The Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organizations (EUHRO) has published a report on migration of Christians from Egypt, saying that nearly 100,000 Christians have migrated since March 2011.
The report, which was sent to President Mursī, warned that this migration of Christians out of Egypt will threaten its demographic makeup and national economy.
"Copts are not migrating abroad voluntarily;" said Najīb Jubrā’īl, head of EUHRO, "they are coerced into that by threats and intimidation of Salafists, and the lack of protection they are getting from the Egyptian regime."
According to the report, 40 percent of Copts have migrated to the U.S., especially to the states of New Jersey, New York, and California. Nearly 20 percent have gone to Australia, 30 percent to Canada, and 10 percent to the European countries: the Netherlands, Italy, England, Austria, Germany, and France (May Ridā, al-Watan, Jan. 15, p. 15). Read original text in Arabic.
Bishop Yuhannā Qultah, as a representative of the Catholic Church in Egypt, took part in the Constituent Assembly called upon to write a new constitution. Having studied Islamic history and philosophy, he has his own view and future perception on the crisis Egypt is currently experiencing. While there are reports of new clashes in the streets between police and anti-government protesters, the Coptic Catholic Bishop outlines the contours of the delicate moment lived by the great north African country--not only its Christians, but also its Muslims.
In an interview delivered to al-Tahrīr, Bishop Qultah said the reason of the consensus withdrawal of all Church representatives from the Constituent Assembly set to draft the new constitution was that the proposals for amendments were not taken into consideration and a persistence to relate all matters to either according to sharī’ah or to the provision of the society, is not only dangerous, according to Qultah, but also against any ruling of Islam even in the past. He further noted that discourse and dialogue have always been a divine matter and have not been invented by human beings, criticizing, thus, the government's unwillingness to sit with the opposition. For Bishop Qultah, the real problem is the imposition of a one-sided obsolete religious doctrine, whereas the twenty-first century is experiencing global plurality and diversity.