In conjunction with the 48th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), held at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva from January 20 to 31, 2025, as part of the fourth cycle of periodic review in which Egypt is among the countries under discussion, the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) organized a side event on January 27, 2025.
The session was moderated by Mr. Alaa Shalaby, President of the Arab Organization for Human Rights. The event was attended by 60 participants, including representatives from UN committees, special rapporteurs, country delegations in Geneva, and representatives of Egyptian and Arab civil society, as well as members of the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights. The discussions aimed to exchange experiences and address the latest developments in women’s rights.
The event commenced with a speech by Ms. Reem Alsalem, UN Special
Rapporteur on violence against women and girls. She highlighted Egypt’s progress in combating violence against women and girls, such as adopting a national strategy and legislative reforms. However, she emphasized ongoing challenges, including legal gaps, weak trust in the legal system, and social stigma that deters reporting. Her key recommendations included:
- Addressing excessive violence against women by law enforcement authorities.
- Supporting women’s organizations and women human rights defenders.
- Improving detention conditions for women and ensuring access to medical and humanitarian care.
- Protecting refugee women and victims of trafficking and ensuring their rights.
This was followed by remarks from Ms. Siobhán Mullally, UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children. She expressed concern over the prevalence of human trafficking in Egypt, particularly sexual exploitation, forced labor, and temporary marriages. She commended Egypt’s efforts in hosting Sudanese refugees while stressing the need to enhance support mechanisms for refugee women to prevent trafficking risks. She recommended:
- Establishing a national referral mechanism and support systems for victims.
- Allocating resources for specialized shelters and providing psychosocial and legal support.
- Creating a fund to compensate trafficking victims.
Ms. Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, a member of the UN Working Group on
discrimination against women and girls, spoke about the discrimination faced by women and girls in Egypt, including legal inequality, economic disparities, and unequal political representation. She also addressed the persistence of domestic violence and female genital mutilation (FGM), noting that 90% of women have experienced the latter violation. She emphasized the need to eliminate family-based discrimination, enact laws to prevent child marriage and forced marriage, and reiterated her team’s support for civil society in advancing women’s and girls’ rights.
Ms. Samira Luka, a member of the Platform for Dialogue and Cooperation in the Arab Region and Senior Director of Dialogue at the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOSS), highlighted the struggles of Christian women in Egypt, particularly regarding divorce and the right to remarry. She pointed out the absence of a unified inheritance law and the discrimination faced by Christian women.
The speakers’ remarks concluded with a speech by Ms. Nehad Aboul Komsan,
Chairwoman of the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights. She shed light on the legal gaps that undermine Egyptian women’s rights and presented recommendations for improvement, including:
- Ensuring a 30% representation for women in political parties.
- Increasing women’s workforce participation to 30% and supporting small enterprises.
- Enacting strong laws to combat domestic violence and child marriage.
- Strengthening mechanisms to protect survivors of violence and ensuring effective implementation of legislative reforms.
The concluding discussion emphasized the importance of cooperation between civil society and the state to achieve tangible progress in women’s rights in Egypt.
To read the full report of the Side event, please click here
