International Community Must Ensure Rights of Egyptians are Upheld

We, civil society organizations from across the world, stronglyurge all governments, as well as regional and international organizations, toclearly and unequivocally denounce the ongoing violent crackdown against the publicprotests and demands for democratic reform and government accountability that havebeen occurring across Egypt since the 25th of January.

The Egyptian government has responded to protests withexcessive force. This has included wide-spreaduse of beatings, arbitrary detentions and the use of rubber bullets and allegedlylive ammunition against unarmed civilians, resulting in over a hundreddeaths. Moreover, a state imposedblack-out on national cell phone services, the internet and independent mediachannels was put in place on the 28th of January, making it verydifficult for Egyptians to report any abuses occurring. On that same day the Egyptian government beganto deploy military forces in supplement of internal security forces.

With the strong risk that repression, violence andinstability in Egypt could escalate to unprecedented levels in thecoming days, it is critical that individual governments from all regions of theworld urgently exert strong and concerted pressure on the Egyptian governmentto curb human rights abuses.

We call on the United Nations, its Member States and regional bodies to condemn the serious andwidespread human rights violations carried out by the Egyptian authorities againstcivilians throughout the country. Theinternational community must remind the Egyptian government of itsinternational human rights obligations, urge it to fully respect the rights topeaceful assembly, freedom of movement and freedom of expression, and support the demands of the Egyptian peoplefor the holding of free and fair elections and the ending of the decades long State of Emergency law which has been used to enforce authoritarian rule.

Signatories:

Action for People's Democracy (Thailand)

The African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS)

The Africa DemocracyForum (ADF)

Ain O Salish Kendra (Bangladesh)

Aitzaz Ahsan and Associates,Advocates and Attorneys(Pakistan)

Alkarama Foundation (Switzerland)

Angikar Bangladesh Foundation (Bangladesh)

Article 19

Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization

Asian Citizen’s Centerfor Environment and Health-South Korea (ACCEH)

Asian Federation AgainstInvoluntary Disappearances (AFAD), the Philippines

Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC)

Asia Monitor Resource Centre-Hong Kong (AMRC)

Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE)

Bahrain Centre forHuman Rights

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)

Cambodian Center for Human Rights

Centre for Independent Journalism (Malaysia)

Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales- CELS(Argentina)

Center for Health and Social Change- South Korea (CHSC)

Centre for Legal Awareness andSupport (India)

Center for Trade Union andHuman Rights (CTUHR), the Philippines

CIVICUS World Alliance for CitizenParticipation

The Coalitionfor Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR)

Collectif des Familles des Desparus en Algerie

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)

Committee to Support ImprisonedWorkers (South Korea)

Community Legal Aid Institute,(Indonesia)

Community Resource Centre- Thailand (CRC)

Conectas Direitos Humanos (Brazil)

DAGA Center for JustPeace in Asia (Thailand)

Damascus Centre forHuman Rights

Democracy Coalition Project (DCP)

Democratic Workers' Solidarity(South Korea)

The East and Horn of Africa Human RightsDefenders Project (EHAHRP)

Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research, Inc.- Philippines (EILER)

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EURMED)

Federation of Independent Trade Union- Indonesia (GSBI)

Franciscans International (Switzerland)

Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT)

Friends of Women (Malaysia)

Human Rights Agenda (Nigeria)

Human Rights First (USA)

Human Rights Watch (HRW)

Imagination for International Solidarity- South Korea (IFIS)

Information & Culture Nurifor Disabled Koreans (South Korea)

International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF)

International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)

JagaranMedia Center- Nepal (JMC)

Janasansadaya(Sri Lanka)

Japan OccupationalSafety and Health Resource Center

JINBONET (South Korea)

Justice for Peace Foundation (Thailand)

Korea Center for United Nations Human Rights Policy- South Korea (KOCUN)

Korean Federation of Medical Groups for Health Rights- South Korea (KFHR)

Korean House for International Solidarity- South Korea (KHIS)

Lawyers for Liberty (Malaysia)

The Lebanese Center for HumanRights (CLDH)

Maldives DemocracyNetwork (Maldives)

MINBYUN-Lawyers for aDemocratic Society (South Korea)

Muntada - Arab Forum for Sexuality Educationand Health (Palestine)

Network of Accessible Environmentsfor All (South Korea)

Open Society Foundations

The Other Media (India)

Palestine Peace Solidarity of South Korea (South Korea)

Partnership for Justice (Nigeria)

People's Health Movement (USA)

Peoples Training & Research Centre (India)

Persatuan Kesedaran KomunitiSelangor (Malaysia)

PILIPINA Legal Resources Center (Philippines)

RightOnCanada.ca

River, indigenous people andhuman rights watch Arunachal (India)

Sisters' Arab Forum for Human Rights (Yemen)

Sisters in Islam (Malaysia)

Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination- South Korea (SADD)

Solidarity for LGBT HumanRights of Korea (South Korea)

Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)

Thai Labour Campaign

TriumphInternational Thailand Labour Union (TITLU)

TryArm Underwear - Self-Managed Worker Cooperative (Thailand)

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

U.S. Campaign for Burma

Vikash (India)

VISION (Pakistan)

Western African Human RightsDefenders Network (WAHRDN)

Women's Aid Organization (Malaysia)

Women for Women’s Human Rights – New Ways (Turkey)

The World Organization Against Torture (OMCT)

World Student ChristianFederation Asia Pacific (Hong Kong)

The World Without War (South Korea)

Zi Teng (Hong Kong)