- Al-Borai: The state must seek the aid of civil society, and Samir Alish: Rights are taken, not given.
- President of the National Council for Human Rights: CIHRS is a milestone in the history of the human rights movement in Egypt
- Swedish ambassador: CIHRS has a long honorable history and enjoys the confidence and respect of the international community
- UN High Commissioner: CIHRS gave a voice to those who feared to speak and fought religious bigotry, thus earning credibility in the Arab world and broad international recognition
- Mohamed Zaree: The strike against the human rights movement and the persecution of critical voices threatens the cohesion and stability of the state
On Tuesday evening, June 16, 2015, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies celebrated 21 years since its founding as an organization with a regional purview in a special evening attended by more than 150 guests who turned out to support CIHRS and Egyptian human rights organizations. The evening included the screening of a short documentary film on the importance of civil society and rights groups and the role of CIHRS, as well as a photo exhibit covering the history of the Institute since its inception and a special exhibit of its most significant publications. The CIHRS offered a commemorative gift to attendees.
The celebration was attended by ambassadors from the US, the EU, Sweden, Great Britain, France, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, Finland, Mexico, and Austria, as well as the acting Irish ambassador and the deputy ambassador for the Netherlands. Several diplomats and political and human rights officers from the embassies of Germany, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Norway, Austria, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland, Sweden, Great Britain, and the US were also in attendance, along with members of the EU mission in Egypt.
Mohammed Fayeq, the chair of the National Council for Human Rights, took part in the celebration along with several council members, members of the 50-member constituent assembly, and a delegate from the chair of the assembly. A number of former ministers attended, among them former Minister of Social Solidarity Ahmed al-Borai and former Minister of Communications Maged Osman, as well as members of the previous parliament, prominent figures from the rights and party movement in Egypt, and public figures.
The celebration follows the inauguration of a new CIHRS office in Tunis, the first achievement of the Institute’s 22nd year. That inauguration was also attended by diplomats and several Tunisian ministers. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad offered a word of support to the CIHRS, saying, “The CIHRS has given a voice to those who were afraid to speak and fought religious bigotry, thus earning the credibility of the Arab world and broad international recognition.” Bahey eldin Hassan, the director of the CIHRS, said during the inauguration, “This moment in the history of the Arab region requires—more than any time in the past—more attention to and respect for human rights. It is no coincidence that the states that have collapsed in the region—Syria, Libya, Iraq—are those governed for more than three decades by dictatorships and chosen by major terrorist organizations for occupation.”
Yesterday, the celebration began at 6 pm with an opening address. Over the course of the evening, various guests spoke of the CIHRS, while others preferred to leave words of support in the guest book.
In his speech, Dr. Ahmed al-Borai, former minister of social solidarity and professor at the Faculty of Law at Cairo University, said that the state must seek the aid of civil society and benefit from its role and expertise, pointing to the need for a law that regulates the operation of civic associations, overcomes the problems of the old laws, and offers satisfactory solutions to their dilemma. He praised the role of the CIHRS in this regard and for its years of work. Meanwhile, Charlotta Sparre, the ambassador of Sweden, affirmed the uniqueness of CIHRS as a regional organization with a long, honorable history working on the Egyptian and Arab levels and enjoying the confidence and respect of the international community. She said that Sweden would continue to support and back the CIHRS and the Egyptian rights movement regardless of the challenges facing them and expressed her pride in this ongoing cooperation and partnership.
Mohammed Fayeq, the chair of the National Council for Human Rights, said he was pleased to join the CIHRS on this occasion, stating that the CIHRS is “a milestone in the history of the human rights movement in Egypt” and hoped to see a law in Egypt that will ensure the continuation of civic action and regulate cooperation between civil society and the state in the service of society. He concluded by saying that concern for human rights had increased since the January revolution, which was fundamentally a revolution for human rights.
The documentary screened during the celebration featured novelist and political science professor Ezzedine Choukri Fishere, media presenter Liliane Daoud, and rights advocate Mozn Hassan. The film showed that no state can function well without civil society and that the biggest loser when civil society is absent, aside from society itself, is the state, which is denied the role played by civil society as a reviewer, monitor, corrector, and evaluator of its course and policies. The film looked at the role played by CIHRS over 21 years on both the local and regional levels, as well as its engagement with international and UN instruments.
In a generous gesture, several diplomats presented the CIHRS with a cake to mark its birthday, inscribed with the name of the Institute.
“Rights are taken not given”—this was the slogan chosen by Samir Alish, the chair of the National Center to Support Civic Organizations, for the celebration. In his speech, Alish urged the CIHRS and the Egyptian rights movement to continue to struggle, raise awareness of rights, and defend freedoms whatever the challenges.
At the close of the ceremony, director of the CIHRS Cairo office Mohamed Zaree thanked all attendees for participating in the celebration, noting that this was a critical moment with substantial challenges looming. He said that their attendance offered special support to the CIHRS at a time when the assault on human rights groups, in particular the CIHRS, was reaching new levels. Now one of the principal targets among rights groups, the CIHRS is facing decisive challenges to its existence as a defender of human rights in Egypt due to its struggle to open up the public and political sphere in the country amid a crackdown on all critical and independent voices in the media, political parties, trade unions, and youth and social movements.
Zaree concluded, “The blow directed at the human rights movement and the persecution of independent, critical voices in Egypt is not only a crucial challenge facing the affected persons and groups. It is a decisive moment as well for the cohesion and stability of the state itself and strikes at the core of the well being and safety of every citizen.”
The CIHRS is a regionally oriented organization established in Cairo in 1994. It developed its perspective on change and its priorities and strategies in response to the nature of the problem of human rights in the Arab world. It then began to expand with the goal of strengthening its capacities to defend human rights. It established an office in Geneva to strengthen cooperation with rights organizations in the Arab world and with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human rights and the UN Human Rights Council.
Speech by Mohamed Zaree, director of the CIHRS Egypt office
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