Human Rights

Fifth topic
Protection of Human Rights in the Egyptian
legislation

Introduction:
Due to the importance of Human Rights and their
necessity for all individuals, the Egyptian Law guaranteed
the necessary protection of these rights. It considered the
infringement of most of these rights as a criminal offence,
such as the offence of murder or attempted murder, which
is an assault on the right to life, and offences of assault,
and permanent disability. Also, the crime of rape, offence
of slander and defamation, the crimes of torture,
abduction and forced labor are examples of protecting the
moral and physical elements of the human being..

Indeed, the Egyptian Constitution dedicates special

protection of human rights. It is mentioned in Article 99
that: “Any violation of personal freedom, the sanctity of
the private life of citizens, or any other public rights and
freedoms which are guaranteed by the Constitution and
the Law is a crime. The criminal and civil lawsuit arising
out of such crime shall not be subject to any statute of
limitation. The victim shall have the right to bring a direct
criminal action. The country shall guarantee fair
compensation for the victims of such violations”.

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 Moreover, Article 50 of the Egyptian Civil Code
stipulates that: "Any person who has been subjected to
unlawful infringement of one of the rights inherent to his
personality may claim elimination of such infringement
with compensation for any damage he may have
suffered”.

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 First part
Establishment of the Council and an introduction to
its committees and activities
In this part, we briefly review the establishment of the
National Council for Human Rights, defining its functions
and objectives, and reviewing its formation and
committees. These topics can be summarized in the
following points:
1- The Council, in accordance with its establishment
law, aims to promote the protection and
development of Human Rights; establish their
values; raise awareness thereof, and to contribute to
ensuring exercise thereof.
Moreover, it aims to share proposals and
recommendations on Human Rights issued at the
national and international levels, and follow up the
implementation and application of international
conventions.
2- The Council, pursuant to the provisions of Article 3
of its establishment law, shall have many of the
terms of reference for the promotion of Human
Rights protection, ranging from the development of
a national plan of action, the contribution of an
opinion, making proposals and recommendations,
receiving and considering complaints, following up
the application of relevant international conventions

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 and treaties, participation in the Egyptian
delegations, holding conferences and seminars,
issuing bulletins, magazines and publications
relating to the Council’s objectives and terms of
reference, or issuing reports on Egypt's situations at
the governmental and private levels and developing
its efforts at both levels.

3- The Council was formed under the Resolution of the

President of the Shura Council No. 1 of 2004, which
included a membership of twenty-seven Human
Rights experts and activists. Prof. Dr. Boutros
Boutros-Ghali was entrusted with the presidency of
the Council, who was the first President of the
Council, while Prof. Dr. Ahmed Kamal Abu Al-
Majd was elected Vice-President at that time.

4- The Council has eight standing committees, namely:

the Committee on Civil and Political Rights, the
Committee on Economic Rights, the Committee on
Social Rights, the Committee on Cultural Rights,
the Committee on Legislative Affairs, the
Committee on International Relations, the
Complaints Committee, and the Executive
Committee. The Council may establish other
standing committees from its members by a
resolution issued by a two-thirds majority of its
members.

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 5- Since its establishment, the Council has developed a
framework for organizing its activities to complete
the National Action Plan for the Promotion of
Human Rights in Egypt. The Council has also
identified two additional processes: first, the
formation of a joint committee with the Ministries
of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Justice and the Attorney
General's Office. This Committee meets periodically
at the level of Assistant Ministers to consider the
issues raised.

The second process, the Council sought to

develop a framework for cooperation with Human
Rights NGOs to enhance cooperation with them.

The Council sought to develop an agenda for action

priorities, initiated multiple hearings, commissioned
specialists to carry out studies on subjects of its interest,
and made specific recommendations to the President of
the Republic and the competent authorities. In addition to
that, it approved an agenda to visit prisons, addressed
thousands of complaints to the relevant ministries and
established an internal mechanism for follow-up.

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 Second part
The most important recommendations of the Council
in its previous periodic reports

The reports prepared by the National Council for

Human Rights over the years of its activity included many
recommendations which the Council considered
important to be submitted to the competent authorities.
These recommendations were about the problems that
have been monitored. Many recommendations were
implemented, which can be reviewed in the following
points:

1- On the promotion of protection of the right to

life and personal safety:

The Council recommended putting an end to the state

of emergency, which has already been achieved, and now
is restricted to the areas of terrorism activities. The
Council also recommended that the President shall issue a
decree to settle the conditions of detainees, especially
those who obtained court rulings to release them, as well
as those with deteriorating health conditions.

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 2- On the development of the Egyptian Penal
System (Prisons):

The Council recommended the establishment of a

Supervisory Judicial system to supervise the execution of
sanctions in prisons, and how far it’s accordance with
laws, regulations and minimum principles of treatment.

The Council called to assure a full commitment to open

prisons without exceptions to visits of prisoners' families,
also to improve the infrastructure of penal institutions in
accordance with international standards.

Moreover, reconsidering the prisoners' feeding and

medical care system, and enabling them to obtain their
rights to education, with the necessary access to textbooks
and stationery. These recommendations have been applied
on the ground in recent years.

3- On regulation of travel ban:

The Council called for having a regulation of travel

ban under a "legislation", not in another ways, such as
ministerial resolutions. Also, a regulation of travel ban
orders must include specific controls, notably: only the
Public Prosecution is concerned to issue travel ban orders,

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and notifying the person who was banned from traveling,
as well as subjecting the matter to judicial control.

4- On the administration of an effective justice:

The Council recommended providing the appropriate

number of judges to cope with the growing number of
cases and their accumulation before the courts, to be
accompanied by technical program to qualify judges.

The Council also stressed the need to reform the

judiciary's auxiliary departments, by qualifying them in a
way that improve their job performance and to tighten
control over their activity.

The Council also called for the need to consider the

establishment of a Judicial Police, which is competent to
execute the judgments, keep order in the courthouses, and
supervise pre-trial detention centers.

5- On addressing the infringement of Egyptians’

rights abroad:

In its reports, the Council called for regulating travel

and immigration processes through a conclusion of
bilateral agreements with labor-receiving countries, which

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include controls and standards that preserve the rights of
Egyptian labor in those countries.

It also called for activating the Egyptian labor offices

in Gulf countries and the other ones to ensure the
performance of their role, and to address the
infringements of the rights of Egyptian labor in it.

The Council also called for the unification of the laws

and resolutions regarding the institutions operating in the
deportation of Egyptian labor abroad.

The Council also recommended establishing a fund

for caring for Egyptians abroad. It also recommended that
the corpses of the deceased persons shall be transported to
the homeland, provided that the proposed fund shall incur
costs in case of burial in the homeland.

It also called for raising awareness among the

nationals working abroad of the need to register in the
relevant consulates in order to provide them with
assistance, guidance and care if necessary. At present, the
government departments have taken these
recommendations into account and avoided past
deficiencies.

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 6- On improving the treatment received by the
nationals in dealing with the State bodies:

The Council called to review the performance

appraisal system in various administrative departments
and the application of all administrative controls, to
ensure that employees do not fail to complete transactions
on time or unduly disable it. Moreover, employee’s
performance and speed in completing citizens’ requests
and solving their problems will be an asset in the Annual
Efficiency Report.

In order to improve the treatment provided to citizens

in public offices, the Council recommended that, the role
of the media shall be strengthened in raising awareness of
the rights of individuals to make complaints, and to
declare the departments concerned with receiving such
complaints.

7- On the empowerment of individuals with their

health, social and economic rights:

In order to empower individuals with their social and

economic rights, the Council made many
recommendations; some of which have been done on the
ground, like:

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- Facilitating pension or assistance of payment
procedures.
- A permanent reconsideration of the minimum pension,
to be equivalent to the minimum wages, and a
reconsideration of the insurance fees.
- Harmonization of legislations governing the conditions
of the poor.
- Encouraging entrepreneurs who are capable of
carrying out charitable, social, health and educational
projects by honoring and exempting them from a
certain amount of taxes.
- Developing a low-income housing strategy based on
encouraging migration to new areas.
- Encouraging the establishment of small productive and
service projects to address the problem of
unemployment and rental of residential units, provided
that the rental value shall not exceed 25% of the per
capita income.
- Development of water and sewage plants in order to
increase their efficiency.
- Developing public hospitals, as well as Therapeutic
Units in villages and cities, in terms of equipment and
treatment staff, under a real control to protect patients
from corruption.
- Expanding health insurance services in order to cover
all nationals.

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 8- On the promotion of women's rights:

The Council recommended the development of a

national plan for positive intervention to promote the
political participation of women. It also recommends that
serious consideration shall be given to the enactment of
legislation on the allocation of seats for women in the
parliamentary and local councils.

The Council also recommended amending certain

legislations that still contain a discrimination against
women in violation of the provisions of the Constitution,
including: The Social Insurance Act, which deprive the
husband of his right to his wife's pension.

The Council called for the preparation of a national

comprehensive scientific study on the phenomenon of
violence against women, as well as claiming to open
doors for women to be appointed in the judiciary in all
ordinary, administrative, and family courts, which has
been partially achieved recently.

9- On supporting the culture of human rights:

The Council recommended to include the subject of

human rights in the curriculum, and to be an explicit
commitment by the Ministry of Education to introduce

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 the human rights culture in accordance with its
universal understanding in the curricula at different
levels of education.

10- On the promotion of child's rights:

The Council recommended the criminalization of

hazardous child labor, such as mining and quarrying, also
The Council called for creating policies and programs to
care for disabled children, as well as legislation
criminalizing female genital mutilation.

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