[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1303 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1303

Calling on the Egyptian Government to respect human rights and freedoms 
                  of religion and expression in Egypt.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 24, 2008

Mr. Wolf (for himself, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, 
   Mr. Franks of Arizona, Mr. Fossella, Mr. Kirk, Mr. McCotter, Ms. 
 Schakowsky, Mr. Souder, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Pitts, Ms. Waters, 
    Mr. Pence, Mr. McGovern, and Mr. Goode) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Calling on the Egyptian Government to respect human rights and freedoms 
                  of religion and expression in Egypt.

Whereas the promotion of respect for democracy, human rights, and civil 
        liberties are fundamental principles and aims of the United States;
Whereas the United States attaches great importance to relations with Egypt and 
        considers fair and transparent elections as the only way to make 
        progress towards a more democratic society;
Whereas Egypt plays a significant role in the Middle East peace process and in 
        the fight against international terrorism and fundamentalism;
Whereas the Egyptian authorities have promised to put an end to the imprisonment 
        of journalists and bloggers, but this promise has so far gone 
        unfulfilled;
Whereas Shiites, Koranists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and other religious minorities 
        are harassed, arrested, and imprisoned by security services;
Whereas all Baha'i institutions and community activities have been banned in 
        Egypt since 1960, and members of the Baha'i faith are denied government 
        required identification cards solely due to their religious affiliation;
Whereas material vilifying Jews appears regularly in the state controlled and 
        semi official media;
Whereas the Copts, Egypt's largest religious minority group and the largest 
        Christian population in the Middle East, suffer from many forms of 
        discrimination, including--

    (1) a lack of employment in higher positions of the public sector, 
universities, army, and the security service;

    (2) disproportional representation in Parliament and Shura Council;

    (3) difficulty in building and repairing churches;

    (4) lack of protection and lack of prosecution of perpetrators in cases 
of sectarian violence;

    (5) government harassment of converts to Christianity while the 
government encourages conversion to Islam; and

    (6) the inability to obtain government issued identification cards 
which reflect conversion to Christianity;

Whereas the opposition presidential candidate Ayman Nour is still serving a 
        five-year prison sentence following an unfair trial in 2005 on 
        politically motivated charges;
Whereas his health is deteriorating as a consequence of this imprisonment;
Whereas his numerous appeals for release on the grounds of his medical 
        conditions and his request for a presidential pardon in March of 2008 
        have all been rejected;
Whereas Egyptian authorities closed the Centre for Trade Union and Workers' 
        Services and its branches, this being the first closure of a 
        nongovernmental advocacy organization by an executive decision;
Whereas the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies and its founder, Dr. Saad 
        Eddin Ibrahim, have been threatened for their work to promote democratic 
        reforms;
Whereas other civil society development organizations, including the 
        International Republican Institute and the National Democratic 
        Institute, have also been restricted in their work; and
Whereas the recent arrests and action against nongovernmental organizations and 
        human rights defenders undermines the commitments entered into by the 
        Egyptian Government concerning fundamental rights and freedoms and the 
        democratic process in the country: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes that respect for human rights is a 
        fundamental value, and the bilateral relationship between the 
        United States and Egypt should be a platform for promoting the 
        rule of law and fundamental freedoms;
            (2) calls on the Egyptian Government to end all forms of 
        harassment, including judicial measures, the detention of media 
        professionals and, more generally, human rights defenders and 
        activists calling for reforms and to fully respect freedom of 
        expression, in conformity with article 19 of the United Nations 
        International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
            (3) encourages the Egyptian Government to honor its 
        commitment to repeal the state of emergency in order to allow 
        for the full consolidation of the rule of law in Egypt;
            (4) encourages the Egyptian Government to take the steps 
        necessary to fully implement and protect the rights of 
        religious minorities as full citizens;
            (5) strongly supports measures to guarantee academic 
        freedom, freedom of the media, and freedom of religion or 
        belief in Egypt, including by ending arbitrary administrative 
        measures, such as those taken against the Centre for Trade 
        Union and Workers' Services and the Association for Human 
        Rights Legal Aid;
            (6) urges the Egyptian Government not to impose arbitrary 
        restrictions on the peaceful activities of civil society 
        organizations;
            (7) calls on the Egyptian Government for--
                    (A) the immediate release of Ayman Nour, in light 
                of reports of his deteriorating state of health, and 
                calls for an immediate welfare visit, including a visit 
                by qualified medical personnel;
                    (B) the release of all political prisoners and 
                other activists; and
                    (C) an end to the harassment of the Koranists;
            (8) stresses the need to fully implement the principles of 
        the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the 
        Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa and the 1993 
        International Convention concerning the rights and the 
        protection of migrant workers and their families;
            (9) supports the concluding observations of the United 
        Nations Committee on Migrant Workers of May 2007, which called 
        for the re-opening of the investigations into the killing of 27 
        Sudanese asylum-seekers in December 2005;
            (10) calls for an end to all forms of torture and ill 
        treatment and calls for investigations when there is reasonable 
        suspicion that acts of torture have occurred;
            (11) calls on the Egyptian Government to allow--
                    (A) a visit by the United Nations Special 
                Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or 
                degrading treatment or punishment; and
                    (B) a visit by the the United Nations Special 
                Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief;
            (12) emphasizes the importance of ensuring and 
        strengthening the independence of the judiciary by amending or 
        repealing all legal provisions that infringe or do not 
        sufficiently guarantee its independence;
            (13) stresses the need for respect and protection of the 
        freedoms of thought, conscience, and religion as ensured in 
        article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 
        article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
        Rights, and the 1981 United Nations Declaration on the 
        Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination 
        based on Religion and Belief;
            (14) welcomes the efforts made by Egypt to secure the 
        border with Gaza and encourages all parties concerned to 
        redouble efforts to fight smuggling through tunnels into the 
        Gaza strip; and
            (15) urges the President and the Secretary of State to put 
        human rights and religious freedom developments in Egypt very 
        high on the United States Government's agenda during meetings 
        with Egyptian officials.
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