As part of the EU’s contentious multibillion-euro migration control and investment agreement with Egypt, human rights organizations have pushed the bloc to reach legally binding agreements – Euobserver reports.
The group, which includes Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, warned
the EU to agree with Egypt to implement “a roadmap for structural reforms, with public, clear, specific and time-bound indicators, targets and benchmarks for Egypt to meet its human rights obligations” in a letter to EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen that was shared with news portal.
They also released a list of activists from the media, political parties, and civil society organizations who are being held in custody and ought to be freed right away.
The letter demanded that all people detained solely for peacefully exercising their human rights—including the freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly—be released by Egyptian authorities “immediately and unconditionally.” “It would be a blank check for further abuses and repression in Egypt if human rights benchmarks were not set,” the letter continued.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU Commission, approved the EU’s Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership with Egypt in March. The agreement includes €7.4 billion in aid and financial support for Cairo.
The agreement was reached in spite of complaints about violations of human rights by Egypt’s autocratic government. It is the most profitable of the EU’s “cash for migrant” control agreements with a few North African countries.
Following reports that refugees fleeing the Sudanese civil war were being arrested and then deported by Egyptian authorities, the EU executive declared that Cairo had to follow international law regarding asylum seekers and pushbacks.
According to the EU Commission, the agreement it has with Egypt contains clauses protecting human rights.
The makeup and political priorities of the newly elected European Parliament and its legislative committees—including the Legal Affairs committee, which would launch any legal challenge—remain unclear, though, in the wake of last Sunday’s European elections.
Meanwhile, at the end of June, the EU and Egypt will jointly host an investment conference in Cairo with the aim of introducing a number of private sector initiatives in Egypt.
In the meantime, Cairo has declared its desire to strengthen foreign direct investment in Egypt by obtaining an extra €1.8 billion in guarantees from the EU.
