Source: Egyptian Institute for Studies
Author(s): Nouran Hassan
Original Link: https://en.eipss-eg.org/why-do-human-rights-violations-go-unquestioned-the-case-of-eu-egyptian-relations/
Egypt is a signatory country of primary international human rights treaties. However, since 2013, the regime has been levelling the ceiling of repression and violations to basic human rights, extending the rewards and failures of +60 years military rule (Springborg, 2017; Rutherford, 2018). After supporting the ‘Mubarak’ regime for more than 30 years, the EU, as well as the whole world, was shocked by the volume and spread of rebellions against Mubarak regime. However, its reaction was neither consistent nor coherent (Dandashly, 2014). Moving from accommodation and containment to ensuring security and stability, it has quickly contributed to ending the Arab spring in collaboration with traditional regional powers. Since the takeover by the military on July 3rd, 2013, Egypt has been suffering some of its worst moments in recent political history, which peaked in the draconian disbursement of peaceful sit-in in Rab’a al-Adawiya and al-Nahda squares. This paper examines three main reasons behind Egypt’s unchecked human rights record since the rise of ex-general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to power in 2014. It starts with examining two main approaches to understanding why non-democratic countries sign and join human rights treaties, then moves to the case of Egypt since 1967, before involving in analysis of EU-Egypt relations after 2013 by looking into four main factors: political conformity, terrorism, arms and energy deals, and migration.
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