Interviews with Bahey El Din Hassan

When also I found that many of the leading youths of the revolution were students in the human rights courses of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights, I feel very proud, and I think this is one of the main factors. And human rights culture, this was the main concern behind the foundation of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies. And its first activity in July 1994 was a summer course for university students. And this was the only continuous activity every year.

So, before the revolution, we had 17 educational courses for university students. But beginning with 2005, we also added another human rights course for the young cadres of political parties, young cadres of the human rights or other civil society organization. So, I think that by focusing on the question of dissemination of human rights culture, this is also one of the added values which I am very proud of.

Bahey El Din Hassan is an Egyptian human rights activist who has worked tirelessly to promote human rights culture in his native Egypt and throughout the Arab world.

Prior to the Egyptian revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak’s government, Hassan, a professional journalist, was an ardent advocate for freedom of the press. Through this activism, he became more interested in the importance of educating others on human rights. In 1983, he joined the Arab Organization for Human Rights and two years later helped establish an offshoot group called the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR). Over the years, the Egyptian government cracked down on EOHR’s work, arresting and torturing several of the organization’s members and stripping its status as a legally registered entity. Despite the threat of violence or arrest, Hassan and others helped EOHR to endure and continued to strengthen Egypt’s human rights movement.

In 1993, Hassan co-founded the Cairo Institute for Human Rights (CIHRS), an independent NGO that promotes human rights and democracy in the Arab region. Today, Hassan serves as the Director of CIHRS. Through these various organizations, Hassan has played a role in educating a new generation of young Egyptians on the importance of embracing a universal code of human rights that encourages freedom and dignity for all people.

In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, Hassan continues his efforts to strengthen human rights education in Egypt and the greater Arab world. Hassan argues that the fall of Hosni Mubarak’s regime was only the beginning, and that Egyptians must cultivate a democratic tradition, bolstered by a robust civil society, that respects human rights in order to be successful. As a journalist, lecturer, and author, Hassan educates audiences in the Middle East and North Africa on human rights, democratic transformation in the Arab world, and the challenges facing human rights defenders throughout the region.