Committee for Justice (CFJ) has submitted a contribution in response to the call for input issued by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls to the United Nations Human Rights Council, in preparation for her forthcoming report on violence against mothers to be presented at the 62nd session of the Human Rights Council
In its submission, CFJ expresses appreciation for the opportunity to contribute to the mandate and seeks to highlight patterns of gender-based violence and intersectional discrimination affecting mothers in contexts of political repression in Egypt. The contribution draws on CFJ’s documentation, testimonies from affected families, and publicly available sources, including documentation from national and international human rights organizations.
The contribution focuses in particular on mothers detained for their peaceful expression or engagement in public affairs, as well as mothers targeted due to their familial relationship with political prisoners and prisoners of conscience. It documents how women’s maternal role has been deliberately instrumentalized in detention settings, exposing mothers to compounded harm through prolonged pretrial detention, physical and psychological violence, denial of adequate healthcare, solitary confinement, and enforced separation from their children.
The submission further addresses the situation of mothers of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners who are subjected to degrading treatment during prison visits, including humiliating searches, verbal abuse, arbitrary denial of visitation, and the transfer of detainees to remote facilities to intensify the burden on mothers.
CFJ’s contribution underscores that such violations are not incidental consequences of detention but reflect broader patterns of gendered repression in which motherhood itself becomes a mechanism of pressure, punishment, and deterrence. The impact of these practices extends beyond detained women, causing long-term harm to children and families.
Through this engagement with the Special Rapporteur’s mandate, CFJ calls for heightened international attention to the specific and compounded forms of violence experienced by mothers in contexts of political repression.
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