Economic and Social Rights in Egypt: Joint UPR Alternate Report

Since the last Universal Periodic Review (UPR) cycle in 2019, economic and social rights in Egypt have severely deteriorated, particularly impacting vulnerable groups such as women, rural communities, and people living in poverty, along with specific categories of prisoners and human rights defenders.

As the country approaches its fourth UPR cycle, the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy—together with the Egyptian Front for Human Rights, MENA Fem Movement for Economic, Development, and Ecological Justice, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, the Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance, and the Egyptian Human Rights Forum—submitted an alternate report to the UPR Working Group regarding the current situation of economic and social rights in Egypt.

The submission details, among other things, how:

• Austerity policies have led to substantial cuts in public spending on health and education, resulting in inadequate healthcare facilities and a decline in the quality of education services, which disproportionately affects marginalized populations.
• Austerity policies have severely limited access to affordable housing and food, forcing many families into substandard living conditions.
• The government’s punitive measures against particular groups, including certain groups of prisoners and human rights defenders, exacerbate the adverse impact of austerity, undermining their economic and social rights.

The UPR is a mechanism of the United Nations created to examine the human rights records of all UN member states. According to the UPR process, the country under review submits a national report and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights puts together one report compiling information on the country obtained from reports by the UN special procedures and treaty bodies, as well as another report informed by submissions from stakeholders, including civil society. In this vein, this contribution has been submitted ahead of Egypt’s fourth UPR cycle, with a review set to take place in January 2025.

Egypt underwent its first UPR cycle in February 2010, its second in October 2014, and its third in November 2019.

Economic and Social Rights in Egypt: UPR Advocacy Fact Sheet

Economic and Social Rights in Egypt: Joint UPR Alternate Report