Summary:

This report provides an overview of different human rights organizations in Egypt and their activities in order to explore building a network with some of these organizations. This network would have to relate to the main focus area of Arab-West Report [AWR], which is fostering an understanding between peoples of different cultures and religions. Many human rights organizations in Egypt today work as singular entities, independent from each other even though many of them are doing similar work and working toward the same goals. The idea of the report is to explore with which organizations AWR could cooperate with to improve their mutual efficiency.

Human rights organizations in Egypt practically all rely on funding from foreign countries. In 2002 the Egyptian government introduced the Associations Law 84 that makes it very difficult for an organization to be registered as an NGO and without NGO status organizations cannot engage in fundraising in Egypt. The consequence is that foreign supporters are able to influence human rights organizations because they are ultimately dependent on them for their funding. This issue is one that often causes controversy and will be discussed in relation to the different organizations that have had claims about foreign funding launched against them.

We have looked at organizations that deal with issues AWR also deals with and as a consequence this report deals with Coptic rights, church building, the religious data on ID cards, the al-Kusheh episode in 1998-2000 and other issues related to interreligious tensions and freedom of religion. Therefore the main focus of this paper will be these issues.  At the end of the paper Appendix A lists all of the newspapers which are covered by AWR along with their orientation and their frequency.

In each section certain features of every organization will be assessed. These are:

1. Description of purpose

A description of the organization in order to provide a background to analyze their effectiveness and their goals.

1. Advocacy for legal change.

A description of what issues the organization deals with. These are often issues related to Copts, religious minorities and freedom of speech.

1. Media evaluation.

Based on Arab-West Report's database a description of how the media portrays the organization will be given. This is done in order to compare the media's view with the organization's own perspective.

1. Key persons.

 These are the main characters in the organization. The section will serve to highlight if the organization is driven by one individual or if it has many active members. In addition the same figures can feature in multiple organizations.

1. Website.

The website and its functions are an important point in the evaluation of an organization's effectiveness.

Every organization will have a conclusion that sums up the media's evaluation of the organization and the organization's activities. In some cases examples of cases or issues that the organization has centered on or issues that have caused controversy will be discussed in further detail. These topics will be covered if they help to give a better understanding of how the organization works or how it is perceived by the Egyptian media and public.

The organizations included in this study are:

The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR)
Al-Kalimah Center for Human Rights
The Land Center for Human Rights
Association for Human Rights Legal Aid
Egyptian Union for Human Rights Organizations
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR)
The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti-violence Studies (AITAS)
The Arabic Organization against Discrimination (AAD)
The Egyptian Association against Torture (EAAT)
Al-Nadīm Center for the Management and Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
The Center for Human Rights and National Unity (CHRNU)