Via the Greek Helsinki Monitor

PRESS RELEASE

7 October 2008

GHM leaves EU-sponsored INGO that disavows GHM for objecting to its tolerance of homophobia: “homosexuals are sick persons who require treatment and should not have rights!”

Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) considers unacceptable that an international Non-Governmental Organization, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN), funded by the EU and EU member states, -at least- tolerates homophobia and publicly disavows its members, including GHM, that vocally protest against such discrimination. GHM, which has defended LGBT rights from its foundation fifteen years ago and counts among its five-member non-legal advocacy team two leading gay and lesbian activists, has informed the EMHRN that it no longer has a place in the EMHRN.

On 25 May 2008, in Cairo, the EMHRN and its local member the Cairo Institute of Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) co-organized a public workshop on Freedom of Association, with the participation of EMHRN Working Group on Freedom of Association (WG FOA) members and of a delegation of the European Union. During that workshop, an alternative law on NGOs was presented by Supreme Court Judge Hesham El Bastawesy on behalf of the CIHRS. That NGO-promoted “alternative law” was criticized for its incompatibility with several freedom of association principles. The main concerns raised are available in the EMHRN WG FOA minutes, available on the web page. The last paragraph of these minutes accurately describes what happened (emphasis added - Panayote Dimitras is GHM’s Spokesperson and Anne-Laurence Lacroix represents the World Organization against Torture (OMCT)):

“Another concern was raised regarding Article 3 which mentions that no objectives of associations might be in contradiction with public order or morals. This would not respect the rights of minorities such as national minorities or sexual minorities. Hesham El Bastawesy was strongly opposed to the latter, as he considered that sexual orientation minorities did not exist in Egypt, and that homosexuals are sick persons who require treatment and should not have rights. He added that in some Gulf countries homosexuals are executed in secret while in Egypt at least they are given the right to life. He considered that the moral and religious norms in Egypt did not allow to introduce this type of right at present, and this might be possible to do so in ten years or more. This provoked strong reactions from part of some WG members, two of whom Panayote Dimitras and Anne-Laurence Lacroix walked out in protest after recalling that basic rights and freedoms included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were applied to all individuals “without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”, and therefore no distinction could be made.”

Neither co-organizer felt necessary to react to the unacceptable homophobic comments during the meeting. Instead, the two members who had walked out in protest found out a month later, when translation of two articles in Egyptian newspapers was made available, that after they had walked out the co-organizer CIHRS (which is represented at the Executive Committee (EC) of the EMHRN) criticized not the homophobic statements but the reaction of the two fellow-EMHRN members: “The withdrawal of the two participants was described by Mr. Bahaa Eddine Hassan, Director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights, as unjustified and not in conformity with the right to hold an opinion and to free expression” (Al Yaoum Essabi 25 May 2008).

GHM immediately protested to the EMHRN EC member who is a political referent of the EMHRN FOA. GHM was asked to wait until the September 2008 EC meeting reviews the situation, and it so did. However, the EMHRN EC decided not to make any public statement to counter the publicly reported homophobic position by the guest speaker in its Cairo meeting and/or the public disavowal of GHM and OMCT members in Cairo by the CIHRS. On the contrary, it made obvious that it adhered to the CIHRS disavowal. In its August 2008 “Newsletter,” published in September 2008, the EMHRN did not mention what the homophobic judge said, and of consequently did not voice even then any condemnation; instead, the EMHRN reported therein the walk out and considered the whole incident an “unfortunate dispute:”

“During that workshop, an alternative law on NGOs was presented by Judge Hesham El Bastawesy on behalf of the CIHRS and serious concerns were raised about the plans of the Egyptian authorities to amend the current law in Egypt for the worse. Unfortunately, a dispute between [Judge Hesham El Bastawesy] and certain working group members arose when Article 3 of the draft law was discussed, whereby “no objectives of associations might be in contradiction with public order or morals”. Some members expressed concern that this clause would not respect the rights of minorities, notably national and sexual minorities. A heated discussion took place over homosexuals’ rights, causing several working group members to walk out in protest after recalling that the basic rights and freedoms in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights applied to all individuals “without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”, and as such no distinction could be made.”

At least the EMHRN has confirmed that this homophobic judge was assigned by its Egyptian affiliate to draft an –unacceptable by international standards- NGO law. It is up to the EU and its member states that fund the EMHRN, as well as international NGOs that are members of the EMHRN, like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) to decide if they go along with such actions carried out “in their name.” Such choices may obey to criteria of “human rights politics” that GHM considers to be incompatible with consistent human rights advocacy.

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