Egypt

A UN-sponsored report urged the Egyptian government on May 13 to be more tolerant to NGOs and to reign in state brutality and corruption against them. It said Egyptian law places too many restrictions on such groups, including charities and rights and pro-democracy groups, which must obtain government permission to receive funding and through broad rules that inhibit political activism. “The time is ripe for a new liberalized social policy that would match the liberalization of the economic regime,” said the annual Egypt Human Development Report by Egyptian social scientists and intellectuals. (Reuters)