Armi to Egypt, six months before the ok to the maxi order, Italy wrote to the UN its recommendations on the violations of human rights in Cairo

“Increase efforts to combat all forms of torture e maltreatment“, Even in the specific case of the” brutal killing of Jules Regeni“. But also “to fix one moratorium on the death penalty“,” Take measures to ensure the freedom of expression” and the “Political pluralism”, “Ensure the work of the ong in defense of human rights “and” fight the violence against women and minors“. All recommendations sent toEgypt, all from the Italian state. The same one who, just 6 months later, will give the green light to maxi order worth around 10 billion euros for the supply of weaponry al Cairo which includes, in addition to two frigates Fremm “Spartaco Schergat” and “Emilio Bianchi”, 4 other ships, 20 offshore patrol boats by Fincantieri, 24 Eurofighter Typhoon fighters and 20 training aircraft M346 by Leonardo.

You can read it in the report of Universal Periodic Review Working Group (Upr) on Egypt adopted on March 12, 2020 and drafted in its final version in December 2019. It is a process under the auspices of the United Nations which involves examining, in several annual sessions for cycles of 4 total years, the state of the human rights in 192 UN member countries. Specifically, the States involved must send their recommendations on other countries selected among the members of the United Nations, inviting them to make improvements in safeguarding human rights. In the last 4-year cycle, Egypt was also among the countries under observation.

And the recommendations sent by Italy raise very serious human rights issues. The first immediately refers to the case of Giulio Regeni: for Rome it is necessary “to increase efforts to prevent and combat all forms of torture and ill-treatment, ensuring that those responsible are identified, even in the case of those who perpetrated the brutal murder by Giulio Regeni “, we read.

Italy also focuses on the need for a “moratorium on the death penalty” and on “adopting measures to guarantee freedom of expression, both online and offline, freedom of association and assembly, political pluralism and the rule of law”. All rights systematically violated by the President’s men Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, as the daily news of incarcerazioni of activists, as in the case of Patrick George Zaki, political opponents, people close to Muslim Brotherhood and, in general, of all those who oppose the diktats imposed by the president.

Rome also asked that “the NGO law of 2019 be fully implemented, in agreement with civil society and international partners, guaranteeing human rights defenders to operate in a safe and free environment”. Finally, he asked to “take steps to combat all forms of violence against women and children and increase the legal age for marriage for girls to 18 years”.

“These documents – comments to Ilfattoquotidiano.it the coordinator of the Italian Disarmament Network, Francesco Vignarca – demonstrate how our Government is well aware of the problematic human rights situation in Egypt, so much so as to make certain aspects explicit at international level. Yet all of this seems ignored in the application of the law 185/90 on arms exports and international standards which instead require consideration of respect for human rights when evaluating licenses “.

Recommendations of this type sent by Italy, and published on official UN documents, in fact collide with the provisions contained in law 185 of 1990 which regulates the export of armaments. In one of the passages of the law it is written that “the export and transit of military materials are also prohibited to the countries whose governments are responsible for serious violations of international conventions on human rights, ascertained by the competent bodies of the United Nations, ofEU or of European Council“. In this case, it is Italy itself, putting its recommendations black on white on an official document of the United Nations, to align itself with the reports of the various international organizations and therefore to believe that there are serious problems related to respect for human rights in Egypt . An awareness that, however, did not prevent the government from giving its go-ahead to the first supply of frigates to General al-Sisi after the last call between the two.

“If the government has decided to overcome these problems in a wider perspective than foreign policy, as the passage to the Council of Ministers seems to suggest, then it imposes itself a debate and a vote in Parliament, as required by Law 185/90 itself – concludes Vignarca – Otherwise, in our opinion, authorization is not only problematic and criticizable from a political point of view, but also from a procedural and legal one ”.

Twitter: @GianniRosini