Human Rights Council Forum on Minority Issues Sixth Session Guaranteeing the Rights of Religious Minorities Geneva 26-27 November 2013 Inte rve ntion - Ite m 3 of the Programme of Work: Prote ction of the e xiste nce of and pre ve ntion of viole nce against re ligious minoritie s Inte rve ntion pre se nte d by: Margare t Ade l Adib Masaad of the Arabic Re public of Egypt Forum for De ve lopme nt and Human Rights Dialog - Cairo Thank you Madame President for giving [me] the opportunity, And thank you to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for giving me the opportunity to participate in the Minorities Fellowship Programme [in] 2013. Copts suffer from the silence of the State and its disregard for sectarian incidents and violence. The State’s role is limited to merely denounce and condemn these incidents without taking actual measures for [the Copts’] protection from the violence of Islamic militant groups in Upper and Lower Egypt. Further, hundreds of these incidents are neglected by the State in the prosecution of the assailants, so that [the incidents] end without punishment for the perpetrators. Rather, sometimes Copts are forced to customary reconciliation with the opposing party in what is called “Customary Reconciliation Session” and thus there is also no punishment for the perpetrators, and the events repeat themselves and continue. This is not including the cases of forced displacement after sectarian incidents under the pretext of fearing for [their safety] because of Muslim violence in the region, as has happened to a few Coptic families in Alexandria and Assyut. They were forced to leave their houses and their possessions. On the other side the state contributes to the reinforcement of discrimination against the Copts through a few practices, like the presence of unfair conditions for the constructions of churches - and the work is still, until now, done according to the Hamayouni Decree - to the extent of that the construction of a church needs a presidential decision. Further, there is duplicity in the application of a few laws, for