Sarah Carr reports…

Eighteen Egyptian human rights groups have condemned the government’s decision to prevent the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) from participating in a United Nations meeting on HIV and AIDS.
The UN General Assembly High Level Meeting (HLM) on HIV/AIDS will take place on June 10 to 11 in New York.
During the HLM government representatives and civil society participants will review progress made in the implementation of the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on AIDS.
Rules concerning the participation of civil society groups in the HLM allow Member States to veto nominated groups put forward by the President of the General Assembly.
“The government’s attempt to prevent an Egyptian rights organization from participating in an international meeting is a disturbing escalation of the atmosphere of harassment and restrictions targeting independent human rights organizations,” the groups said in the statement.
The statement places the government’s decision to veto EIPR’s participation in the context of “repeated violations of the freedom of association.”
It pointed to an inadequate investigation of the recent physical assault of the director of the Nadim Center for the Rehabilitation of Violence and an “increasing number of interventions by security agencies to prevent conferences and other public activities by human rights groups.”

Click below on the photo of Hossam Bahgat, the founder of EIPR, to continue reading the report…

[Rights activist Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Privacy Rights, taking part in an anti-torture demo held by left wing and human rights activists in front of the High Court, marking the International Day for Solidarity with Torture Victim, on 26 June 2004]