Human rights violations in Egypt are one of the major forces obstructing the flow of foreign direct investments, lawyer Hafez Abu Seada writes in his latest column for El Watan. Despite the improvements to the country’s investment climate following recent reform measures and the International Monetary Fund’s USD 12 bn facility, Egypt’s human rights — which made the pages of reports published by the US State Department, Amnesty International, and the UNHCR — leads international firms and investors to think twice before bringing their money into the country, as they are bound by international human rights standards.