Ahead of Egypt’s fourth cycle of Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP)—together with the Egyptian Front for Human Rights, MENA Fem Movement for Economic, Development, and Ecological Justice, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, the Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance, and the Egyptian Human Rights Forum—issued a UPR Advocacy Fact Sheet on economic and social rights in Egypt.
The fact sheet summarizes the joint alternate report made by the organizations to the UPR Working Group. It outlines the negative impact of Egypt’s austerity policies on economic and social rights, and how the state’s punitive actions against specific groups, such as certain prisoners and human rights defenders, worsen this impact and violate their fundamental rights.
The fact sheet also summarizes the recommendations suggested in the joint alternate report and calls on states participating in the UPR process to make the following recommendations, among others, during Egypt’s review:
- Respect, protect, and fulfill the rights to health, education, work, social security, and an adequate standard of living for its population, particularly vulnerable and marginalized groups.
- Increase public spending on essential services and sectors.
- End punitive practices against prisoners and human rights defenders that further violate their economic and social rights.
The UPR is a mechanism of the United Nations created to examine the human rights performances of all UN member states; Egypt’s fourth UPR cycle is set to take place in January 2025.