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On January 28, 2025, the United Nations Human Rights Council (Geneva) held the interactive dialogue for Egypt’s fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR), one of the Council’s key mechanisms for scrutinizing a country’s human rights record. The interactive dialogue provides a platform for UN Member States to recommend specific measures to help the country under review improve its human rights compliance. While bound by diplomatic etiquette and reciprocity, this process embodies what political scientists and internationalists call “naming and shaming”—publicly exposing human rights violations on the international stage to pressure governments into upholding international norms. At the civil society level, CADAL, in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, monitors the UPR of authoritarian states as part of its broader analysis of foreign human rights policies. In this context, CADAL engages in naming and shaming not only by highlighting the human rights situation in autocratic regimes under review but also by assessing other states’ commitments to human rights and international democratic solidarity based on their engagement in the UPR interactive dialogue. Multiple international studies and indices document Egypt’s failure to uphold human rights. According to the CIVICUS Monitor, Egypt’s civic space is classified as “closed,” reflecting severe restrictions on freedom of association, expression, and peaceful assembly. The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Egypt as an authoritarian regime, citing particularly poor performance in electoral processes, pluralism, and civil liberties. Similarly, Freedom House’s Freedom in the World Index deems Egypt “Not Free.” UN Member States can formulate informed recommendations for the country under review by drawing on reports compiled by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and information submitted by national civil society actors ahead of each UPR session. Based on assessments by independent UN experts, Egypt’s most pressing human rights challenges include issues such as: The lack of effective prevention, investigation, and prosecution of torture and enforced disappearances. The excessive use of force, particularly in response to social protests. The widespread use of pretrial detention and other violations of due process guarantees. The criminalization of peaceful assembly and undue restrictions on the right of association. The persecution of critical journalists and repression of free expression. Discriminatory legislation and legal gaps that fail to protect the rights of women, religious minorities, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. In response, several delegations made concrete recommendations. Countries such as Estonia, Czechia, Austria, Sweden, Luxembourg, Norway, and Liechtenstein urged Egypt to take steps toward independently investigating all allegations of torture or to accede to the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OP-CAT), which focuses on torture prevention. Lithuania, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Austria, Chile, Costa Rica, Czechia, Estonia, and Germany issued meaningful recommendations to protect civic space, safeguard the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association, and ensure the security of human rights defenders, lawyers, and journalists. Additionally, several delegations—Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Switzerland, Uruguay, Austria, Chile, Czechia, Estonia, and Germany—called for either limiting, suspending, or abolishing the death penalty. A total of 137 delegations presented recommendations to Egypt during the interactive dialogue. However, Argentina was not among them, effectively turning its back on Egyptian civil society and democratic actors who endure systematic human rights violations. This silence is particularly striking given Argentina’s own history. The country recently commemorated the 49th anniversary of the 1976 military coup, which ushered in over seven years of dictatorship and the systematic practice of state terrorism. If Argentina is truly committed to the principles of Memory, Truth and Justice, these values should guide its foreign policy—not just its national commemorations.
On January 28, 2025, the United Nations Human Rights Council (Geneva) held the interactive dialogue for Egypt’s fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR), one of the Council’s key mechanisms for scrutinizing a country’s human rights record. The interactive dialogue provides a platform for UN Member States to recommend specific measures to help the country under review improve its human rights compliance. While bound by diplomatic etiquette and reciprocity, this process embodies what political scientists and internationalists call “naming and shaming”—publicly exposing human rights violations on the international stage to pressure governments into upholding international norms.
At the civil society level, CADAL, in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, monitors the UPR of authoritarian states as part of its broader analysis of foreign human rights policies. In this context, CADAL engages in naming and shaming not only by highlighting the human rights situation in autocratic regimes under review but also by assessing other states’ commitments to human rights and international democratic solidarity based on their engagement in the UPR interactive dialogue.
Multiple international studies and indices document Egypt’s failure to uphold human rights. According to the CIVICUS Monitor, Egypt’s civic space is classified as “closed,” reflecting severe restrictions on freedom of association, expression, and peaceful assembly. The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Egypt as an authoritarian regime, citing particularly poor performance in electoral processes, pluralism, and civil liberties. Similarly, Freedom House’s Freedom in the World Index deems Egypt “Not Free.”
UN Member States can formulate informed recommendations for the country under review by drawing on reports compiled by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and information submitted by national civil society actors ahead of each UPR session. Based on assessments by independent UN experts, Egypt’s most pressing human rights challenges include issues such as:
The lack of effective prevention, investigation, and prosecution of torture and enforced disappearances.
The excessive use of force, particularly in response to social protests.
The widespread use of pretrial detention and other violations of due process guarantees.
The criminalization of peaceful assembly and undue restrictions on the right of association.
The persecution of critical journalists and repression of free expression.
Discriminatory legislation and legal gaps that fail to protect the rights of women, religious minorities, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
In response, several delegations made concrete recommendations. Countries such as Estonia, Czechia, Austria, Sweden, Luxembourg, Norway, and Liechtenstein urged Egypt to take steps toward independently investigating all allegations of torture or to accede to the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OP-CAT), which focuses on torture prevention. Lithuania, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Austria, Chile, Costa Rica, Czechia, Estonia, and Germany issued meaningful recommendations to protect civic space, safeguard the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association, and ensure the security of human rights defenders, lawyers, and journalists. Additionally, several delegations—Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Switzerland, Uruguay, Austria, Chile, Czechia, Estonia, and Germany—called for either limiting, suspending, or abolishing the death penalty.
A total of 137 delegations presented recommendations to Egypt during the interactive dialogue. However, Argentina was not among them, effectively turning its back on Egyptian civil society and democratic actors who endure systematic human rights violations. This silence is particularly striking given Argentina’s own history. The country recently commemorated the 49th anniversary of the 1976 military coup, which ushered in over seven years of dictatorship and the systematic practice of state terrorism. If Argentina is truly committed to the principles of Memory, Truth and Justice, these values should guide its foreign policy—not just its national commemorations.
