Reem Leila outlines proposals designed to enhance the legal rights of minors Amendments to Egypt's Child Law 12/1996, seeking to extend the legal protection offered to children, were presented to the legislative committee of the People's Assembly last week for discussion. The proposals are part of a package drawn up by the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM), chaired by Mrs Suzanne Mubarak. "The real significance of the current amendments is that they adopt a rights-based approach," says NCCM Secretary-General Mushira Khattab. "Some Egyptian children are victims, deprived of their rights -- to education, health and social care, and especially the right to family care. The modifications are based on changing the way in which society views such children." Some estimates say as many as two million children are living on Egypt's streets. A quarter of street children are believed to be less than 12 years old, two-thirds between the age of 13 and 16 and just under 10 per cent over 17. They find themselves on the street for a variety of reasons, including family breakdowns due to divorce, remarriage and death. Others are runaways, escaping abuse or neglect. Enforcing the new amendments, says Khattab, is crucial to changing prevailing stereotypes about street children. Changes to Article 7 of the child law propose stiffening penalties imposed on those who abandon children, or who exploit them. Sexual exploitation, the sale of children or their organs, involvement in facilitating child prostitution or child pornography will, under the amendments, be punishable by a jail term not less than five years and fines ranging from LE50,000 to LE200,000. Should one or both parents have previous convictions the penalties will be stronger. Changes to Article 7 also seek to raise the minimum age for marriage for girls to 18 instead of the current 16, and to make medical check ups compulsory before a marriage contract can be registered. Failure to comply with these provisions will carry a prison sentence of not more than three months and a fine ranging between LE500 and LE1,000. Lawyer Nazek El-Sherbini, a member of the Legislative Committee of the National Council for Women (NCW), criticises the proposed penalties as too weak, pointing out that many parents and legal registrars appear willing to falsify the age of the bride. Changes to Article 20 of the law seek to protect the rights of children born out of wedlock by ensuring that illegitimate children be issued birth certificates stating their identity. While exact figures are unavailable, the number of illegitimate children in Egypt probably runs into hundreds of thousands. There are 14,000 paternity cases currently being heard in Egyptian courts. Feminist and lawyer Mona Zulfiqar estimates 5,000 of these cases are the result of illegitimate relations while the rest concern children conceived during urfi (unregistered) marriages. Hanaa El-Gohari, professor of sociology at Cairo University, believes the new amendment will save many mothers and children from social stigma. Infants are blameless yet, she says, they have to bear the consequences of their parents' behaviour. Under the current law it is the father, or some other paternal relative, who is entrusted with keeping the birth certificates of children. "Illegitimate children grow up without a name and without any care from society unless the father recognises the child and registers him or her. Women must be given the right of either calling the child after her own name or to act to prove the paternity of the child," argues El-Gohari. It is a position that has aroused the anger of some proponents of Islamic Sharia, who insist the proposed changes to the article violate Islamic regulations. The reaction of Amna Nosseir, professor of Islamic Sharia at Al-Azhar University, is typical: not recognising illegitimate children is part of the punishment meted out to adulterers, he says. "By violating God's orders this [change] will facilitate an increase in adultery," he says. Other amendments to the child law include the creation of a general committee in each governorate charged with protecting and monitoring children at risk. Article 115 will be changed to prohibit death sentences and life imprisonment being imposed on defendants less than 18 while Article 116 will stipulate that minors be segregated from adults in detention centres. Amendments to Article 155 seek to prevent the execution of a death sentence passed against a mother until any child reaches the age of two. Egypt, points out Khattab, has significant international and national commitments to honour in addressing the needs of its growing population of children, and the proposed changes to the law are, she says, a step in the right direction.
