EGYPT

 

Military Exports from Canada (1990-1999)

 

Year        Military           Value of

            Equipment          Military

            Types               Exports

 

1999        4,6,10,11           217,213

1998        10, 11              622,403

1997        1,3,6,10,11       1,240,276

1996        3,6,10,13           785,161

1995        5,10,13             766,530

1994        10,11,13          1,277,669

1993        10                  817,876

1992        6,10              2,013,394

1991        10,11             1,004,069

1990        1,10,11             488,748

 

Total                        $9,233,339

 

Sources: Export of Military Goods from Canada, Annual Reports 1990-1999. Published by the Export Controls Division, Export and Import Controls Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Government of Canada. Web site: <http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/~eicb/>

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Examples of Canadian Military Exports (1990s)

 

Derlan Aerospace Canada

•    SH-2G helicopter transmission parts

     $1.2 million (Jan. 1996-June 1997)

Ploughshares Monitor, Sept. 1997

 

IMP Group Ltd.

•    SeaKing helicopter repair & support

     $19 million (1999)

Ploughshares Monitor, Sept 2000

 

Standard Aero Ltd.

•    Repair & overhaul aircraft propellers

     Value unknown (1998)

Ploughshares Monitor, June 1999

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Canadian Government Promotes Military Exports

 

Canada's Embassy in Cairo has a commercial representative who promotes Canadian military exports.  His role is to help market the following products:

 

*    aeronautic and space

*    armaments, munitions and vehicles

*    electrical and electronics

*    marine

*    security products

*    services incidental to defence

 

Source: "Officer Responsibilities, Commercial/Economic Relations Division." Our Market Reports, Aug. 1999 (updated Jan.22, 2001) Published by Cdn. Trade Commissioner Service, Dept. of  Foreign Affairs & International Trade. <http://www.infoexport.gc.ca/docs/view-e.asp?fn=trade_cairo&lg=0>

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Human Rights Violations (1999)

 

Freedom of expression and association

Political parties, NGOs, professional associations, unions and the media continued to face legal restrictions and government control. 

     In May, a new law imposed restrictions on NGOs which must now seek prior approval from authorities for various activities at the international and local level.  Breaches of the law carry prison sentences of up to one year.

 

Prisoners & prison conditions

In October, 20 doctors, lawyers and other professionals were arrested for alleged membership in the banned Muslim Brothers.  More than 160 other alleged members, all possible prisoners of conscience, were held for weeks or months in so-called “preventive detention” before being released.  Dozens were held for nearly six months.

     Dozens of new cases of administrative detention under emergency legislation were reported, which was fewer than in previous years.  However, thousands of suspected members or sympathizers of banned Islamist groups arrested in previous years were still held without charge or trial.

     Thousands of detainees were held in prisons where conditions were cruel, inhuman or degrading.  Scores of Islamist activists in administrative detention were reportedly suffering from illnesses including TB, skin diseases and paralysis, due to lack of hygiene and medical care, overcrowding and poor food quality.  Several reportedly died as a result of diseases which received little or no treatment.  Thousands of political detainees were denied the visits by lawyers and family. 

 

Unfair trials and torture

Trials of alleged members of armed Islamist groups before military or (Emergency) Supreme State Security courts continued to be grossly unfair.  Defendants were interrogated over several months while held in unacknowledged incommunicado detention by the State Security Intelligence (SSI).  Defence lawyers were not allowed to meet defendants until they appeared in court.

     Torture by the SSI and police continued to be systematic.  Torture of criminal suspects in police custody continued to be widely reported.  The most common methods reported were electric shocks, beatings, suspension by the wrists or ankles and psychological torture, including death threats and threats of rape or sexual abuse of the detainee or a female relative.

 

Deaths in custody

At least seven died in police custody in circumstances suggesting that torture and ill-treatment may have caused or contributed to their deaths.

 

Committee against Torture

The UN Committee against Torture recommended in May 1999 “that Egypt takes effective measures to prevent torture in police and SSI custody and that perpetrators are vigorously prosecuted.”  It also recommended that “effective steps...be taken to protect women in custody from sexual abuse.”

 

Inadequate investigation

Although hundreds of torture victims have filed complaints with the authorities over the past decade, no prompt and impartial investigations meeting international human rights standards are known to have been conducted.

 

Source: Amnesty International Report 2000. <http://www.amnesty-usa.org/ailib/>

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Labour Rights Violations (1999)

 

The law provides for a union monopoly, giving the national union centre control over nominations, elections and finances. It specifies how much unions have to pay to federations in affiliation fees and how much the federations have to pay the national centre. The national centre must approve the organisation of any strike.

 

Restrictions in law

Collective bargaining is not encouraged or adequately protected by law.  Any clause in a collective agreement which could jeopardise Egypt’s economic or security interests is invalid.  The government sets wages and other conditions of public sector employment after consulting unions.  Public enterprise directors do not have to negotiate with unions, and the government must approve any agreement in the sector.  There is little collective bargaining in the private sector.

     There is no legal right to strike, although strikes do take place. Strikers can face two years in prison. There have been prosecutions under the state of emergency in force since 1981.

     Compulsory arbitration can be imposed at the request of one party in industries designated as essential services. These are broadly defined. The Public Prosecutor can ask the criminal courts to remove a union executive committee from office for provoking a strike in the public services.

     Parliament began to debate a new unified labour bill for the public and private sectors. The bill reportedly gave employers greater powers to dismiss workers and removed some of the latter’s acquired rights.

 

More protest strikes

The increasing incidence of strikes seen in 1998 continued, mainly because of the privatisation of state enterprises. Workers at loss-making enterprises suffered cuts in wages and allowances, forced retirement, illegal dismissals and victimisation.

 

Source: Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights (2000), International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

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Child Labour Violations

 

*    The Ministry of Health says there are 2 million child workers aged 6-15.

 

Where Children Work

*    Nearly 78% of working children are in the agricultural sector.

*    Children work as apprentices in auto repair and craft shops, in heavier industries such as construction, brick-making and textiles, and in tanneries and carpet-making factories.

*    A 1997 NGO study said 1,000 children under the age of 16 lived on their own in the streets: 42% were under the age of five.

*    Domestic servants. (U.S. Dept. of State, Human Rights Report, 1999)

*    Children in carpet factories work under slave-like conditions. (EI Barometer, 1998)

*    Children constitute about 25% of the labour force in old Cairo’s leather tanneries. (U.S. Dept. of Labor, Sweat and Toil of Children: Efforts to Eliminate Child Labour, 1998)

 

Source: <http://www.globalmarch.org/worstformsreport/world/egypt.html>

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TAKE ACTION!

 

MEl Nadim Centre for the Management and Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence

 

The centre treats men, women and children who are victims of torture, state violence, social/domestic violence, rape/sexual abuse and institutional violence. Treatment is tailored to each client’s needs. Most, but not all clients are of Egyptian nationality. The need for hospital admission and referral to other specialities and investigations has been on the increase, especially in cases of major injuries.  Referral sources include personal contacts, lawyers and media.

 

Contact: P.O. Box 347, C.O. No. 12411, Imbaba-El Kit Kat, Egypt. Email: <mansour_2000@yahoo.com> Web: <http://www.irct.org/update/centre_update_egypt_01.htm>