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Pres. Sisi to tackle serious challenges facing Egypt -- EU says

GENEVA, June 10 (KUNA) -- The European Union (EU) said Tuesday it is confident that Egypt's new President Abdulfattah Al-Sisi would tackle the serious challenges facing the Arab most populous state after three years of political unrest.
The EU "trusts that the newly elected President Sisi and the Egyptian government will tackle the serious challenges faced by the country," Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Greece on behalf of the European Union Alexandros Alexandris said in a statement to the 26th session of the Human rights Council.
"Among them (the challenges) the respect of the human rights of all Egyptian citizens, in line with international obligations and guaranteed by the new Constitution adopted last January." Alexandris, however, expressed some concern over the human rights situation in Egypt.
"While observing a worrying trend regarding the compliance of Egypt with international human rights obligations, we look forward to finalising arrangement for an OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) regional office in Cairo" In the field of technical assistance and capacity-building, the EU encourages Bahrain to further enhance cooperation with the UN Office including through the establishment of a country office with full mandate.
The EU is gravely concerned about gross human rights violations in South Sudan that may amount to crimes against humanity. The Council must play its part to ensure that there is accountability for these egregious violations.
The EU shares your concerns regarding developments in Thailand. Thailand must urgently restore the legitimate democratic process and the constitution, through credible and inclusive elections.
"We urge the military leadership to free all those who have been detained for political reasons and to remove censorship. We call on all parties to exercise the utmost restraint. Respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms must be upheld," said the EU representative.
The EU welcomes the very good work and regular reporting of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, whose contribution is critical to the establishment of objective facts on the ground.
"We regret, however, that the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions remains precarious due to illegal acts by armed separatists. The violence, threats and kidnappings, including of international observers, are unacceptable. We call for the immediate and unconditional release of the observers, "The EU condemns these violent acts and all violations of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. We call on all parties to engage in dialogue in order to find a political resolution to the crisis. We further call on all parties to take concrete steps to implement the recommendations of the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. We reiterate our call on the Russian Federation to take actions to fully implement the Geneva joint statement," said the EU.
The EU commends the readiness of Ukraine to cooperate fully with OHCHR and to draw on the expertise of regional organizations such as the Council of Europe and the OSCE in its efforts to pursue an inclusive political process that respects the rights of persons belonging to national minorities, to effectively investigate human rights violations, and to advance constitutional reform in an inclusive manner.
The EU also welcomes the holding of the presidential elections, recognized by international monitors as largely in line with international standards, and call on all parties to accept the outcome of these elections as an expression of the will of the Ukrainian people.
"We regret that they could not take place in the illegally annexed Autonomous Republic of Crimea and City of Sevastopol and were seriously disturbed by illegal armed groups in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions," said the EU.
The 26th regular session of the Human Rights Council stated Tuesday and will continue to the 26 June. (end) ta.ibi