Who Are We?
Belady an Island for Humanity is a non-governmental organization founded in 2017 by Aya Hijazi with a group of activists and human rights defenders after some of them were subjected to political imprisonment by the current regime. Belady seeks to curb violations, particularly against women and children arrested and imprisoned in the backdrop of political and social conflict.
Our Vision
Our vision is based on the fact that society’s liberation and prosperity will only be achieved by empowering women and children and ensuring their freedom.
Belady also works to monitor the structural change that establishes violence and injustice by documenting the Egyptian regime’s violations against children, women, and minorities and educating national and international society and decision-makers about them. We also press and advocate the amendment of legislation that codifies violations while calling upon authorities to implement overlooked laws that would ensure respect for rights and freedoms.
Our Projects
- Legal support
Belady provides legal support – legal advice and judicial support to women or children who have been detained or arrested on political grounds. In addition, we provide telegrams – reports, and complaints to the Public Prosecution Office, asking about the arrested persons in the police stations. In case of enforced disappearance, we file complaints before the administrative courts to oblige the competent authorities to disclose the whereabouts of those arrested, and to submit reports to the United Nations.
We also attend investigations and renewals before the Public Prosecution, we prove defenses, submit documents and requests to the Public Prosecution Office for those detained in pretrial detention, such as health status papers, exam requests, and release requests. We prepare legal notes in pleadings before all courts, and provide legal advice to lawyers regarding women and children.
Finally, we express a legal opinion and submit proposals to amend the existing laws related to children and women and recommendations to improve the conditions of prisoners.
- Research and reports:
The Research Unit specializes in converting the digital data collected by Belady an Island for Humanity into written analytical content about women and children rights status, who have been arrested or imprisoned for political reasons in Egypt, to enrich the informational content in the human rights library and contribute to spreading awareness about human rights violations.
Our researchesfocus on the violations that take place during arrest, detention, and the renewed imprisonment of children and women in Egypt after 2013. They also provide a legal analyses of political trials involving women and children.
The unit also issues researches on the perceived transformations in Egyptian prisons, ISIS exploitation and recruitment of women and children, and follow-up with women and children returning from ISIS.
To view our researches, click here.
- Observation and documentation:
To commit human rights abuses, the offending authorities need to obfuscate and erase information in order to deny that they occurred. This unit is like a lamp that pierces the black hole of information, by building a record documenting accurate and comprehensive data of violations committed against defenders of rights and freedoms or those who have been targeted for political reasons. The information of those concerned are classified according to gender, age, and types of violation, whether by deprivation of liberty as a result of arrest or detention, deprivation of a fair trial standard, or deprivation of the right to life as a result of torture, death sentence, or extrajudicial killing. The observation unit also publishes legal analysis of the cases of women and children who are subjected to these violations
To view our observation reports, click here.
- Egypt Prison Atlas:
The EPA is a user-friendly website administered by Belady- an Island for Humanity. It provides an overview of the political and social repression in Egypt with a special focus on women and children. The EPA provides data on the following: arrested women and children of terrorism, judges presiding over courts with a breakdown of the verdicts they issue, and overview of prisons in which political prisoners are detained.
To visit Egypt Prison Atlas click here.
Awareness and advocacy campaigns:
Belady blogs about prisoners, and also launches advocacy campaigns around the world for their release.
Post-imprisonment services:
Belady provides psychological and social services to former prisoners who were arrested because of their political opinions or backgrounds, especially women and children.
The psychological support that Belady provides is represented in publishing information and psycho-educational videos on social media platforms in order to help the target groups to have a comprehensive understanding of the psychological interview process and the various psychological disorders that may need the intervention of specialists. Belady also provides psychological counseling services by giving advice and/or answering Followers’ questions.
