Mr. President
Ladies and gentlemen
Speaking about durable solutions to post-crisis Minorities Rights should be on top of our
agenda, especially in the Middle East and North Africa. In the wake of years that witnessed
radical changes and turmoil left behind several humanitarian crises, almost often compounded in
case of minorities. Most of these crises are based on ethnic, religious, sectarian, and language
discrimination. For example, Isis practices in Syria and Iraq are brutal and cruel, however much
heavier on the religious minority groups in the two countries.
Intensity and implications of crisis in different countries varies according to historic, social,
political and cultural aspects. During Egypt’s January 25th revolution, for instance, Egyptians
have set a prime example in finding means of co-existence and acceptance of the other in a
context of patriotism that astonished the whole world. But that soon changed, ethnic squabbling
began to infiltrate into the Egyptian fabric - driven by vested interests inside and supported by
many parties outside who have much concern that the revolutionary state spread into their
countries, thus threatening their underpinnings, or because they benefit from the case of
stalemate in Egypt.
After this revolutionary state and in spite of multiple failures, still there are some triumphs which
we could depend on to reach durable solutions for minority problems. We should even seek to
transform these solutions into laws and practice on the ground. In terms of the constitution,
according to article 53: “All citizens are equal before the law and in regard to their public rights
and duties, without distinction as to religion, creed, gender, origin, race, color, language,
disability, social position, political or geographical affiliation, and/or any other reasons.
Discrimination and incitement of hatred is a crime punishable by law. The country shall take all
necessary actions to eradicate all forms of discrimination. The law shall regulate the establishing
of an ad hoc committee for that purpose. On our part, we are fully prepared and committed to
give any help in terms of legal or research aspects in order to bring this law into light, in addition
to establishing this commission in a way that befitting Egypt's status and civilization in the world.
On other part, we have a deep conviction that the problems of minorities in Egypt are mainly out
of cultural problems, which resulted in ignorance among all parties. Such ignorance was turned
into hostile actions due to a number of factors, mainly school curricula in general and religious
ones in particular. For example, school curricula barely mention the history of Copts and
Nubians. While religious curricula contain a big deal of incitement to violence against the others,
which could only add fuel to fire and makes the situation uncontrollable, as well as providing a
legalized cover for violence. Solving this problem has been explicitly reflected by the Egyptian
government’s move to make a change in the religious discourse. However, we call for a wider