Amnesty to promote rights in Egypt at Cairo Book Fair

Leading human rights organization Amnesty International wants to deliver its work to Egypt’s public. In a first, the London-based rights group is to have a table at the Cairo International Book Fair in order to deliver its message to the Egyptian people and the region.

The organization said that it will have a stand to feature its recent publications on human rights in the country, around the region and beyond in order to assist local citizens to understand human rights abuses.

Amnesty will also have staff present to explain the activities of Amnesty International and will invite people to sign petitions on key human rights issues in the Middle East and North Africa and across the world.

It will also be possible for people attending the fair to join the global organization, which has more than three million members and supporters.

“After a momentous year for Egypt, when human rights have been at the center of the dramatic changes in the country, this fair is an ideal opportunity for Amnesty International to present its work to the Egyptian public and seek their participation in our activities to promote human rights around the world,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s interim Middle East and North Africa Director.

Activists and intellectuals see the move as a positive step toward educating a larger segment of the population that often receives their news from state television and media outlets.

“Look at this trash. It’s what people are getting their news from and it hurts,” activist Ahmed Aggour told Bikyamasr.com recently. He argued that in order to create a better understanding of the reality on the ground, “people need to take their message to the people and get them seeing the truth.”

Amnesty appears ready to take on that mantle and hopes that visitors to the massive book fair that begins on January 22, will receive and introduction into human rights.