After years of stalled accountability, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has condemned Egypt for forced genital examination of two political detainees, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said Sunday.
In a communication spanning more than 60 pages, the African Union rights body said Egypt violated eight articles of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which Egypt ratified in 1984.
According to rights reports, at least 18 activists were arrested during a Tahrir Square sit-in in March 2011 and seven were subjected to “virginity tests.” At the time, reports quoted a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces as saying the tests were conducted to prevent activists from claiming they were raped while in custody.
The commission said the forced examinations are a form of gender-based sexual violence, discrimination against women, and a violation of bodily integrity and human dignity. It said there is no legitimate justification for carrying out “virginity tests,” describing the practice as illegal, amounting to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment and torture.
The decision called on Egypt to halt the practice, prosecute those responsible, and pay compensation of 100,000 Egyptian pounds to each of the two survivors.
Enforcement depends on political will
Lubna Darwish, gender program officer at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), said implementing the decision ultimately depends on political will because there is no international executive authority that can enforce it inside Egypt.
“Of course that doesn’t exist, but like any international laws and bodies, enforcement is voluntary,” Darwish said. She added that Egypt joined international rights treaties by choice and that Egypt’s 2014 Constitution gives ratified treaties the force of law.
According to Article 93 of the Constitution, “The State shall be bound by the international human rights agreements, covenants, and conventions ratified by Egypt, which shall have the force of law after publication in accordance with the prescribed conditions.”
Case background
EIPR welcomed the ruling in complaint No. 424/12, which it filed in 2012 along with Interights and Redress on behalf of two political detainees. The complaint said the two were subjected to forced “virginity tests” while held in a military prison after a sit-in in Cairo’s Tahrir Square was dispersed in March 2011.
Darwish said the African Commission is the official body tasked with interpreting the African Charter, with a role similar to national courts in interpreting and applying the law.
In March 2012, a Cairo court acquitted army doctor Ahmed Adel in the case, citing contradictory witness testimony and insufficient evidence. The judge said the court bases its rulings on the evidence before it and the judge’s conscience, independent of media pressure.
“After 2012, and specifically after we exhausted litigation procedures in Egypt, we went to the African Commission, and we had a lawyer, Bahaa Ezzelarab. Thank God the case was accepted procedurally and on the merits,” said Rasha Abdel-Rahman, one of the survivors included in the commission’s decision.
Abdel-Rahman said monetary compensation was not her main goal. “For me it wasn’t financial compensation as much as it was moral vindication after all these years,” she said. “I never lost hope, because I always believe the voice of truth will win, even if after decades.”
Darwish said proceedings at the African level are slow by nature because procedures are lengthy and the commission meets on a quarterly basis, which can delay the review of complaints for years.
Darwish said that even if Egypt ignores the decision, including by missing the 180-day reporting deadline, the international legal system does not impose automatic penalties. “This isn’t a family court ruling with immediate sanctions,” she said, adding that states are still expected to carry out recommendations such as reparations, guarantees of nonrepetition, and monitoring measures.
National institutions, including the National Council for Human Rights, could help follow implementation and remind the state of its obligations, Darwish added.
Abdel-Rahman called the decision “historic,” saying it was a long-awaited vindication. “This ruling restores our dignity, after what was said about us and every attempt to cast doubt,” she said, adding that she began contacting other survivors after the decision was issued.
