Egypt's planned National council for human rights a positive initiative
Egypt, Politics, 3/18/2003

Recent National Democratic Party (NDP) proposals calling for abolishing hard labour in Egyptian prisons, canceling state security courts and setting up a national council for human rights, are good steps in the right direction towards political reform, experts agree.

These worthy proposals, made by the Policies' Committee led by Gamal Mubarak, also reflect that new blood has been injected into the NDP, the experts told Rose el-Youssef, a weekly magazine.

They promote efforts to realise people's ambitions for a bigger share of human rights, and will have a positive impact on economic and political life.

Gamal's call to set up a national human rights council is a positive initiative, Nadia Makram Ebeid, a former minister of environmental affairs, told the magazine.

Establishing this council will unify all civil associations dealing with the defense and promotion of human rights under one umbrella, a legal expert said.

These societies will speak with one voice in the council, which will be the only authority empowered to deal with international human rights organisations, Shawki el-Sayed, a Shura Council member, said.

Meanwhile, the proposed council should have four main targets, Professor Nur Farahat, a law professor in Zagazig University, recommended.

The council should spread the culture of human rights to all members of society.

It must review all new draft bills as well as existing laws, to ensure that they protect human rights.

In addition, it should work on stopping abuses of human rights that occur.

Finally, the proposed council should be the sole authority dealing with international human rights agencies, added Professor Farahat.

The council is to be set up in compliance with a 1991 UN General Assembly resolution, which called on governments around the world, to establish national institutions to defend human rights.

The NDP proposal is a positive move to deal with human rights-related issues and design well-studied practical steps to protect these rights in Egypt. All governmental and non-governmental agencies (NGOs) should take part in designing these programmes and their implementation should be monitored by the council, he added.

However, a prominent EOHR member highlighted the necessity of increasing the role of all human rights NGOs, before setting up the planned council. Abdullah Khalil, a member of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR), said that the government should allow NGOs to monitor the performance of law enforcement agencies like prisons and police stations.

"The aim of this step is to ensure that these agencies respect and apply human rights, this does not mean that the NGOs will interfere in their job," he said.

EOHR secretary-general, Hafez Abu Saeda, told Rose el-Youssef that the proposed council was an important stage on the road to political and democratic reform in Egypt.

The council should be entrusted with enforcing the human rights agreements the government has signed, but which have not been applied by Egyptian law enforcement agencies up till now, such as anti-torture treaties and agreements for protecting women and children's rights.

In a related development, the experts welcomed the NDP proposal calling for abolishing all security courts, indicating that it is a serious move towards the reform of emergency laws.

This move complements the NDP plans to protect and promote human rights, Mohammed Moussa, chairman of the People's Assembly Legislative Committee, told the magazine.

It is a positive move towards strengthening human rights, public freedoms, and the Constitution, which specifies that all defendants should be tried by civilian courts, and indicates that Egypt enjoys great political stability, he added.

Previous Stories:
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  Egyptian economic delegation heads for the USA   (3/17/2003)
  Mubarak, King Hamad exchange views on special Arab committee   (3/15/2003)
  Egypt sets up national human rights council   (5/3/2000)
  Establishing a national council for human rights in Egypt   (4/24/2000)
  Egyptian organization for the human rights demands investigators to declare details of Al Kosheh events   (1/17/2000)
  Human rights training session in Cairo   (10/6/1999)
  Human rights center hails Egyptian security policies   (9/21/1999)
  Egypt: Eight centers for human rights accommodate their situations with the new law   (8/24/1999)
  Egyptian human rights group fears new law as aimed against it   (5/22/1999)
  Egyptian human rights organization concern over official statements   (1/6/1999)

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