The People's Assembly faces a packed schedule of new political, economic and social laws before it adjourns in June, reports Gamal Essam El-Din In a statement to the Shura Council on Monday Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Moufid Shehab revealed a package of political, economic and social reform bills to be discussed in the remaining four months of the People's Assembly's current session. Topping the list, said Shehab, is a draft bill amending the law governing professional syndicates. Efforts have been under way since 2006 to overhaul the 1993 regulations governing syndicate elections in an attempt to guarantee that boards are elected in a democratic way and avoid the possibility of being placed under sequestration or being frozen. "The cabinet's political group is now preparing the final draft of amendments which will then be submitted to the People's Assembly for discussion," said Shehab. The current law, promulgated in 1993, has been heavily criticised by political activists who claim it is anti-democratic and acts as a check on civil society organisations. "The law," says Hamdi El-Sayed, chairman of the Doctors' Syndicate, "was passed to block members of the Muslim Brotherhood from standing in syndicate elections. The result, El-Sayed told Al-Ahram Weekly, was that many syndicates were placed under judicial sequestration or else plunged into a complex web of legal battles. Many activists fear the new draft law will be yet another attempt by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) to dominate professional syndicates. The board of the Syndicate of Lawyers has denounced the draft law, as unveiled by Shehab, as violating legal and constitutional principles and contravening international conventions and agreements. "It is worse than the 1993 law... it places absolute power in the hands of government-affiliated judges," said a statement issued by the Lawyers' Syndicate. Shehab also disclosed that the government and NDP are coordinating over the drafting of legislation that seeks to boost the number of women in parliament. "Both are studying similar laws in other countries in order to identify the best formula for empowering women in parliamentary and political life," said Shehab. Opposition parties say that while they do not object to legislative amendments designed to ensure there are more women MPs they do not believe it should be among the assembly's top priorities. "Why the NDP should promote this issue over other, more pressing concerns, such as strengthening the role of opposition parties in political life is unclear," said Gamal Zahran, an independent MP and professor of economics and political science at the Suez Canal University. Shehab also revealed that the government has finalised a first draft of regulations governing personal status litigation. The bill will amend to legislation governing family matters such as engagement, marriage, and the relationship between spouses and their children. "The changes aim to keep abreast of developments in Egyptian society and offer support and stability to Egyptian families," said Shehab. A new mental health bill is also being discussed, amending laws dating back to 1944 and seeking to provide psychological patients with access to better medical treatment. Shehab told the Shura Council that the government had also secured the approval of Al-Azhar for a bill regulating organ transplants. "It is deplorable that organ transplant laws have been passed in 18 Muslim countries and Egypt is not one of them," Shehab said. "Egypt is now one of only a handful of countries in which human organs are bought and sold on the market." The new bill will ban the commercial trade in human organs. "It will regulate the transplant of human organs between Egyptians and limit such operations to the medical centres authorised by the Ministry of Health." Shehab added that the draft law is currently being reviewed by the cabinet's political group in the hope it can be presented during the current parliamentary session. The legislative agenda also includes new legislation governing nuclear activities, and protecting antiquities as well as establishing an umbrella organisation to supervise food safety agencies. Other bills, said Shehab, will extend health insurance to cover all Egyptians, protect handicapped citizens, allocate more funds to fight illiteracy among the old and tackle illegal immigration by sea. Last but not least, Shehab revealed a new bill that seeks to reform athletic and sporting institutions. "The bill calls for joint- venture companies to be set up to work towards upgrading the performance of sporting clubs and to safeguard sporting activities from government interference as stipulated by the International Olympic Committee."
