Egypt: Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

We write in advance of the 96th pre-session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and its review of Egypt. This submission focuses on children’s rights abuses by Egyptian security forces, sexual and gender-based violence and discrimination, corporal punishment, the right to education, and government violation of children’s privacy.

Children’s Rights Abuses by Egyptian Security Forces (articles 3, 6, 34, 37, 38, 39, and 40)

Under the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Egyptian police, the National Security Agency, and military officials have arbitrarily arrested, forcibly disappeared, and tortured children as young as 12 while prosecutors and judges have turned a blind eye and unjustly kept children in custody in abusive conditions, including with adults.[1] These practices were part of the nationwide crackdown on dissent since the military forcibly removed elected President Mohamed Morsy in July 2013.

The rampant and systematic use of enforced disappearance and torture in Egypt likely amounts to crimes against humanity because of strong evidence that it is a state-sanctioned policy to extract confessions and punish dissent.[2]

Egypt failed to enforce provisions of its Child Law and its amendments that should establish special protections for children, such as alternatives to detention and penalties for officials who detain children alongside adults.[3] These provisions were systematically violated. In addition, authorities have routinely kept children in prolonged pretrial detention, sometimes up to months or years, against established international children’s rights and due process guarantees.

A loophole in the Child Law allows children who are accused of crimes along with an adult accomplice to be tried before criminal courts; as a result, dozens of children have been prosecuted alongside adults before terrorism and military courts, which are not independent.[4] In one instance, a military tribunal sentenced a 3-year-old to life in prison, before saying it was a “mistake.”[5]

Egyptian forces in North Sinai government, particularly the military, which have been fighting a protracted battle against Wilayat Sina’—an Islamic State (ISIS) affiliate—since late 2013, have carried out extrajudicial executions of forcibly disappeared suspects, including children.[6]

Egyptian authorities have arbitrarily detained girls related to suspected members of Wilayat Sina’, some for months or years.[7] They also tortured several girls and held them in prolonged incommunicado detention. The detentions were typically aimed at pressuring male family members suspected of links to the ISIS-linked group to turn themselves in, or to obtain information about them. Some girls were themselves victims of abuses by the group, including rape and forced marriage, and were detained after they escaped and sought help from the authorities.

Human Rights Watch documented 21 cases in which women and girls were detained, and in all cases the authorities failed to treat them as possible victims of crimes themselves.

In one example, in 2019, the authorities detained a 15-year-old girl who had undergone three forced marriages to Wilayat Sina’ members since the age of 14, with her first two husbands dying in armed clashes. When she moved from North Sinai to Cairo, the authorities detained her, held her incommunicado for six months, and prosecuted her, her lawyer said.[8]

The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, an independent Egyptian organization, documented in 2022 the use of child soldiers by military-aligned militias that have supported Egyptian government forces in North Sinai.[9]

Human Rights Watch recommends that the Committee ask the government of Egypt:

• What steps has the government taken to end the torture, ill-treatment, and extrajudicial killings of children by Egyptian security forces and to hold officers accountable?
• What steps has the government taken to address enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrests of children?
• How many members of Egypt’s security forces have faced criminal investigation for such abuses since 2013? How many of those investigations resulted in prosecutions and convictions, and what sentences were imposed?
• What steps are Egyptian authorities taking to prevent violence against girls and assist them in North Sinai, including ensuring that authorities who come across girls screen them for being victims of potential abuses?

Human Rights Watch encourages the Committee to call on the government of Egypt to:

• Investigate and ensure accountability for torture, enforced disappearances, and other ill-treatment of children by Egyptian security forces.
• End the routine detention of children and enforce the use of alternatives to detention.
• Publicly prohibit any military court prosecution of children, immediately refer any child currently being prosecuted before military courts to civil prosecution, and ensure children are treated in accordance with international child rights standards.
• Suspend the enforcement of and repeal any laws that allow for the prosecution of children along with adults, such as cases of alleged crimes that involve children and adults.
• Treat children associated with groups like Wilayat Sina’ first and foremost as victims unless credible evidence establishes individual criminal responsibility. Develop alternatives to detention and prosecution if they are charged with crimes, including appropriate rehabilitation and reintegration programs to aid their return to society.

Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and Discrimination (articles 2, 13, 16, 19, 24, 34, and 39)

Sexual and gender-based violence and discrimination in Egypt has remained a pervasive problem in recent years, as the government has largely failed to establish and carry out proper policies and investigation systems or enact necessary legislation to address the problem.[10] Instead, the authorities have since at least April 2020 relentlessly carried out an abusive campaign of arrests and prosecutions targeting female social media influencers on charges that violate their rights to privacy, freedom of expression, and nondiscrimination.[11] These charges usually stemmed from abusive “morality” laws.

For example, Human Rights Watch reported on the arrest in May 2020 of a 17-year-old social media influencer.[12] She had posted a video online in which her face appeared bruised, saying she was beaten by a group of young men and women, and that the men also raped her, filmed the acts, and blackmailed her with the footage. The prosecution stated that she had been detained pending investigation as a victim of sexual assault but also as a suspect in morality-related offenses for her videos. She was released from pre-trial detention on September 16, 2020, and the case against her was dropped.[13]

The Egyptian authorities have also failed to protect vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers from pervasive sexual violence, including by failing to investigate rape and sexual assault, which targeted women and girls.[14]

Female Genital Mutilation

Girls continue to be subject to female genital mutilation (FGM) even though the practice was criminalized in 2008 and more stringent penalties were approved by parliament in 2016.[15] The 2016 penal code amendments stipulate prison terms of five to seven years for those who carry out FGM, and up to 15 years if the case results in permanent disability or death. Under the amendments, anyone who escorts girls to undergo FGM will face one to three years in prison.[16] The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that the percentage of girls aged 15-17 who are estimated to have undergone FGM decreased from 61 percent in 2014 to 37 percent in 2021.[17] This progress could be accelerated with more consistent enforcement of the laws prohibiting FGM. In 2017, the Justice Ministry’s Forensic Medical Authority said that they investigated only three cases of FGM. As of October 2020, there had only ever been one criminal prosecution resulting in a conviction for its practice.[18] 

Virginity Tests and Anal Exams

Egyptian rights organizations and Human Rights Watch have documented cases in which authorities have forced or requested women and girls to undergo “virginity tests,”[19] despite a December 2011 ruling by the Egyptian Administrative Court that virginity tests “constitute a violation to women’s bodies and an assault on their human dignity.”[20]

Human Rights Watch has also documented authorities in Egypt subjecting gay, bisexual, and transgender children to forced anal exams.[21] Forced virginity tests and anal tests are sexual assault and violate the prohibition of torture and other cruel, degrading, and inhuman treatment or punishment.[22] They violate medical ethics and are internationally discredited because they lack scientific validity to “prove” virginity or same-sex conduct.[23] The Egyptian Medical Syndicate has taken no steps to prevent doctors from conducting these degrading and abusive exams.

Human Rights Watch recommends that the Committee ask the government of Egypt:

• What steps is the government taking to end judicial harassment of child social media influencers?
• What steps is the government taking to amend or remove “morality”-related laws to prevent prosecutions that violate children’s rights to privacy and freedom of expression?
• What steps have been taken to end the practices of female genital mutilation and forced virginity tests and anal exams?

Human Rights Watch encourages the Committee to call on the government of Egypt to:

• Thoroughly investigate all sexual violence allegations against children, including recording the criminal complaint as a first step; ensure that sexual and reproductive care and services for sexual violence survivors are readily available, including emergency contraception; and ensure police officers, prosecutors, and judges receive effective gender-responsive training.
• Drop prosecutions and quash convictions based on arbitrarily vague laws that interfere with children’s freedom of expression and privacy, as well as their right to nondiscrimination.
• Amend or remove vague “morality”-related laws that interfere with children’s freedoms of expression and privacy.
• Actively prosecute perpetrators of FGM.
• Immediately cease the practices of virginity testing and anal exams, and pass laws to make both practices illegal.
• Enforce existing safeguards against torture and ill-treatment by investigating, disciplining, and, when appropriate, prosecuting officials who engage in or condone abuse.

Corporal Punishment (articles 6, 19, 24, 28, and 37)

Egyptian laws do not explicitly prohibit violent discipline of children.[24] The Child Law states that children have the right to protection from “all forms of violence, injury and physical, mental, or sexual abuse,”[25] but it exempts punishment that is “subject to the duties and rights of caregivers and their right to discipline permitted by (Islamic) Sharia” from the prohibition on the “intentional infliction of the child on any harmful physical harm or harmful or unlawful practice.”[26] The penal code does not prohibit corporal punishment of children.[27] Egypt has not adopted comprehensive legislation against domestic violence.[28] The country supported recommendations made during its 2019 Universal Periodic Review to outlaw corporal punishment in all settings.[29]

Education Ministry policies prohibit corporal punishment at public and private schools. For example, a 2016 decree states that corporal punishment may not be used by school staff as a disciplinary measure to deal with student “infractions” such as tardiness, not wearing a uniform, and alarmingly, “harming national unity or incitement against the nation.”[30] The ministry reportedly reiterated the ban on corporal punishment in a November 2019 statement to school staff.[31] A 2020 ministerial statement vaguely instructs private schools to implement its provisions without “harming students psychologically or morally,” and not to “oppose students whether by acts or words.”[32] The ministry informed Human Rights Watch in 2021 that it is working on a teacher Code of Conduct.

The Education Ministry also informed Human Rights Watch in 2021 that the educational system had 20 million students, but they received just 57 complaints of abuse by school staff against students in 2016/17, and 22 cases in 2018/19. The ministry reported a single court verdict “against an abusive teacher in a school violence case” who was sentenced to six years in prison without specifying the date of the verdict or of the incident.[33] These figures may indicate a lack of accountability for abusive teachers. A 2013 survey found that 43 to 51 percent of children experienced violence at school.[34] News media have also reported cases where Egyptian children were permanently injured or killed by teachers who beat them.[35] A 2019 report by UNICEF, based on 2014 data, found that more than 90 percent of Egyptian children ages 2-14 experienced violent discipline from caregivers or parents once per month.[36]

Human Rights Watch encourages the Committee to ask the government of Egypt:

• How have recent cases of corporal punishment been monitored and reported? Please provide recent data on the prevalence of violent discipline in schools.

Human Rights Watch encourages the Committee to call on the government of Egypt to:

• Explicitly prohibit all forms of violent discipline in all settings, including in the home.

Protection of Education from Attack (article 28)

Between 2017 and 2019, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack documented 13 reported incidents of attacks or harassment at schools, or directed towards, students, teachers, and other education personnel.[37] In May 2019, media outlets reported that police forces harmed or detained secondary school students protesting a new electronic exams system in cities across the country.[38] Several photos and videos were published on social media that documented the arrest of or use of force against students, some as young as 15 years old.[39]

As of March 2023, Egypt was contributing 2,040 troops to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Missions in Mali and the Central African Republic.[40] These troops are required to comply with the UN Department of Peace Operations’ UN Infantry Battalion Manual (2012), which includes the provision that “schools shall not be used by the military in their operations.”[41] Both Mali and the Central African Republic have witnessed multiple threatened or actual attacks on schools in recent years.[42]

Egypt has yet to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration,[43] an inter-governmental political commitment that provides countries the opportunity to express political support for the protection of students, teachers, and schools during times of armed conflict; the importance of the continuation of education during armed conflict; and the implementation of the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict.[44] As of June 2023, 118 states have endorsed the declaration,[45] including the majority of Egypt’s fellow African Union members.

In October 2020, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child issued a general comment on children and armed conflict in Africa, in which they stated that “[t]he use of schools and other education institutions by peacekeeping forces can be equally negative for children’s right to education. For this reason, the African Union and other relevant African inter-governmental organizations that authorize peace support operations should adopt an explicit ban on the use of schools in their operations.”[46] In January 2021, the African Union began requiring countries contributing troops to its peace operations to “ensure that schools are not attacked and used for military purposes.”[47]

Human Rights Watch recommends that the Committee ask the government of Egypt:

• Are protections for schools from military use included in any policies, rules, or trainings for Egypt’s armed forces?

Human Rights Watch encourages the Committee to call on the government of Egypt to:

• Ensure Egyptian laws, policies, or trainings, including pre-deployment trainings for peacekeepers, provide explicit protection for schools from military use during armed conflict.
• Endorse and implement the Safe Schools Declaration.

The Right to Free and Compulsory Education (article 28)

According to Egypt’s constitution, education is free and compulsory until the end of the secondary level.[48] The Education Law of 1981 further stipulates that fees for educational services may not be demanded from students in government schools, at all levels prior to higher education.[49] However, fees may be collected for additional services, insurance for the use of equipment and tools, or the organization of pre-primary education.[50]

Compulsory education starts at age six and consists of nine years of primary education—comprising two elementary cycles and a three-year preparatory cycle—and three years of secondary education.[51]

Government data indicates that the gross enrolment rate in kindergarten (ages 4-6) was approximately 33 percent in 2015/2016, whereas primary net enrolment rates in the elementary and preparatory cycles reached 94 percent and 82.5 percent in 2016/2017, respectively.[52] World Bank data indicates that secondary gross enrolment rates reached 89 percent in 2019.[53]

Human Rights Watch recommends that the Committee ask the government of Egypt:

• What barriers does the government see to increasing enrollment and completion rates within compulsory education, and to expanding the right to free and compulsory education to include at least one year of pre-primary education?

Human Rights Watch encourages the Committee to call on the government of Egypt to:

• Eliminate all fees in public education.
• Legislate that at least one year of pre-primary education be free and compulsory.

Government Violation of Children’s Privacy (Article 16)

In April 2023, Human Rights Watch reported that the Egyptian government and a private British company exposed vast amounts of personal information about tens of thousands of children online for months.[54] The exposure violated children’s privacy, exposed them to the risk of serious harm, and appeared to violate Egypt’s data protection laws.

The sensitive data included over 72,000 records of children’s names, dates of birth, gender, home addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, schools that they attend, grade level, personal profile photos, and copies of their passport or national ID. It was left unprotected on the open web, available to anyone with an internet connection for at least eight months. The records identified 110 children by name as having some form of disability.

These children had taken the Egyptian Scholastic Test (EST) between September 2020 and December 2022, an exam administered by Egypt’s Education Ministry and required by Egyptian universities for students studying under the American Diploma, an English-language high school curriculum. Around March 2022, without announcement, ownership of the exam appeared to have changed from the government to a British company, Academic Assessment.

Most of this data appeared to have been collected by the government, prior to the change in ownership. It is unclear why the government would sell or give away the highly personal details of children who had taken the test, such as disability status, that are not necessary for a company to manage the exam.

Human Rights Watch finds that the exposure of such confidential information violated children’s privacy and jeopardized their safety, exposing children to the risk of identity theft, blackmail, and sexual exploitation. The government further exposed children to harm by selling or giving away their personally identifiable data to a third party seemingly without stipulating protections for this data. The government did not appear to have informed children that their data was sold or transferred, denying them the opportunity to object or to protect their privacy.

The country’s constitution guarantees the right to privacy.[55] Egypt has also ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which guarantees children’s right to privacy, which is vital to ensuring their safety, agency, and dignity.

The government appears to have violated Egypt’s 2020 data protection law, which require entities handling personal data to protect it, and to promptly notify affected users in the event of a data violation.[56] The law recognizes that children are entitled to special protections for their data privacy but does not specify or provide them, and no enacting regulations have been issued. Moreover, the law lacks a governmental body that could enforce it: The data protection authority that was created by the law has yet to be established almost three years later.

Egypt’s Education Ministry and the National Council for Human Rights did not respond to Human Rights Watch’s request to fix the data exposure. Academic Assessment said that the company took the exposure seriously and that it had investigated, but declined to answer Human Rights Watch’s questions. The unprotected data was hosted on Amazon Web Services and was taken down after Human Rights Watch notified Amazon of the child data privacy violation. Amazon declined to comment.

Human Rights Watch recommends that the Committee ask the government of Egypt:

• Why did the Education Ministry sell or transfer ownership of the EST and students’ personal data to Academic Assessment?
• Did the Education Ministry place contractual obligations on Academic Assessment regarding their use and protection of student data?

Human Rights Watch recommends that the Committee call on the government of Egypt to:

• Amend the 2020 data protection law to establish comprehensive child data protection rules. Such rules should require companies and government agencies to provide the highest levels of protection for children’s data, and to contractually oblige the same of any entity that children’s data is shared, transferred, or sold to.
• Establish the data protection authority and give it the mandate and resources to enforce the 2020 data protection law.