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15 January 2001
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CRC
26th session
15 January 2001
Morning
Government Delegation Queried on Egypt's Reservation on Child Adoption
The Committee on the Rights of the Child began consideration this morning of a second periodic report of Egypt, questioning an eight-member Government delegation, among other things, on early marriage, the age of criminal responsibility of 7, and Egypt’s reservations on child adoption.
Introducing the report, Moushira Khattab, Ambassador and Secretary-General of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood of Egypt, said her country put the rights of the child at the top of its policy agenda and considered the well-being of children to be a sensitive indicator of overall sustainable social development. The protection and development of children had long been accorded top priority, even before the initiation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Egypt had a well-established plan to bring together all governmental and non-governmental parties around shared objectives and commitments towards guaranteeing the rights of the child, Mrs. Khattab went on to state. A number of achievements had been realized in the fields of education, health, legislation and culture. Egypt endeavoured to alleviate the suffering of children and improve their quality of life.
Discussion during the morning meeting centred on implementation measures, definition of the child, general principles, and civil rights and freedoms.
In addition to Mrs. Khattab, the Government delegation consisted of El-Bishri Mohamed, Counsellor, Advisor to the Minster of Justice; Mamdouh Gabr, and Mohamed El-Guindi, Members of the Technical Advisory Committee of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood; Hoda Badran, President of the Alliance of Arab Women Council, Member of the Committee of Child Culture; Fatma Rakka, Under-Secretary of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood; Ibrahim Salama, Counsellor, Deputy Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations Office at Geneva; and Mohamed Loutfy, Third Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Egypt.
As one of the 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Egypt must submit periodic reports to the Committee on the status of the country's children and on efforts to implement the Convention.
The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. to conclude its public review of the report of Egypt.
Report of Egypt
The second periodic report of Egypt (document CRC/C/65/Add.9) reviews the measures undertaken by the State to promote the rights of the child in the country. It says that since Egypt acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it has been making efforts to give effect to its provisions. The legislative working group established by the National Council for Children and Motherhood has reviewed and consolidated all the provisions relating to the rights of the child in a code promulgated in 1996. The code covers access to health care, social welfare, culture, education, provision for foster mothers, access to care for the handicapped, child labour, juvenile justice and the creation of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood.
Egypt has endeavoured to incorporate in school curricula at different levels an introduction to international human rights instruments and an explanation of their aims and purposes as the outcome of thousands of years of human experience, the report notes. In addition, those instruments are now among the main subjects taught in all faculties of law, police colleges and national training centres for persons involved in the administration of justice.
The National Council for Childhood and Motherhood has been the mechanism for the supervision and coordination of activities relating to the implementation of the Convention in Egypt, the report says. It proposes a general policy on childhood and motherhood and draws a comprehensive draft national plan for childhood and motherhood covering every field.
Further, the report says that the Government of Egypt has devoted particular attention to education and has always considered it a matter of national security; a substantial volume of credit has been devoted to education; the volume of credits allocated for the setting up and improvements of health care services for children and mothers has also increased; and the Government is fully determined to give effect to the provisions of the Convention and satisfy all children's cultural needs.
Introduction
MOUSHIRA KHATTAB, Ambassador and Secretary-General of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood of Egypt, said her country put the rights of the child at the top of its policy agenda and considered the well- being of children to be a sensitive indicator of overall sustainable social development. The protection and development of children has long been accorded top priority, even before the initiation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Egypt had a well-established plan to bring together all governmental and non-governmental parties around shared objectives and commitments towards guaranteeing the rights of the child, Mrs. Khattab went on to state. A number of achievements had been realized in the field of education, health, legislation and culture. Egypt had endeavoured to alleviate the suffering of children and improve their quality of life. In its plan of action, the newly appointed Advisory Technical Committee in its first meeting in February 2000 had identified a set of priorities to govern national work for children in the new decade. Special attention was given to children in conflict with the law; working children or rather child labour; children with special needs; as well as the health of both mother and child.
Mrs. Khattab further said that the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood was strengthening collaboration with civil society organizations involved in the promotion of the rights of the child. They participated in all the activities of the Council, including the preparation of its national review.
Speaking on Egypt's reservation on articles 20 and 21 of the Convention, Mrs. Khattab said that the Government had received opinions from religious experts who said that Egypt’s reservation evolved from the fact that Islamic Shari'a, which categorically prohibited adoption, constituted a major source for the Egyptian legislation. In light of that, and in addition to the fact that Shari'a stipulated a number of regulations and guaranteed for child adoption “kafala” - the alternative of adoption in Islamic Shari'a - Egypt used its right, as stipulated by public international law and article 51 of the Convention, to express its reservations regarding the two articles. However, Egypt's reservation regarding the two articles did not contradict in any way the principles of the Convention. Further, Egyptian legislation guaranteed a high standard of rights to protect the child.
In 1996, Egypt's National Assembly had passed a law on the rights of the child and the code unified all legal provisions for the protection and development of children in Egypt, Mrs. Khattab continued to state. It took an integrated approach towards childhood issues and the Government would continue to play that role. In addition, Egypt was actively preparing for the regional initiatives paving the way for the special session of the General Assembly on children. A high-level conference would take place in Cairo next April. Egypt would also host in May the meeting of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) committee on African children and armed conflict.
Child labour was closely intertwined with poverty and illiteracy, Mrs. Khattab said. Success of the ongoing national efforts to deal with those two problems would yield to rising recognition of the need to abolish child labour. The overall and long-term objective was eliminating child labour. Recently, an agreement was signed with the International Labour Office to wage a national campaign aimed at raising awareness of the negative impact of child labour. Egypt had already ratified the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 138 on minimum age, and would soon ratify ILO Convention No. 182 on the worst forms of child labour.
In conclusion, Mrs. Khattab said her country was firmly committed to the full implementation of the Convention. The objectives of the "second decade of the Egyptian child" complied with the provisions of the Convention. The realization of such objectives would usher a new era of heightened national action and international collaboration for the survival, protection and development of children.
Discussion
Committee members said a lot had been achieved in the field of child rights. There had been legislative changes adopted by the Government to comply with the provisions of the Convention. However, there were several reservations entered by Egypt on some of the provisions.
With regard to nationality, Egyptian women were not privileged, the Expert said. Children born to foreign men and Egyptian women did not receive the Egyptian nationality. Women and girls were in general discriminated against in the Egyptian society. In addition, activities of the various ministries and government agencies concerning children's rights were not coordinated.
Another Expert said that the reservation concerning adoption was unnecessary because of the fact that the Islamic Shari'a did not contradict the clause expressed in the Convention. The withdrawal of the reservations would be considered as progress on the part of Egypt. Another Expert asked what had been done at the policy level as a follow up to the analysis made on child complaints against violations of their rights.
What kind of complaints were received from children, another Expert asked. What remedies were sought for such complaints? Did prosecutors get involved in cases of grave complaints? The report had indicated that seven ministries coordinated the work on children; was it not better to give the task to an independent body? What was the situation of non-governmental organizations? What was the effect of inflation on the general economy?
Responding to questions raised by Committee members, the Egyptian delegation said that the National Council on Women was composed of 30 highly regarded personalities and it was chaired by the First Lady. It was aimed at empowering women in the Egyptian society.
Egypt had a problem of early marriage and the Government was endeavouring to resolve it through increasing awareness and by raising the age of marriage for girls, the delegation said.
On the issue of establishing an Ombudsman’s office on the rights of children, the authorities were studying the measures to be adopted to realize the project which was already in place, the delegation said.
Despite the process of globalization and the economy being affected by a 3 per cent inflation, Egypt was making efforts to improve the conditions of its children and was spending much on social development, the delegation said.
Egypt was considering its reservations on articles 20 and 21 of the Convention and a consultation was going on with the view to withdrawing them, the delegation said.
A children's parliament had been active in promoting the rights of the child and groups of children were participating in the work of the Government concerning them, the delegation said. In addition, a campaign was being launched to raise awareness designed to change attitudes regarding children. Special radio programmes and television channels were being run for child audiences.
Egypt had achieved its goals in the health and immunization campaign for children, the delegation said. A compulsory immunization programme for children under one year of age with a view to eradicate childhood polio and neonatal tetanus continued. There were no acute cases of mal-nutrition reported in the country; vaccination was compulsory for all children; and obligatory health insurance for children was introduced recently.
The infant mortality rate for children, both boys and girls, under two years of age was 28.7 per cent in 1994 and efforts were being made to reduce it further, the delegation said.
A new decree had prohibited the practice of female circumcision, the delegation said; although its practice was an African tradition which had existed for thousands years, Egypt was trying to ban its use by governmental institutions and individuals.
The best interest of the child was given priority in all decisions taken by any authorities, the delegation said. The laws concerning children had also emphasized the best interest of the child. In addition, the age of 7 years for criminal responsibility was appropriate as it was the case in 70 per cent of the world's national legislation. At the age of 7 years, a child was able to distinguish the good from the bad. However, there was no criminal punishment until the age of 15 years. After the age of 14, a child could give testimony before a court under oath. The age of majority was fixed at 21 years.
Vulnerable children could be rescued by the Government and placed in special institutions or with families, the delegation said. That was part of the Government's measures to save children from any danger they faced in their own family or if they were found in circumstances of insecurity.
A child should not work in hazardous conditions and should continue his or her compulsory education, the delegation said. Children were not allowed to work during the night and should be given appropriate remuneration for the work they provided.
The root causes of street children and child labour were considered by the officials to be similar, the delegation said. Children with problems in their families either left their environment to live in the streets or found a job to support themselves. The Government was making efforts to eradicate the two phenomena by providing assistance to families to support their children.
Any non-governmental organizations which operated in accordance with the Egyptian law were allowed to work according to their field of activities, the delegation said. However, they had to get authorization to obtain financial assistance from abroad.
* *** *
26th session
15 January 2001
Morning
Government Delegation Queried on Egypt's Reservation on Child Adoption
The Committee on the Rights of the Child began consideration this morning of a second periodic report of Egypt, questioning an eight-member Government delegation, among other things, on early marriage, the age of criminal responsibility of 7, and Egypt’s reservations on child adoption.
Introducing the report, Moushira Khattab, Ambassador and Secretary-General of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood of Egypt, said her country put the rights of the child at the top of its policy agenda and considered the well-being of children to be a sensitive indicator of overall sustainable social development. The protection and development of children had long been accorded top priority, even before the initiation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Egypt had a well-established plan to bring together all governmental and non-governmental parties around shared objectives and commitments towards guaranteeing the rights of the child, Mrs. Khattab went on to state. A number of achievements had been realized in the fields of education, health, legislation and culture. Egypt endeavoured to alleviate the suffering of children and improve their quality of life.
Discussion during the morning meeting centred on implementation measures, definition of the child, general principles, and civil rights and freedoms.
In addition to Mrs. Khattab, the Government delegation consisted of El-Bishri Mohamed, Counsellor, Advisor to the Minster of Justice; Mamdouh Gabr, and Mohamed El-Guindi, Members of the Technical Advisory Committee of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood; Hoda Badran, President of the Alliance of Arab Women Council, Member of the Committee of Child Culture; Fatma Rakka, Under-Secretary of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood; Ibrahim Salama, Counsellor, Deputy Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations Office at Geneva; and Mohamed Loutfy, Third Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Egypt.
As one of the 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Egypt must submit periodic reports to the Committee on the status of the country's children and on efforts to implement the Convention.
The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. to conclude its public review of the report of Egypt.
Report of Egypt
The second periodic report of Egypt (document CRC/C/65/Add.9) reviews the measures undertaken by the State to promote the rights of the child in the country. It says that since Egypt acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it has been making efforts to give effect to its provisions. The legislative working group established by the National Council for Children and Motherhood has reviewed and consolidated all the provisions relating to the rights of the child in a code promulgated in 1996. The code covers access to health care, social welfare, culture, education, provision for foster mothers, access to care for the handicapped, child labour, juvenile justice and the creation of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood.
Egypt has endeavoured to incorporate in school curricula at different levels an introduction to international human rights instruments and an explanation of their aims and purposes as the outcome of thousands of years of human experience, the report notes. In addition, those instruments are now among the main subjects taught in all faculties of law, police colleges and national training centres for persons involved in the administration of justice.
The National Council for Childhood and Motherhood has been the mechanism for the supervision and coordination of activities relating to the implementation of the Convention in Egypt, the report says. It proposes a general policy on childhood and motherhood and draws a comprehensive draft national plan for childhood and motherhood covering every field.
Further, the report says that the Government of Egypt has devoted particular attention to education and has always considered it a matter of national security; a substantial volume of credit has been devoted to education; the volume of credits allocated for the setting up and improvements of health care services for children and mothers has also increased; and the Government is fully determined to give effect to the provisions of the Convention and satisfy all children's cultural needs.
Introduction
MOUSHIRA KHATTAB, Ambassador and Secretary-General of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood of Egypt, said her country put the rights of the child at the top of its policy agenda and considered the well- being of children to be a sensitive indicator of overall sustainable social development. The protection and development of children has long been accorded top priority, even before the initiation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Egypt had a well-established plan to bring together all governmental and non-governmental parties around shared objectives and commitments towards guaranteeing the rights of the child, Mrs. Khattab went on to state. A number of achievements had been realized in the field of education, health, legislation and culture. Egypt had endeavoured to alleviate the suffering of children and improve their quality of life. In its plan of action, the newly appointed Advisory Technical Committee in its first meeting in February 2000 had identified a set of priorities to govern national work for children in the new decade. Special attention was given to children in conflict with the law; working children or rather child labour; children with special needs; as well as the health of both mother and child.
Mrs. Khattab further said that the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood was strengthening collaboration with civil society organizations involved in the promotion of the rights of the child. They participated in all the activities of the Council, including the preparation of its national review.
Speaking on Egypt's reservation on articles 20 and 21 of the Convention, Mrs. Khattab said that the Government had received opinions from religious experts who said that Egypt’s reservation evolved from the fact that Islamic Shari'a, which categorically prohibited adoption, constituted a major source for the Egyptian legislation. In light of that, and in addition to the fact that Shari'a stipulated a number of regulations and guaranteed for child adoption “kafala” - the alternative of adoption in Islamic Shari'a - Egypt used its right, as stipulated by public international law and article 51 of the Convention, to express its reservations regarding the two articles. However, Egypt's reservation regarding the two articles did not contradict in any way the principles of the Convention. Further, Egyptian legislation guaranteed a high standard of rights to protect the child.
In 1996, Egypt's National Assembly had passed a law on the rights of the child and the code unified all legal provisions for the protection and development of children in Egypt, Mrs. Khattab continued to state. It took an integrated approach towards childhood issues and the Government would continue to play that role. In addition, Egypt was actively preparing for the regional initiatives paving the way for the special session of the General Assembly on children. A high-level conference would take place in Cairo next April. Egypt would also host in May the meeting of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) committee on African children and armed conflict.
Child labour was closely intertwined with poverty and illiteracy, Mrs. Khattab said. Success of the ongoing national efforts to deal with those two problems would yield to rising recognition of the need to abolish child labour. The overall and long-term objective was eliminating child labour. Recently, an agreement was signed with the International Labour Office to wage a national campaign aimed at raising awareness of the negative impact of child labour. Egypt had already ratified the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 138 on minimum age, and would soon ratify ILO Convention No. 182 on the worst forms of child labour.
In conclusion, Mrs. Khattab said her country was firmly committed to the full implementation of the Convention. The objectives of the "second decade of the Egyptian child" complied with the provisions of the Convention. The realization of such objectives would usher a new era of heightened national action and international collaboration for the survival, protection and development of children.
Discussion
Committee members said a lot had been achieved in the field of child rights. There had been legislative changes adopted by the Government to comply with the provisions of the Convention. However, there were several reservations entered by Egypt on some of the provisions.
With regard to nationality, Egyptian women were not privileged, the Expert said. Children born to foreign men and Egyptian women did not receive the Egyptian nationality. Women and girls were in general discriminated against in the Egyptian society. In addition, activities of the various ministries and government agencies concerning children's rights were not coordinated.
Another Expert said that the reservation concerning adoption was unnecessary because of the fact that the Islamic Shari'a did not contradict the clause expressed in the Convention. The withdrawal of the reservations would be considered as progress on the part of Egypt. Another Expert asked what had been done at the policy level as a follow up to the analysis made on child complaints against violations of their rights.
What kind of complaints were received from children, another Expert asked. What remedies were sought for such complaints? Did prosecutors get involved in cases of grave complaints? The report had indicated that seven ministries coordinated the work on children; was it not better to give the task to an independent body? What was the situation of non-governmental organizations? What was the effect of inflation on the general economy?
Responding to questions raised by Committee members, the Egyptian delegation said that the National Council on Women was composed of 30 highly regarded personalities and it was chaired by the First Lady. It was aimed at empowering women in the Egyptian society.
Egypt had a problem of early marriage and the Government was endeavouring to resolve it through increasing awareness and by raising the age of marriage for girls, the delegation said.
On the issue of establishing an Ombudsman’s office on the rights of children, the authorities were studying the measures to be adopted to realize the project which was already in place, the delegation said.
Despite the process of globalization and the economy being affected by a 3 per cent inflation, Egypt was making efforts to improve the conditions of its children and was spending much on social development, the delegation said.
Egypt was considering its reservations on articles 20 and 21 of the Convention and a consultation was going on with the view to withdrawing them, the delegation said.
A children's parliament had been active in promoting the rights of the child and groups of children were participating in the work of the Government concerning them, the delegation said. In addition, a campaign was being launched to raise awareness designed to change attitudes regarding children. Special radio programmes and television channels were being run for child audiences.
Egypt had achieved its goals in the health and immunization campaign for children, the delegation said. A compulsory immunization programme for children under one year of age with a view to eradicate childhood polio and neonatal tetanus continued. There were no acute cases of mal-nutrition reported in the country; vaccination was compulsory for all children; and obligatory health insurance for children was introduced recently.
The infant mortality rate for children, both boys and girls, under two years of age was 28.7 per cent in 1994 and efforts were being made to reduce it further, the delegation said.
A new decree had prohibited the practice of female circumcision, the delegation said; although its practice was an African tradition which had existed for thousands years, Egypt was trying to ban its use by governmental institutions and individuals.
The best interest of the child was given priority in all decisions taken by any authorities, the delegation said. The laws concerning children had also emphasized the best interest of the child. In addition, the age of 7 years for criminal responsibility was appropriate as it was the case in 70 per cent of the world's national legislation. At the age of 7 years, a child was able to distinguish the good from the bad. However, there was no criminal punishment until the age of 15 years. After the age of 14, a child could give testimony before a court under oath. The age of majority was fixed at 21 years.
Vulnerable children could be rescued by the Government and placed in special institutions or with families, the delegation said. That was part of the Government's measures to save children from any danger they faced in their own family or if they were found in circumstances of insecurity.
A child should not work in hazardous conditions and should continue his or her compulsory education, the delegation said. Children were not allowed to work during the night and should be given appropriate remuneration for the work they provided.
The root causes of street children and child labour were considered by the officials to be similar, the delegation said. Children with problems in their families either left their environment to live in the streets or found a job to support themselves. The Government was making efforts to eradicate the two phenomena by providing assistance to families to support their children.
Any non-governmental organizations which operated in accordance with the Egyptian law were allowed to work according to their field of activities, the delegation said. However, they had to get authorization to obtain financial assistance from abroad.
* *** *