**Updates IFEX alerts of 8 March and 23, 18, 16 and 15 February 2000** (EOHR/IFEX) – The following is an EOHR press release: The Secretary General of the EOHR returns to Cairo The Secretary General of the EOHR, Hafez Abu Seada, will arrive in Cairo at 7:30 p.m. on Friday March 10, 2000. He is […]
**Updates IFEX alerts of 8 March and 23, 18, 16 and 15 February 2000**
(EOHR/IFEX) – The following is an EOHR press release:
The Secretary General of the EOHR returns to Cairo
The Secretary General of the EOHR, Hafez Abu Seada, will arrive in Cairo at 7:30 p.m. on Friday March 10, 2000. He is coming from Paris, where he stayed for a whole month, during which time he visited a number of European capitals. Abu Seada had traveled to France to participate in a conference on involuntary disappearances in the Mediterranean countries, organized by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the oldest human rights organization in the world. During his stay, he also participated in meetings of the International Bureau of the FIDH. In addition, he visited the Human Rights Commission of the UN in Geneva and the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels, where he held talks on human rights conditions within the framework of the Barcelona Declaration. He also met with a number of officials from human rights organizations to discuss arrangements for the meeting of civil society organizations which is to be held in parallel to the Marseilles conference in France, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration and the Euro-Med Partnership Agreement.
Abu Seada, who has been referred to the High State Security Court for Emergency by military decree no. 4 of 1992, has expressed his gratitude for the support of organizations and individuals, both regional and international, and especially the FIDH and Amnesty International for hosting him during his stay abroad. He also commended the initiative of a number of top Egyptian officials who met him in Paris, which could be an important step in initiating a constructive high level dialogue between human rights organizations and the Egyptian government on the protection and promotion of human rights.
The EOHR will hold a press conference for the Secretary General on Saturday, March 11, at 11:00 a.m., at the headquarters of the organization, where Abu Seada will review the results of his trip abroad and the major issues concerning the organization in the coming period, further to its registration in accordance with the new NGO law.
