Brussels, 12th December 2018
Mission Report: Visit to Egypt of Jan Figel (25-29 November 2018)
Special Envoy for the promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) outside the EU
Programme
The visit of Jan Figel was carefully organised and “accompanied” by the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
including meeting with Government authorities, religious leaders and institutions as well as cultural
visits in Cairo. On the agenda, meetings took place with Minister of Awqaf, Dr Mohamad Mokhtar
Gomaa, Pope Tawadros II,
Foreign Minister in charge of Human Rights,
;
Evangelical Presbyterian Church,
;
the Coptic Catholic
Church
; the
of Mission at the Embassy of the Holy See,
. The meeting with
of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of
Representatives was cancelled at the last minute. A visit of Al Azhar took place hosted by
of the Grand Imam, Sheikh
. The MFA organized a lunch talk with CSOs and
intellectuals. Jan Figel debriefed Head of Missions on his visit and met in the EUD representatives of
HRDs. The EUD facilitated meetings between the assistants to the SE,
,
and EU project partners including the “Institute Dominicain d ’Etudes Orientales (IDEO)”.
Conclusions
This report complements the Flash Report in annex, adding possible follow up and details on the
meetings. The long-awaited visit to Egypt has been fruitful and opened up space for engagement with
authorities, religious actors and civil society. The Special Envoy wishes to thank the proactive
engagement of
,
and his colleagues in the EUD, which made the
positive outcome possible.
1
Recommendations
In the short term
In the medium term, first ideas to be further explored include:
-
2
Highlights from the meetings
Foreign Minister (AFM) for Human Rights and International Humanitarian and
Social Affairs Ambassador Ahmed Ihab Gamaleldin.
This meeting took place at the end of the visit, in the presence of the
. SE Figel
presented his mandate expressing his hope for strengthened dialogue. He noted that guaranteeing
space, security and justice for the civil society is essential for democracy and encouraged Egypt to
build fair partnership with civil society. He spoke on the limits of the use of customary mediation. He
noted positive development on the new law on churches but expressed concerns about its slow
implementation. He raised the issue of de-radicalization, notably in prisons, as an area where more co-
operation between Egypt and the EU could be considered. He sought Egypt’s views regarding a
proposal to bi-annualize UNGA/HRC resolutions on “freedom of religion or belief” and “combatting
religious intolerance” led by the EU and the OIC respectively.
SE Figel
welcomed the Ministry’s increased attention on human rights and noted that there is currently
momentum for EU and Egypt to work together; he expressed his wish to continue the dialogue and
return soon to Egypt.
Minister of Awqaf, Dr. Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa
3
SE Figel
He stressed the importance of education and dialogue in fighting
extremism. To this end, he perceived the cooperation between Egyptian religious leaders as a great
model. He emphasized the important role of Egypt for the region. He also noted that Egypt’s policy of
equal citizenship could function as an example for other countries in the region. He stressed the close
ties between Egypt and Europe and described the “Near East” as mentally and culturally close to
Europe. During the meeting, SE Figel also raised the unsolved issues relating to the treatment of
minorities and the need to find a balancing connection between freedom and responsibility, rights and
duties, faith and reason.
Visit of Al-Azhar
Al-Azhar was established in 972 and counts a total of 2.5 million students in Egypt, out of which
500.000 at the university level, and around 40000 coming from +/-110 countries. Programmes include
secular topics (very good reputation for hard sciences faculties) and Islamic faculties. Tuition is free.
The four schools of Islamic thoughts are taught and compared. Al Azhar operates also through
institutes in different countries (16 in Africa and 7 in Asia), a network of around 800 teachers, using a
standard curriculum. Al-Azhar develops close relations with Sudan, Libya, Palestine, Syria, Iraq,
Bosnia. Very few connections so far with Morocco and Jordan.
guided a tour of
1 A flagship project is the “House of the Egyptian Family (HEF)” set up in 2011, in the aftermath of an attack against Christian church in
Alexandria, jointly by the Grand Iman and all other Christian leaders to renew religious discourse, promote moderateness, develop
common values, diffuse interreligious tensions as they arise (now it counts 20 centres open in the country) . Another initiative is the
Awareness Academy training Egyptians and foreigner imams for two months on how to face terrorism. In Nigeria, they trained 350 imams
on how to deal with Boko Haram.
4
the well-equipped Observatory on Radicalisation, where experts work using many European, Asian
and African languages to spot on the net radicalization messages.
Pope Tawadros
Human Rights Defenders
5
, President of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Egypt and General Director
of the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOS)
6
Rev. Mgr.
, Apostolic Nunciature in Egypt.
Highlights from the debrief with the Heads of Missions
Visit of the Institut Dominicain d’Etudes Orientales (IDEO)
and
accompanied by
and
had an interesting discussion with the
. The Institute is very well known for its exceptional library on Islam and other
religions (150.000 books) and for its activities of research and outreach. IDEO implements a project
funded by the EU on “Providing Tools for Critical Thinking in Islamic Studies.”
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Meeting with Arch.
, Episcopal Anglican Diocese of Egypt and the North of Africa
met the Archbishop and his team in charge of the implementation of the project
“Communities Richer in Diversity (CRID)” funded under the Development Cooperation Instrument
(DCI) of the EU.
Meeting with
on social sectors and on education in the EUD.
Noted by
8