Egypt takes over from Morocco co-presidency of Global Counterterrorism Forum, triggers criticism

Egypt took over from Morocco the co-presidency of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF).

The Arab country will co-chair the forum with the European Union, GCTF said Thursday during a ceremony held in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

“We are honored to be hosting the first GCTF Coordinating Committee meeting, co-chaired with the European Union, in which all parties underscored their collective commitment to continue fighting this global scourge,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in opening remarks.

Charles Fries, the deputy Secretary general of the European External Action Service, the EU’s diplomatic body, told the meeting that “tackling the scourge of terrorism” in Africa would be a “strategic priority” of the EU’s joint tenure with Egypt, which runs until 2025. “The EU is committed to assuring the GCTF is dynamic, action-oriented, and remains fit-for-purpose,” said Fries.

Egypt’s new role has raised eyebrows. Human rights and civil society organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies slammed in a letter to EU foreign policy Chief Josep Borrell last month the country’s record of human rights abuses linked to counter-terrorism policies under President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi.

The organizations, Middle East Eye reports, said Egypt had “instrumentalized counterterrorism to clamp down on human rights”, and warned the EU risked undermining its own commitment to upholding human rights by associating with Sisi’s government.

“We remain concerned that Egypt will seek to use its influential position within the GCTF to evade criticism for its extensively documented human rights violations and to advance its efforts to weaken human rights protections in counterterrorism policies at the multilateral level”, the letter said.