission to issue a new resolution calling for investigations, accountability, and reparations for victims. They want a follow-up mechanism established to monitor Egypt’s implementation of recommendations.
“The African Commission has plenty of tools it can use to highlight and address the dire human rights situation in Egypt and ongoing flagrant abuses,” said Amr Magdi, senior Middle East and North Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “At the very least, the commission should ensure that the government narrative is properly scrutinised.”
The groups also want the commission to use its early-warning mandate to alert the African Union Peace and Security Council to the deteriorating situation and the risk of mass violations linked to impunity in detention and counterterrorism operations.
If Egypt bids to host a commission session, the organisations say the government must provide concrete guarantees to uphold the safety and freedoms of all participants, allow critical organisations access without intimidation, and ensure no retaliation against those involved.
Signatories:
- Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
- Committee for Justice
- Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)
- Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms
- Egyptian Front for Human Rights
- Egyptian Human Rights Forum (EHRF)
- Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
- EgyptWide for Human Rights
- El Nadim Center
- Euromed Rights Network
- Hraak for Change and Youth Empowerment
- Human Rights Watch
- HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
- International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
- International-Lawyers.Org
- Law and Democracy Support Foundation e.V. (LDSF)
- Ligue tunisienne des droits de l’homme
- REDRESS
- Refugees Platform in Egypt – RPE
- Sinai Foundation for Human Rights
- Their Right To Defend Prisoners of Conscience
- World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
