WUNRN
Executive Summary- The Women Human
Rights Defenders program at Nazra for Feminist Studies is launching its manual
on Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs). Rather than translate into Arabic
manuals that have been produced by other organizations, the WHRD program opted
to produce it’s a manual that is especially tailored to the Egyptian context.
The manual includes sections on Egyptian legislation and military verdicts that
are used to constrain public action; a background of the unique violations
committed against WHRDs and why the situation of WHRDs should be paid special
attention to; regional and international mechanisms that WHRDs can utilize to
report violations committed against them; and, finally, security tips that can
be of special use during perilous circumstances.
The manual offers a history of violations against WHRDs committed by the
Egyptian state, highlighting the fact that such violations are not a novel
invention of the rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).
Rather, such violations preexisted the rule of the SCAF and were widespread
during the rule of former president Hosny Mubarak. The transitional stage
In addition to patriarchal cultural norms and values, the manual also draws
attention to the constraints placed by national legislation on the presence of
WHRDs in the public sphere. For example, the SCAF issued law number 34/2011,
which criminalizes protests or sit-ins that obstruct the freedom of work and
sabotage of public facilities with fines and prison terms. The law effectively
bans protests, a continuation of a policy practiced by Mubarak’s regime which
resorted, for decades, to crush demonstrations. Although the latter laws are
not geared against women specifically, such a targeting takes place in the
application of the laws. For example, in order to punish female workers who
take part of demonstrations, daycare centers are shut down in contravention of
labor law 96/2003 that mandates the availability of such centers.
The manual also discusses tools of protection and support that are particularly
relevant for WHRDs, such as the availability of a hotline, as it enables the
receipt of support swiftly, whether legal, psychological, or in the form of
relocation; and documentation of violations against WHRDs, which provides an
in-depth view of the nature of violations and provides the opportunity for
litigation. The manual also explains the regional and international mechanisms
that can be accessed by WHRDs to protect their rights and expose violations
committed against them, namely the UN system and the African Union. As to the
former, instruments that can be of use to WHRDs include the office of the
Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and on Violence against Women. The
latter can be utilized through the African Commission on Human and Peoples’
Rights, which receives communications concerning human rights violations from
anyone, whether on their own behalf or on behalf of someone else. Special
Rapporteurs can also be accessed in the African context, such as the Special
Rapporteur on human rights defenders in Africa and Special Rapporteur on the
Rights of Women in
The manual thus offers a comprehensive view of the history of violations
committed against WHRDs, the cultural and legal bases of these violations, the
regional and international mechanisms that can be of use, and a list of tips
concerning what to do when faced with violations, and safety tips that can be
of use during risky circumstances.