Amnesty Calls upon EU to Halt Arms Transfers to Egypt to Stop Fueling Killings and torture
(Ikshef) – Amnesty International slammed the egyptian deteriorating human rights situation in Egypt, and called upon European Union to stop arms transfers to Egypt to stop fueling killings and torture.
12 of 28 member states have flouted an EU-wide suspension on arms transfers to Egypt, risking complicity in a wave of unlawful killings, enforced disappearances and torture, Amnesty International said today.
“Almost three years on from the mass killings – referring to the brutal bloody dispersal of the sprawling anti-coup Rabia Al-Adawiya sit-in eastern Cairo – that led the EU to call on its member states to halt arms transfers to Egypt, the human rights situation has actually deteriorated,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, interim Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International.
Shedding the light on violations that included journalists, Amnesty International said: “Armed security forces arrested hundreds of people while dispersing mostly peaceful protests on 25 April against the government’s decision to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. Those arrested in the crackdown around the protests included human rights defenders, journalists and activists.”
Amnesty International also tackled the worsening situation in Sainai and the military rule after January 20, 2011 revolution. It Said: “A media blackout has been imposed on reporting about military operations in the Sinai, and journalists and independent civil society organizations have been banned from entering the area. Meanwhile, EU states have signed off on transfers of heavy weapons and equipment purportedly to help Egypt’s fight against “terrorism”, despite a lack of transparency and human rights guarantees regarding their use. This is particularly concerning given the complete lack of accountability for gross human rights violations perpetrated during the army’s rule following the 2011 uprising.“
Amnesty International calls on the EU and all EU member states to:
- Impose and fully implement a binding embargo on transfers of security and policing equipment to Egypt of the types of arms used to commit or facilitate serious violations of human rights. Failing to do so would risk ongoing breaches of the EU’s Common Position on arms exports, as well as the human rights provisions of the global Arms Trade Treaty.
- Impose a ‘presumption of denial’ policy on transfers of arms intended for use by Egypt’s armed forces and air force. Reports of some aerial attacks that resulted in fatalities and serious injuries have not been effectively, independently and impartially investigated. Human rights violations committed by the armed forces during the uprising in 2011 and in the year of military rule that followed also have not been effectively investigated. Any potential export to Egypt of such items should not be authorized unless a thorough human rights risk assessment demonstrates that the Egyptian armed forces’ recipient will use the equipment lawfully, including by upholding its international human rights law obligations, and unless a binding guarantee to that effect is agreed by the exporting state with the Egyptian government.
- Maintain this embargo and ‘presumption of denial’ policy until the Egyptian authorities put in place effective safeguards to prevent further serious violations by security forces, and carry out full, prompt, independent and impartial investigations into violations since the 2011 uprising with the aim of prosecuting those responsible for crimes in fair trials.
(Source)
