The council for Human Rights. The forum for minorities. The fifth session. Geneva November 27th and 28th 2012. An intervention about the status of the Copts in Egypt. Thank you Mr. President for giving me the word. My name is Mamdouh Nakhla, I am the chairman of the al-Kalema ,"Word", Organization for human Rights, I am one of the Coptic minority. The Coptic community is the Christians of. Egypt who mainly follow the Orthodox faith; they are the descendants of the ancient Egyptians who lived in the valley of the river Nile three thousand years ago BC, they were speaking the- Coptic language until the Arabs entered Egypt They were forced to use the Arabic language but still the Coptic language is still used in their Churches and in their prayers. The population of those Copts is about 15 millions out of the total population of Egypt which is 85 millions, so they constitute a ratio of more than 17% to be considered the smallest minority in number in this region. Those Copts suffer being marginalized, under discriminatory acts on many of their rights through many decades but it got harder after January 25th 2010, when the Islamists reached power of the state. 1- Many of the Copts are exposed to daily assaults by some fundamentalists and extremists without any legal justification. Their churches are burnt, their prosperities are damaged, their economical activities are sabotaged, and they were forced to leave their lands and houses in addition to the forceful migration. In many of these cases the criminals were not arrested or if arrested they were released or escaped penalty, in so many occasions the Copts were forced on reconciliation with those criminals without a fair trial. 2- Maybe one of the most important challenges to the practical execution of the special decree for the rights of people