CAIRO: Prominent Coptic Lawyer Mamdouh Ramzy, called on all media, journalists, Egyptian and international human rights activists, to attend the first International Conference to Stop the Violence Against Copts,” which will be held in Cairo, on December 5. His statement comes as Christians in Egypt continue to complain of widespread injustice and prejudice against the minority group.Calls on the government to amend a houses of worship law, in discussion for over a decade, continue to fall on deaf ears, Coptic leaders argue. Ramzy has said that the conference will bring light to the ongoing struggle facing the Coptic community in Egypt and will help promote a new path of “justice and equality” between the Christian minority and the Muslim majority.
Ramzy noted that the conference will discuss all aspects of the “Coptic issue and aggressions against the Copts, which moves from one province to another without any legal or judicial intervention.”
Rights groups in the country have long documented instances of violence between the Coptic and Muslim communities, but George Ishaq, a leading activist and Coptic scholar, is a firm believer in tolerance and understanding. He believes that until Egyptians understand that they are all citizens of the same country, nothing will change.
“Until we start to believe and act as if we were all part of the same country, sectarianism, bad words and violence will continue,” he began. “I have spoken to many groups of people who come up to me and thank me for what I say. It is nice to know that people are taking to heart the idea that we are all Egyptians and live under the same horrific conditions.”
Ramzy called on all human rights organizations and advocacy groups in Egypt or abroad, particularly among the Egyptian citizens living abroad including Copts abroad, and all the various civil society institutions and political parties, opinion makers, intellectuals and politicians, to attend the conference, which he described as ” the international conference to discuss all issues related to the Copts in Egypt.”
Coptic Christians are the largest Christian minority in the Middle East and comprise between 6 and 10 percent of Egypt’s 80 million people. Ramzy believes that through a greater understanding and debate, Christians and Muslims can begin to “mend the wounds” of decades of volatility.
Ramzy, earlier this year, announced his intention to run in the next presidential election scheduled for 2011. He is the first Copt to take such step.
