Forum on Minority Issues Sixth Session (2013) Item 4: Promotionectio...the identity of religious minorities Statement delivered by the Delegation of the Arab Republic of Egypt Mme Chairperson, Egypt has been synonymous with religious freedom and Peaceful co-existence for centuries and even millennia. Since the seventh century, Muslims and Christians have formed one social fabric. This deeply-rooted reality remains the case today, whatever the challenges may be. In fact all communities in the society became an integral part, and none of them, in past or present times, including Christian Copts, considered or consider themselves as "minorities", a concept, which in itself, is alien to the Egyptian society. We would like to reiterate that clear evidences in the current rules of the International Human Rights Law, and the available jurisprudence and practice, suggest that the concept of "minority" is not of relevance to the status of Christian Copts in Egypt. Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), in which Egypt is a party to since 1982, necessitates the existence of a minority in the first instance for exercising the right contained therein. Also, the Human Rights Committee requirement of objective criteria for determining the existence of a minority, apart from size or numerical considerations, are most relevant to Egypt's experience. This is especially reflected in the fact that all Egyptian Constitutions, across the time, while guaranteeing religious freedoms and prohibiting discrimination on any grounds, including on the basis of religion or ethnicity or language, as well as providing for positive obligations on the State to that end, does not regard any community in society as a minority. Moreover, in applying the vital notion or principle of self-identification, we find that Egyptian society is not based on groups, as no community, collectively or through their representatives, including Christian Copts, proclaimed or sought the status of "minority", or considered itself as such. That is not to say that no problems exist at all, but the Government is totally