(Cairo, April 21, 2011) Reform and human rights movements concern with family issue as one of the most guarantees of progress in the society. They focus on the importance of law in achieving social development by ensuring equality among citizens and limiting violence. Thus, they put reviewing and amending the legislations at the top of priorities in order to limit violence; which contributed in Egypt’s progress in the arena of legal reform specially the reform related to women’s rights.
The continues development efforts of the development civil society organizations and human rights ones resulted in changes of some legislations such as amending family law and enacting law for family court and another for the child. However, these amendments were not enough to achieve justice and equality on the basis of citizenship. Egypt is still in need for more efforts to ensure achieving those rights and other rights in the text of law and in implementing this law.
Law has special significance; it defines the rights, how to be applied and their impacts on the legal situations of persons, in addition to the authorities that are given to some of them on the account of others. The fair distribution of these rights contributes limiting violence especially against women and children.
Issuing legislations have discrimination against women or affect child’s rights, is one of the most significant types of the institutional violence. This type of violence contradicts with principles of the constitution and legislation. In addition, it contradicts with the international treaties on which Egypt signed, and which the military council affirmed that they should be respected, as they are of the same level of importance of the Egyptian law.
Due to the changes happened recently and resulted in the transitional period in which Egypt witnesses until the parliamentary and presidential elections, this time necessarily need decree-laws related to regulation of the political life.
However, it is noted that there is trend, under the pressure of the retrospective powers, and of those who benefit from making political and social confusion, towards issuing decree-laws related to family within an inflammatory claim to the officials and to the society that current laws are those of “Suzanne Mubarak”. This trend contradicts with the long struggle of all Egyptians to achieve some amendments related to the social reform, and is considered an onslaught on these reforms.
The civil society and the democratic and human rights powers thought that the unfair laws for women and child should be amended but in the framework of a broad social dialogue.
Therefore, a number of civil society institutions and the activists concerned with family issues gathered and expressed their worry from the following:
- Issuing decree-laws in the transitional period without justification or dire need.
- Issuing decree-laws on retrospective backgrounds or basis that may lead to loss of the current achievements in laws.
- Issuing decree-laws without managing a societal dialogue with the persons concerned and civil society institutions.
- Ignoring the efforts which were made by the institutions concerned with role of the family, and which put minimum principles should be regulated by any legislation related to family and personal status.
Based on the aforementioned, the attendants formed a legal committee to defend
family rights; the committee has the following tasks:
- Fighting any attempts of affecting the achievements occurred in the current law.
- Starting a societal dialogue with the governmental and non-governmental bodies concerned, on the principles that should be regulated by family law.
The committee thought that it is important to address the military council to
take into account the following:
- It should not issue any decree-laws, except in the dire cases.
- It should begin a societal dialogue with the civil society institutions concerned with family affairs.
- In case of issuing decree-laws, they should be in accordance with the international commitments.
- It should not take any procedures that could affect any advantages or achievements regulated by the current law for the interest of family.
