Egyptian authorities have been weaponizing legal articles to govern morality in society. Most notably, these are articles related to “debauchery” charges dating from 1961, as well as articles related to family values and the 2018 cybercrime law. From the criminalization of sex work, to the prosecution of the LGBTQ+ community, and the more recent TikTok girls, the Egyptian state has worked to undermine constitutional and international protections to prosecute people based on this skewed concept of morality.
In 2016, the IMF gave Egypt its first bailout loan, $12 billion, and in return the country’s leadership was asked to take two main measures: implement long sought-after austerity measures; and encourage the development of an inclusive economy driven by the private sector, needed in order to create jobs to pull people out of poverty. The former was implemented but the latter was not.
In 2016, the IMF lent Egypt $12 billion, launching a program of economic reform and austerity. Six years later, Egypt is returning to the lender of last resort for the third time, after the 2016 program failed in its primary objectives. The IMF and its shareholders now have a new opportunity to correct their past mistakes. It is not too late to encourage Egypt to undertake difficult reforms that can unleash the country’s potential, rein in the regime’s economic malpractice, and set the country on the path to sustainable and inclusive private sector-led growth and increased labor force participation. Only then will there be the macroeconomic stability that IMF planners and Egyptian officials insist they are targeting.
This brief delves into some of the primary issues affecting and implicating the country’s religious minorities, who are primarily Coptic Christian, but also include members of other Christian denominations, Jews, Shi‘a Muslims, Ahmadis, Quranists, Baha’is, and atheists.
After more than four years, Egypt has lifted its state of emergency, but concerns remain.
As Egypt’s record on women’s human rights and gender equality issues came under CEDAW review, the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) and the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) compiled a joint submission that highlights a series of timely issues impacting women in Egypt, from law to practice.
More than eleven years since Egyptians took to the streets in what became the January 25 Revolution, the conversation about the positionality of Egyptians in exile is front and center. Who has left the country? Why did they leave? How have they organized politically? How have Egyptian authorities responded to the growing presence of Egyptian […]
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and TIMEP present a joint briefing paper which documents a course of conduct by state institutions in Egypt that aims to weaken and curtail the legal profession, and thereby dismantle the last line of defense against the government’s sustained crackdown on human rights and fundamental freedoms.
TIMEP releases “Effective Communication between the Lawyer and Defendant and the Right to a Fair Trial: A Guide for Lawyers in Egypt,” authored by human rights lawyer and legal researcher Adel Ramadan.
