Results of the Egyptian non-government delegation visit to the Netherlands

Language: 
English
Sent On: 
Fri, 2015-09-25
Year: 
2015
Newsletter Number: 
25

 

Results of the Egyptian non-government delegation visit to the Netherlands

 

On September 1 – 6 an Egyptian non-government delegation visited the Netherlands. The report of the visit is ready now and can be see here. In here are links to the statement of Cornelis Hulsman in Parliament, the background of the delegation and an interview of delegate Emad Awny with the Reformatorisch Dagblad on Coptic Christians in Egypt. The broadcasting of the Netherlands Muslim Broadcasting Cooperation about the visit of the delegation has been scheduled for October 17.

 

Reception Egyptian delegation at the municipality of The Hague

 

The general message is that Members of Parliament, diplomats of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, officials of the Municipality of The Hague and thinktank Clingendael have a lot of sympathy for Egypt. But there are also a lot of questions concerning Egyptian authorities dealing with violence and freedom of expression. There is the widespread impression that Egyptian authorities’ responses to the difficulties they are facing are too heavy handed.

 

Major sources of information for members of parliament, media and diplomats are the reports produced by large reputable NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Egyptians may not be in agreement to these reports but simply disputing these reports does not help. Responses from Egypt need transparency and good reporting which is generally lacking with as consequence that the information provided by large reputable organizations  is dominating the information that is provided about Egypt.

 

This visit shows opportunities for cooperation such as demining, programs to implement various articles of the Constitution, handling demonstrations and studies about counter terrorism.  This, however, needs Egyptian authorities and NGOs come with proposals.

 

Cornelis Hulsman,

Deputy Chairman Center for Arab-West Understanding

 

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