Egypt's parliament approved on Sunday in a majority vote a law establishing the National Council for Persons with Disabilities, as the country continues to execute its plan to empower citizens with disabilities. The 18-article bill is concerned with integrating and empowering people with disabilities through the newly established council. The council will constitute of a head, a deputy, and 17 other members, including eight people with disabilities and public figures with expertise in the field of disabled rights. The council will follow up on the execution of the country's public policy regarding the disabled; contributing to putting a national strategy to emancipate persons with disabilities in the fields of health, labor, education and others. The council is also entitled with giving its opinion in bills and decisions that relate to the council and its operations. Egypt designated 2018 the year of persons with special needs, who are estimated to number 10 million out of Egypt's population of 104 million. According to Article 81 of Egypt's 2014 constitution, the state must provide work opportunities for individuals with disabilities and allocate for them a percentage of job openings, in addition to adequately equipping public utilities and the surrounding areas for use by disabled persons. In December 2018, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi announced that the Tahya Misr Fund will provide an EGP 80 million donation to a new EGP 100 million investment fund for people with special needs.
