[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 200 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 200

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 26, 2009

    Mr. Wolf (for himself, Mr. Manzullo, Mr. Franks of Arizona, Mr. 
 McGovern, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Kirk, Mrs. Myrick, 
Mr. Doggett, Ms. Bordallo, Ms. Zoe Lofgren of California, Mr. McCotter, 
 Mr. Souder, and Ms. Eshoo) 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 in its 2008 annual international religious freedom report, the United 
        States Department of State concluded that religious freedom conditions 
        declined in Egypt and the United States Commission on International 
        Religious Freedom continues to place Egypt on its watch list due to 
        serious problems of discrimination and intolerance;
Whereas the independence of the judiciary continues to be undermined through 
        exceptional parallel court systems, executive administrative orders 
        overriding judicial decisions, and politically motivated lawsuits;
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 continue to face 
        discrimination when applying for government issued documents;
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;

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

    (7) prejudice against Christian guardians in child custody cases which 
involve parents of both Muslim and Christian faith;

Whereas blogger Abdel Karim Suleiman is still serving a four-year prison 
        sentence for the peaceful expression of his views and is the first 
        Egyptian blogger to be charged and convicted for blaspheming Islam, 
        inciting sectarian strife, and criticizing President Hosni Mubarak;
Whereas Egyptian authorities continue to apply the law on nongovernmental 
        organizations in an arbitrary and discretionary manner, dissolving and 
        harassing Egyptian human rights and political advocacy organizations;
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 Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim has been convicted in absentia on politically 
        motivated charges;
Whereas other civil society development organizations, including the 
        International Republican Institute and the National Democratic 
        Institute, have also been restricted in their work;
Whereas excessive use of force by Egyptian security, including against African 
        migrants at the Egypt-Israel border, is occurring in violation of 
        Egypt's obligations to protect fundamental human rights; 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;
            (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 and unconditional release of 
                Abdel Karim Suleiman and all other political prisoners 
                and democracy activists;
                    (B) an end to the harassment of the Koranists; and
                    (C) a repeal of the 1960 presidential decree 
                banning members of the Baha'i community from practicing 
                their faith;
            (8) welcomes the Egyptian Government's decision to pardon 
        opposition political leader Ayman Nour for medical reasons 
        after he served three of his five-year prison sentence;
            (9) 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;
            (10) 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;
            (11) calls for an immediate end to Egypt's ``shoot to 
        stop'' border policy which has left at least 32 African 
        migrants, including women and children, dead;
            (12) 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;
            (13) 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 United Nations Special 
                Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief;
            (14) 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;
            (15) 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;
            (16) encourages Egypt and all other parties concerned to 
        redouble efforts to fight smuggling through tunnels into the 
        Gaza strip; and
            (17) 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.
                                 <all>