Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights

Description

The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, or ECESR, is a non-governmental Egyptian legal organization. It works from Cairo, Egypt. It builds its work on values of justice, freedom and equality, and commits to international human rights charters, especially the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the conventions of the International Labour Organization.

ECESR aims to help society enjoy its economic, social and cultural rights. It strengthens social movements that defend these rights and works to spread a culture of human rights, with particular attention to labour rights and trade union freedoms. It organizes defense campaigns, builds alliances and networks, and offers legal support and litigation.

The center monitors and documents violations of economic and social rights and of union freedoms, and it records the gains these movements make. It prepares research, reports, campaigns, workshops and training to raise awareness of these rights. It gives legal support in all its forms, drafts proposed laws and amendments, and builds networks that defend economic and social rights.

ECESR is also known for documenting the situation of protesters. During the 2019 Egyptian protests it published detailed lists of arrests of demonstrators and passers-by. It has published research questioning whether increased foreign investment improves conditions for most Egyptians.