COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION CONCLUDES CONSIDERATION OF EGYPT'S REPORT ON COMPLIANCE WITH CONVENTION

CERD
59th session
13 August 2001
Morning





Examines Situation in Liberia Under Its Review Procedure


The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this morning concluded its public consideration of a report presented by Egypt after a Government delegation told the Experts that all persons in the country enjoyed the same rights and no one was excluded.

In response to a number of questions raised by Committee Experts on Friday, the members of the Egyptian delegation said that Egypt=s society was characterized by its homogeneity. Egyptians had a common language and culture. Armenians and Greeks who had lived in Egypt for a long time had been well integrated into the society and they enjoyed the same rights as Egyptians, they said.

The Egyptian delegation also said that being a coastal or desert inhabitant did not prevent a person from enjoying the rights enshrined in the various international conventions ratified by Egypt.

Ion Diaconu, the Committee Expert who acted as country rapporteur to the report of Egypt, said in preliminary remarks that the growing role of the Supreme Constitutional Court was important; it was easily accessible to all citizens and its activities covered all areas, including the elections. However, as in all other countries of the world, there were problems in the full application of the provisions of the Convention in Egypt. For example, the problem of marriage between Egyptian women and foreigners and the consequences for their children with regard to nationality still remained.

The Committee also examined the situation of Liberia in the absence of a report and a delegation from that State party. Liberia has not presented a report since it ratified the Convention.

Gay McDougall, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur to the situation in Liberia, said that there had been widespread reports of societal ethnic discrimination throughout Liberia's history, and ethnic differences had continued to generate violence and political tensions. The Government reportedly continued to discriminate against indigenous ethnic groups that had opposed the current President in the civil war.

Ms. McDougall further said that despite the horrific human rights violations committed during the civil war by the various ethnic groups against each other, there had been no attempts by the authorities to bring to justice the perpetrators; as a result, many soldiers who had committed grave violations still served in the Government's security services, and were still committing those crimes; and most violations were still not investigated.

The Committee will issue its concluding observations on the report of Egypt and the situation in Liberia before ending its three-week session on 17 August.

Egypt and Liberia are among the 157 States parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and they are obligated to present periodic reports to the Committee on their activities designed to implement the provisions of the treaty.

The following Experts also participated in the debate this morning: Mahmoud Aboul-Nasr, Francois Lonseny Fall, Mario Jorge Yutzis, Regis de Gouttes, and Yuri A. Rechetov.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will continue to issue its concluding remarks on reports which it has taken up this session.

Response of Egypt

In response to a number of questions raised by Committee members on Friday, the delegation said that Egyptian society was characterized by its homogeneity. Egyptians shared a common language and culture. Armenians and Greeks who had lived in Egypt since a long time had been well integrated into the society and they enjoyed the same rights as Egyptians. The study on the people of Siwa was still being carried out and it would be made available to the Committee as soon as it was ready.

The delegation also said that being a coastal or desert inhabitant did not prevent citizens from enjoying the rights enshrined in the various international conventions ratified by Egypt. Their rights under the national Constitution were not undermined; their cultural heritage was respected and even promoted. The Nubians, for example, maintained their folkloric traditions and their architectural heritage was protected by the State.

With regard to the formation of political parties, the delegation said that according to the law, no political parties were allowed to be established on the grounds of class, sector, sex, religion or creed; they should be based on the expression of a general opinion that embraced all citizens.

The World Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had indicated that there were 7,340 refugees in Egypt, the delegation said. Those refugees came from Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Ethiopia. With regard to Palestinians, the United Nations resolution on the right to return home had been applied. Concerning the situation of refugees in general, Egypt had been providing refugee children with free education and their right to work had been respected. Political asylum was accorded to persons who suffered persecution because of their opinions and their activities as defenders of human rights. The Constitution recognized human rights defenders and their efforts in that field.

The Supreme Constitutional Court settled conflicts arising from the implementation of law provisions by other courts, the delegation said. Individuals were entitled to appeal to the higher courts. The law had made it easier for citizens to have access to the Supreme Constitutional Court, without any burden of fee and bureaucracy. The decisions of the Court were final and should be published, and were mandatory.

The delegation continued to say that recently, the Supreme Constitutional Court had issued two important sentences. One was in July 2000, in which it decided that the electoral process had to be repeated. The implementation of the sentence had cost the Government 15 million Egyptian pounds. In November 2000, the Supreme Constitutional Court had decided against the decision of the Ministry of Interior not to issue passports to everybody. The Court decided that every citizen had the right to obtain a visa to travel abroad and should not be prevented from doing so by the Ministry.

Under the legal system applicable in Egypt, the country applied the law on the state of emergency, the delegation said. The law stipulated that the laws on the basic rights could not be derogated. The state of emergency could only be declared by the Peoples Assembly and it could only be prolonged by that body.

Concerning discrimination against women, particularly children, the delegation said that Egyptian women married to foreigners were treated in the same manner as others. In keeping with international conventions, Egypt did not apply double nationality; for that reason, children with a foreign father should take the nationality of their father.

Because of its history, and being a touristic country, Egypt had no history of racial discrimination, the delegation said. It was a country that hosted every one and the society was open to all people. Although there had been some street violence and acts of terrorism, they were rare and isolated cases which had nothing to do with the society that was always welcoming.

Egypt had a five-year plan of development and it was attempting to cover all regions in this plan, the delegation said. The coastal regions and the regions in the south were also being developed and significant investment had been made in those areas.

The Government had conducted studies on the independence of the judiciary and the results should be released soon, the delegation said. In addition, the Constitutional Supreme Court had decided that the right to freedom of religion should be the same to all; the State could not impose one religion on its citizens. It was necessary that the religion of the other citizen should be respected and tolerated. The National Council for Human Rights had also made concrete studies on the issue.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) played an important role in disseminating the provisions of international laws and the principle of equality, the delegation said. The Government was also collaborating with the activities pursued by those organizations. The new law on NGOs had been challenged and currently the Constitutional Supreme Court was seized with the issue.

ION DIACONU, the Committee Expert who acted as country rapporteur to the report of Egypt, said in preliminary remarks that the growing role of the Supreme Constitutional Court was important. It was easily accessible to all citizens and its activities covered all areas, including the election process. As in all other countries of the world, there were problems with regard to the full implementation of the provisions of the Convention in Egypt. The problem of marriage between Egyptian women and foreigners and the consequences for their children with regard to nationality still remained. He said that article 4 of the Constitution on the condemnation of any propaganda on the ideas based on racial superiority was not yet fully implemented. The registration of international human rights non-governmental organizations was also a problem. The delegation was expected to provide more information, in its next report, on the economic and social conditions of all groups in the country.

Committee Chairperson MICHAEL E.SHERIFIS also said that it had been a fruitful dialogue held in a positive spirit. He hoped that the next periodic report of Egypt would contain responses to issues which were raised during the consideration of the report but which did not receive replies.

Situation in Liberia

GAY MCDOUGALL, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur to the situation in Liberia which the Committee examined under its review procedure, said that the Republic of Liberia was still slowly emerging from more than seven years of civil war. Implementation of the August 1996 Abuja Peace Accord had restored official peace to Liberia, but the human cost of the war had been immense. It was estimated that there were 200,000 war-related deaths, 1.2 million persons displaced internally, and approximately 750,000 refugees in neighbouring countries. Further, the United Nations estimated that some 15,000 to 20,000 children had participated in the conflict.

Ms. McDougall said that Liberia was ethnically diverse; the population was made up of 16 indigenous ethnic groups and the Americo-Liberian minority. No ethnic group constituted a majority of the population. Throughout the ethically divisive civil war, the factions had used an individual's language to identify ethnicity and often summarily executed those from ethnic groups considered hostile.

Ms. McDougall further said that the current Constitution entered into force in 1986, and it prohibited discrimination based on race or ethnic background. However, various reports by international organizations showed that many of the rights provided for in the Constitution did not seem to have been implemented directly into national law. Those which had been implemented and were upheld by the judiciary were regularly breached by the various branches of the Government and its security forces.

A national human rights commission was set up by law in 1997, but its five members were not approved by parliament until late 1999, the rapporteur said. One of the nominees pulled out after having been beaten up; he had to flee the country because of threats. As of the end of 2000, only three of the five mandated members had been appointed by the Senate and the commission's chairperson remained outside the country for most of the year. In addition, the powers of the commission seemed to be very limited. And there were no reports of any organization inciting to ethnic divisive behaviour having been banned or prohibited.

Ms. McDougall reported that there had been widespread reports of societal ethnic discrimination throughout Liberia's history, and ethnic differences had continued to generate violence and political tensions. The Government had reportedly continued to discriminate against indigenous ethnic groups which had opposed the current President in the civil war, especially the Mandingo and the Krahn ethnic groups. Many of the predominantly Muslim Mandingo minority had encountered hostility when they sought to return, after the end of the civil war, to their villages.

Despite the horrific human rights violations committed during the civil war by the various ethnic groups against each other, there had been no attempts by the authorities to bring to justice the perpetrators, Ms. McDougall said. As a result, many soldiers who had committed grave violations still served in the Government's security services, and were still committing those crimes; and most violations were still not investigated.

Other Committee Experts also commented on the Liberian situation, suggesting that besides taking a strong position in its concluding observations on Liberia, the Committee should search for other avenues through which to express its concern about the situation. Many said that the Liberian situation needed special attention and the Committee should appeal to the authorities reminding them of their obligations to abide by international conventions and at the same time to discharge their obligations of reporting. One of the Experts was asked to draft a position text to be adopted by the Committee.



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