Since my local altercation I have been amazed how many people are booked for that holiday destination which obviously reflect an ignorance outweighed by the strength for the Euro against the pound sterling! So perhaps some background information might assist, for as we say in Scotland, folk need to "think again".
In recent years Egypt has developed an horrific record of persecuting gay people. There have been mass arrests, kangaroo courts, severe prison sentences, harassment, entrapment, death threats, allegations of torture, and it`s getting worse. How long has this been happening?Here is some background: Egypt has been deporting people who are HIV+, regardless of sexual orientation, since 1994. In 1997 a gay Egyptian couple sought asylum in Australia because they feared persecution at home. In 1999 a book entitled `Plain Bread` was taken off university reading lists because it contained passages about homosexuality that were deemed indecent. Egypt is widely regarded to have an oppressive attitude to human rights.What happened in May 2001?The watershed event was the detention of 52 men after a raid at a gay-friendly party on the River Queen boat in Cairo. The men were allegedly tortured whilst in detention and accused of devil worship by the press. 23 of the men, and one minor aged 16, were sentenced to prison terms between one and five years of hard labour. Bowing to international pressure, President Murburak quashed all of the convictions except those of the two alleged ringleaders. What`s been going on since the Queen Boat arrests?According to GayEgypt.com, the Queen Boat arrests opened up the floodgates and since then there have been numerous cases of harassment, arrests, entrapment and more allegations of the torture by the authorities of gay men. What is particularly worrying is the trend of entrapping people who use gay chat rooms; one young man was arrested and sentenced to 15 months after arranging to meet someone he met online - his `new friend` turned out to be the police and transcripts of their chats were used to prosecute him, another was arrested after his phone was bugged.Is homosexuality illegal in Egypt?Ironically, no. The minimum age for heterosexual, lesbian and gays sex is set at 18. However those who have been arrested are being tried under the religious Sharia law and are generally charged with "habitual debauchery."What now?Following the Queen River trial, several world leaders expressed their outrage about Egypt`s treatment of gay men, however, it seems to have had little effect in the long term. In April 2003 Giza Criminal Court sentenced 14 men to between one and three and a half years in prison for “habitual debauchery” because they were believed to have been gay. They were later acquitted on a technicality. GayEgypt.com has been served with repeated death threats because it has dared to report on the situation for gay people. Amnesty International are urging the Egyptian authorities to release all those imprisoned on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation and implement human rights policies. Meanwhile, a campaign is growing to highlight the fact that Egypt might not be such a great holiday destination after all.
From this to what?
Very post war baby!
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Kinship lost
It was with some regret that I had a major disagreement with a long-time friend the other day. He announced that he was going to Egypt in September! How can someone so informed about global gay related issues fail to recognise the practices that oppress and criminalise our brothers and sisters in such countries. Yes, the tourist pound goes a long way, but indirectly supports this oppression!
It took me three years to get the information together, present reports to Unison LGBT and finally get motion 37 through last years conference in Bristol. Motions at conference have an organisation implication but often come at personal cost. I would betray everything I have done over those years and my words addressing conference would be mere rhetoric if allow such decisions to go unchallenged.
Here is the text of Motion 37:
Criminalisation and enforced testing of people suspected of being HIV positive
in Egypt - Carried (Bristol November 08)
This not only violates the most basic rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
(LGBT) people and people living with HIV, it also threatens public health, by making it
dangerous for anyone to seek information about HIV prevention or treatment.
The most recent arrests occurred after police followed up on information coerced
from men already in detention, according to the Health and Human Rights Program
of the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).
Two of the newly detained men tested positive for HIV. As in previous cases,
authorities forced the new detainees to undergo HIV testing without their consent. All
those testing positive have been held in Cairo hospitals, chained to their beds.
Other facts particular to Egypt underline a high magnitude of risk: up to 30% of
married women in remote rural areas have sexually transmitted infections. Data on
condom use rate among married women using contraceptives reflect a decline. In
addition, Egypt has high levels of Hepatitis C, a virus with similar modes of
transmission to HIV.
There is also evidence of high-risk behaviour, such as needle sharing and
unprotected sexual relations among injecting drug users. At particular risk are up to
1 million street children in Cairo and Alexandria who are often subjected to violence
and sexual exploitation.
The high level of stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV is an
important reason for the limited number of people undergoing voluntary testing. This
is especially the case for high-risk groups such as sex workers, intravenous drug
users and men having sex with men.
The absence of information and knowledge on sexually transmitted diseases and
HIV/AIDS, together with the lack of counselling and guidance at schools and within
the family and the health system, put young people at particular risk.
Conference calls upon the National LGBT Committee to work with Amnesty and
through the Trades Union Congress and International Lesbian and Gay Association
Europe to raise the issue within the United Nations Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC) to put pressure on the Egyptian authorities and to publicise the behaviour
of the Egyptian authorities through UNISON Communications to alert members of the
actions of a country where many UNISON members would be spending holidays.
It took me three years to get the information together, present reports to Unison LGBT and finally get motion 37 through last years conference in Bristol. Motions at conference have an organisation implication but often come at personal cost. I would betray everything I have done over those years and my words addressing conference would be mere rhetoric if allow such decisions to go unchallenged.
Here is the text of Motion 37:
Criminalisation and enforced testing of people suspected of being HIV positive
in Egypt - Carried (Bristol November 08)
This not only violates the most basic rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
(LGBT) people and people living with HIV, it also threatens public health, by making it
dangerous for anyone to seek information about HIV prevention or treatment.
The most recent arrests occurred after police followed up on information coerced
from men already in detention, according to the Health and Human Rights Program
of the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).
Two of the newly detained men tested positive for HIV. As in previous cases,
authorities forced the new detainees to undergo HIV testing without their consent. All
those testing positive have been held in Cairo hospitals, chained to their beds.
Other facts particular to Egypt underline a high magnitude of risk: up to 30% of
married women in remote rural areas have sexually transmitted infections. Data on
condom use rate among married women using contraceptives reflect a decline. In
addition, Egypt has high levels of Hepatitis C, a virus with similar modes of
transmission to HIV.
There is also evidence of high-risk behaviour, such as needle sharing and
unprotected sexual relations among injecting drug users. At particular risk are up to
1 million street children in Cairo and Alexandria who are often subjected to violence
and sexual exploitation.
The high level of stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV is an
important reason for the limited number of people undergoing voluntary testing. This
is especially the case for high-risk groups such as sex workers, intravenous drug
users and men having sex with men.
The absence of information and knowledge on sexually transmitted diseases and
HIV/AIDS, together with the lack of counselling and guidance at schools and within
the family and the health system, put young people at particular risk.
Conference calls upon the National LGBT Committee to work with Amnesty and
through the Trades Union Congress and International Lesbian and Gay Association
Europe to raise the issue within the United Nations Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC) to put pressure on the Egyptian authorities and to publicise the behaviour
of the Egyptian authorities through UNISON Communications to alert members of the
actions of a country where many UNISON members would be spending holidays.
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