(March 1, 2023) Within the framework of Egypt’s discussion of the report on the status of human rights, the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR), represented by Ms. Nehad Abelkomsan, ECWR’s chairwoman, is participating with a formal statement on the situation of human rights within the Committee on Human Rights’ review of the fifth periodic report of the Arab Republic of Egypt at its 137th session in Geneva, which is being from February 27 to March 24, 2023.
In her speech, Mrs. Abelkomsan addressed the status of the rights of women and children to access justice, decision-making positions, and protection from gender-based violence, with a focus on the challenges we face in protecting women’s civil and political rights, which come from some claimants that they are human rights defenders or political activists.
The Statement highlighted the lack of clarity of standards or lines separating freedom of opinion and expression from what is considered a crime of violence, especially against women and children, using online publishing. It also addressed the electronic attack against women in decision-making positions with verbal violence, bullying, personal and family insults, or publishing detailed personal information that endangers the lives of their owners, their families, and their children, which in turn constitutes gender-based violence and forces women at the time to withdraw from public life.
Therefore, we need to remove confusion in this gray area; So that the right to freedom of opinion and freedom of information is not a tool for political use that negatively affects both women’s rights and the performance of the justice system.
