The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) is releasing today a new report, titled "Erasure: Egypt's Systemic Campaign to Eradicate Its Baha'i Community," which examines the impact of state policies on the lives of Baha’is, as well as their response to these measures.

The report particularly focuses on the period since the landmark 2009 court ruling that granted the Baha’i community the right to insert a dash (—) in place of a recognized religion on official identification documents.

Alongside the report’s Cairo release, EIPR is hosting in Geneva, on the sidelines of the United Nations Human Rights Council session, a panel discussion on freedom of religion and belief in Egypt, organized in collaboration with Amnesty International and the Baha'i International Community. Featuring EIPR Executive Director Hossam Bahgat, the panel will also include the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief and the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues.

The new EIPR report draws on 30 written testimonies collected from Baha'is in Egypt, 13 in-depth interviews, and 42 personal status court rulings across multiple judicial levels, as well as rulings from administrative courts and the Supreme Administrative Court regarding burial land allocation, along with state attorney memoranda. 

The report concludes that the hard-won 2009 legal victory has effectively been turned into a bureaucratic mechanism through which the state acknowledges the Baha’is’ existence while systematically denying them equal rights of citizenship.

The report details the tangible harm resulting from administrative erasure, tracing how state institutions and the judiciary restrict Baha’is at every stage of life, including marriage, parenthood, movement, employment, and burial. It also highlights how members of the Baha’i community push back against these restrictions.

Since state legal filings and judicial rulings frequently cite "public order" in Baha'i cases, the report opens with an analysis of how this concept has evolved and how it affects the community's legal standing. Looking beyond formal legal definitions, the report treats "public order" as a malleable concept shaped by prevailing social conditions and political intentions.

The report findings show that over the past decade, institutional practices have evolved from individual discriminatory hurdles into a long-term policy aimed at erasing the Baha'i presence altogether. By progressively restricting the space for normal life, state bureaucracy leaves Baha'is with few alternatives: emigration or eventual extinction. For younger Baha’is, everyday choices are overshadowed by perpetual uncertainty about their future.

At the same time, the report documents a community determined to preserve its place in Egyptian society and enjoy normal lives in their country. Baha’is continue to pursue legal and civic remedies to live normally in their own country, insistent on forging a path where their existence is officially recognized before the law, the judiciary, and public institutions.

To address these challenges, the report outlines actionable recommendations that only require political will and executive decision-making. Key proposals include: establishing a dedicated unit within the Civil Status Authority to manage dash (—) entries in the religion field on ID cards; requiring governorates to allocate land for cemeteries upon request; designating Justice Ministry notaries to process marriage contracts for individuals with dash-marked IDs; authorizing public notary offices to record marriages and divorces for these citizens; applying standard Islamic personal status rules in the absence of recognized religious options; and lifting security surveillance, travel bans, and arrival watchlists targeting members of the community.

Read the full report here: