Texte de Politique Général comité de presse MUN

Honorable chairs, fellow delegates,

As the fourth power, in all its new forms, threatens the stability of our already fragile Republic, the delegation of Egypt considers that it’s time to supervise media and keep an eye on all subversive platforms, in particular on social media. Even though our constitution guarantees all individual freedoms, such as freedom of speech and expression, Egypt believes that this liberty finds its limits in hateful, immoral and extremist speeches. Keeping a relative control on media helps in the protection of our population against any forms of manipulation of information, and consequently manipulation of our citizens’ minds. The anti-terrorism law voted in 2015 also helps this supervision, by imposing a fine to journalists who would contradict the official press releases. Where the international community sees criminal misinformation, we only see a state trying to avoid the public disorder, and radicalization, terrorism being the sword of Damocles hanging upon our country. Furthermore, the new Egyptian government saved its population from the repressive Muslim Brothers regime, and accusing it from clamping down freedoms wouldn’t make any sense, considering the situation of the country before the arrival of Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi.

Lightening the censorship affairs that aimed four media platforms, the investigation conducted by the independent Egyptian judicial system underscored their secret link with the terrorist organization, the Muslim Brothers, which used them as a way to promote hateful and radical speeches and encouraging terrorist acts. Paradoxically, countries that censor TV channels because of a Nazi TV program are seen as thoughtful, wise and protective, fighting against hostility and racism, while the same situation occurring in Egypt are seen as an attack to freedoms and human rights. The government's decision to shut down some sites doesn’t violates the Egyptian Constitution, insofar as it prohibits censorship of the media, except in times of war and military mobilization, and protects freedom of expression and freedom of the press. The series of attacks against churches or the air hijacking causing a deadly crash were the trigger to our decisions that seem worthy of a dictatorship, but which is, in reality, the way for the President to fight terrorism, regain the unity of the Egyptian nation and bring back its real place in the international political chessboard. "You are with us in the fight for Egypt.”. These are the words of Sissi, addressing our country's media in Cairo on 9 February 2017 at a conference on terrorism.

Egypt is an Arabic country, strong from millenniums of epic history, and united thanks to its Constitution that protects all the different population living under its rules. The Republic of Egypt’s previous great and memorable Presidents, through hard work and against all odds, succeeded in the satisfaction of the country’s interests, for example the notorious Jamal Abdel-Nasser with the nationalization of the Suez Canal for a strong and independent Egyptian economy, which had been his best battle and victory. Today, President Sissi’s battle is about avoiding a war with the Islamic State, causing attacks every three months, and a civil war with the terrorist organization the Muslim Brothers, but also using all the means he has to revive the economy of our country that is doing very badly during these last seven years, regarding the decline of tourism and the public deficit. As well as Nasser, our President should be seen as the hero trying to protect the Egyptian nation from its enemies, using tools qualified by the international community as repression.  We, the Egyptian delegation, choose to call that a sacrifice.

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