A group of local and international human rights organizations, including HIC-HLRN partners in Egypt, sent a joint letter to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on 2 May 2013, expressing their serious concerns regarding EBRD considering to extend a US$40 million loan for the Egyptian Refinery Company (ERC) currently being considered at Musturud, in north Cairo. The letter primarily focused on EBRD’s policies for operations, including the Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs).

The ERC refinery is a large-scale project located in an already extremely polluted industrial zone that also covers a densely populated neighborhood. The CSOs reviewed the social and environmental factors in field visits led by the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) and consultations with inhabitants and farmers living in the area, in addition to information from other financers and stakeholders and feedback from the “Musturud Monitor” initiative, a group of Egyptian CSOs and campaigners specialized in human rights and sustainable development.

According to field visit findings, the project would expand the forced eviction and resettlement already committed on the site, as well as cause environmental damages to an area already suffering from air and water pollution that exceeds Egyptian and World Health Organization limits, and will negatively impact agricultural land and the livelihood of farmers. In addition, the ESCR studies identified the risks to archaeological heritage in the vicinity of the Obelisk of King Senusert.

The CSOs’ letter to EBRD, however, focused specifically on Egypt’s noncompliance with the minimum principles of multiparty democracy and pluralism in accordance with Article 1 of the Agreement Establishing the EBRD (AEB), and that the country is not on a path to comply with these chartered purposes. Since the EBRD country assessment for Egypt, which was approved on 31 October 2012, the situation with regards to Article 1 has continually deteriorated. This is especially relevant to EBRD’s Concept Note: Egypt, Annex 1, titled “Notional factors and sub-components for the political assessment” and the prerequisite “freedom from harassment, intimidation and torture” (criterion 14).

The CSOs’ letter also cited the decision of the European Union Parliament to withhold financial support to the Egyptian government, establishing the condition that Egypt improve it performance in human rights, democracy and economic governance. The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) had cited their concern over the Egyptian electoral commission cancellation of parliamentary elections and registered alarmed at“the rise in violence against women, in particular female protesters and women`s rights activists,” stressing that “the perpetrators must be brought to justice.“ The resolution also set the conditions that, before any European Union financial cooperation, Egypt first abolish all laws allowing for the unrestricted use of violence by police and security forces against civilians, implement a moritorium on capital punishment and use the interim period to set up an inclusive political process based on consensus. At the same time, the MEPs called for EU Member States to “facilitate the return to the people of Egypt of assets stolen by the former regime.”

The CSOs concurred that Egypt lacks the democratic prerequisites to begin EBRD country operations as per Article 1 of the Articles Establishing the Bank (AEB). These concerns have superseded the particular hazards posed by the ERC project at Musturud.

Source: Habitat International Coalition- Housing and Land Rights Network