European Union plans joint bid with Egypt to lead global counter-terrorism body

Officials in Brussels last week approved the EU-Egypt bid to co-chair the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), despite widely documented evidence of human rights abuses and the use of counter-terrorism powers in the country since President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi seized power in 2013.

The bid was proposed by France, which currently heads the EU Council’s rotating presidency, on 11 January, one day after the Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said it had been forced to close because of government persecution.

The ANHRI, one of the last independent human rights groups working in Egypt, said it was suspending its activities because of an “an absence of the bare minimum of the rule of law and respect for human rights”.

It said its workers had been arrested, intimidated and physically assaulted by security forces.

Ahmed Mefreh, an Egyptian human rights lawyer and director of the Geneva-based Committee for Justice, told MEE the proposed bid appeared to be an attempt by the EU “to help the Sisi regime in beautifying its image”.

He said it indicated a willingness on the part of some EU institutions to turn a blind eye to human rights violations despite concerns raised at the United Nations about Egypt’s abuse of counter-terrorism laws.

“Nominating Egypt as a chair of any international counter-terrorism forum is a mockery of the human rights violations in Egypt committed under the guise of the war on terrorism,” Mefreh said.

According to an EU Council memo dated 11 January and published by Statewatch, the proposed joint bid was first raised by members of the EU’s diplomatic service, the European External Action Service (EEAS), at meetings of an EU working party on terrorism in October and November.

Source: Middle East Eye