(Cairo, May 5, 2011) The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights welcomed the resolution of the Minister of Interior, Major General Mansour al-Issawi, to give the Egyptian nationality to sons and daughters of Egyptian women married to Palestinians.
The resolution crowned the efforts of women’s rights NGOs, which fought for the right to give the nationality to children of Egyptian women due to values of citizenship.
ECWR praises this resolution and sees it as a support for the civil society in general and women NGOs in particular to ensure women’s rights and to enhance their status in the Egyptian society, especially regarding the obscurantist attacks that try to control the Egyptian society and use women as a way of reaching their goal.
The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights is calling on the Armed Council and on all the political and human rights powers to resume working on keeping the modest achievements related to social reform (such as personal status law and child law), which had seen some amendments to ensure a minimum level of human rights, including women’s and children’s rights. Those amendments did not reach the full recognition of women’s and children’s rights on the basis of complete citizenship.
With this resolution the revolution began to involve human rights in its work by giving the children of Egyptian women who are married to foreign men the Egyptian nationality. This is in compliance with the Egyptian nationality law and article (9) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women which stipulates that:
- States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality. They shall ensure in particular that neither marriage to an alien nor change of nationality by the husband during marriage shall automatically change the nationality of the wife, render her stateless or force upon her the nationality of the husband.
- States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men with respect to the nationality of their children.
In addition to article (15) from the Universal Declaration on Human Rights
which stipulates that:
- Everyone has the right to a nationality.
- No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
The resolution is also considered to be a start for acquiring the minimum right concerning nationality since the Egyptian law does not treat women equally with men as husbands of Egyptian women cannot acquire their wives’ nationality; this right is only limited to children of Egyptian women.
Thus, the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights requested from all the national powers to increase their efforts to achieve the complete victory for human rights in general and women’s rights in particular. It also called to implement the Nationality law from the time of birth to affirm the values of citizenship.
