The Egyptian National Council for Human Rights Continues to Stray

 The formation of a National Council for Human Rights by the Egyptian authorities, supposedly to monitor and correct violations committed against the universally accepted human rights of the Egyptians, was a welcome news for some of the optimists and perhaps the naïve. However, based on a better knowledge of how the Egyptian authorities operate, most of us were very skeptic about the real intentions of this newly formed council and its possible effectiveness and contributions in facing the real egregious human rights violations being committed every day in Egypt.

None of us, the optimists or the pessimists, ever excepted that such a council will be a source of jokes among the Egyptians and perhaps the very few non Egyptians who are aware of its existence.

The fact that it is not exactly clear to which authority in the Egyptian hierarchy does the Council report, and whether its findings and recommendations are mandatory or advisory following its establishment, are not the reasons why it is the subject of ridicule. It is the periodic comic announcements emanating from the venerated Council that make us wonder if it was meant for as a replacement for the once popular Egyptian comic radio show “Sa3a Lealbak.”

The first known joke that I heard coming form its president was that the Council is studying the issue of mines planted in the Egyptian Western Desert during WWII, and that it is going to address this issue with the involved states. Apparently, the Council does not know yet that the Nazi regime in Germany and the Fascists of Italy are all but gone and that this happened more than half a century ago!

As the nation forgot about this joke, the Council decided to issue another one. This last jest was published in AL-Ahram of Sunday, February 6, 2005. It announced that the Council is conducting a full study on islamophobia in the Western Countries, the legal action taken by some European countries against Moslems, attempts to tarnish Islam and its false accusations of being the cause of terrorism, violence, backwardness and misogyny.

Quite a jump from the Western Desert to Europe and possibly the USA but not passing through the towns and cities of our own country. Apparently all the human rights violations that we all know about in Egypt have been dealt with and ended.

More likely, the Council needed to remind us that it still exists and is still kicking. It had to create some noise so that we don’t worry about it being lost in the sands of the Western Desert looking for mines there but forgetting about the mines that are being planted every day the human rights of the Egyptian Copts are being ignored or violated.

Thank goodness the Council is still alive. Its fans should expect more entertainment, I am sure it is going to come very soon especially that the Iraqis could vote in an election and the Egyptians are being robbed of this right.