New Woman Foundation intervention on the sidelines of the adoption of the final report of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Egypt’s human rights record

New Woman Foundation intervention on the sidelines of the adoption of the final report of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Egypt’s human rights record

Today, July 2, 2025,  a session is held in Geneva as part of the 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council to adopt the final report of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Egypt’s human rights record.

While the New Woman Foundation closely follows this session, it reiterates its position rejecting the Egyptian state’s continued disregard for many of the key recommendations raised during the review cycle, particularly those related to the rights of women and girls. Based on the comprehensive periodic review report submitted by the New Woman Foundation, the joint report on the women’s and girls’ rights crisis in January 2024, which the New Woman Foundation co-authored with several feminist and human rights organizations, and the oral comments sent this morning in partnership with the Arab NGO Network for Development, we remind the Egyptian authorities and the international community of the following:

– National strategies cannot be a substitute for the state’s human rights commitments:

Unless the National Human Rights Strategy and the Women’s Empowerment Strategy 2020 are coupled with transparent, independent monitoring and evaluation mechanisms that report to Parliament and the public, and whose performance indicators are updated to be gender-responsive and reflect changing economic and social contexts, these strategies will remain a formal framework that does not meet the requirements for real change.

– The right to organize, freedom of public space, and guarantees of a democratic political climate:

The continued restrictions imposed on civil society organizations, particularly independent women’s organizations, in addition to the security persecution of human rights defenders, the recycling of cases, and the absence of political pluralism, are all serious indicators of the obstruction of the public sphere and the lack of political will to ensure women’s participation in public, political, and trade union life on a fair and safe basis.

– Legislation protecting against violence is still absent:

We emphasize the need to issue a unified law to combat violence against women, defining various forms of sexual and domestic violence, including marital rape, and ensuring genuine protection mechanisms for survivors. We also demand the issuance of a unified personal status law that guarantees justice and equality for all, as well as the establishment of an independent anti-discrimination commission.

– Austerity policies and the feminization of poverty are a political responsibility:

We reiterate our call to review economic policies based on expanding debt and the need to effectively develop social protection programs, especially for women working in the informal sector, particularly agriculture and domestic work, and to ensure decent working conditions, fair contracts, insurance, occupational safety, and independent union representation.

– Accountability at the international level is imperative and urgent:

We call on the Egyptian state to immediately ratify ILO Convention No. 190 on the Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work, ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and lift reservations to Article 16 of the Convention, which is one of the most prominent obstacles to achieving gender equality in Egypt.

The structural violations women and girls face in Egypt cannot be addressed through partial plans or rhetorical statements. Rather, they require a radical shift in policies and legislation based on recognition of the gendered position of women and marginalized groups, and a genuine political will that respects Egypt’s international obligations and opens the public space for accountability and effective participation.