The new draft child law faces stiff opposition from social conservatives, reports Reem Leila In a conservative society like Egypt the new proposals for amending Child Law 12/1996 were guaranteed to stir controversy among public and experts alike. The Shura Council approved the draft law this week. According to the authors of the draft law the amendments are intended to deter parents or any other person from hurting children or placing the child in situations that might negatively affect his of her health, education, well being and future. Under the amendments children will have the right to complain to the concerned authorities about verbal, emotional or physical abuse that might harm their future and well-being. Mushira Khattab, secretary-general of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM), planned the amendments to conform with the UN Children's Charter to which Egypt has been a signatory for more than a decade. Yet observers think the majority of amendments are unlikely to be accepted by the People's Assembly despite President Hosni Mubarak's approval of the changes on 4 March. The sheikh of Al-Azhar has agreed to some of the amendments but has expressed reservations on others on the grounds that they contradict Islamic regulations. As Egypt struggles with rising food prices and inflation, the plight of poverty-stricken child workers and their lack of protection has gained increasing attention. The NCCM is looking into measures that comply with international conventions to protect children from ill-treatment and hazardous employment yet as food prices rise the number of children working is almost certain to increase as poor families struggle to cope. Children can earn up to LE25 a day in loading bricks on donkey carts, and LE20 working in agriculture. In the draft amendments the phrase "being exposed to danger" was eventually changed to "being exposed to perversion". Amna Nuseir, a professor of Islamic Sharia at Al-Azhar University, argues that the rewording broadens the definition. "Imminent danger for a child" was defined as follows: "Every positive or negative action that endangers the child's life, physical safety or emotional safety in a way that cannot be avoided as time goes by." In cases of "imminent danger", the Public Administration for Child Rescue -- which will be affiliated to the Ministry of Justice -- or the Childhood Protection Committee of the NCCM will be mandated to take immediate action to remove children from any place in which they are exposed to danger. "The NCCM has established a general department that will receive reports of violence against children," says Khattab. Khalil Mustafa, an advisor to the NCCM, says that critics of the amendments underestimate the problem, erroneously believing child abuse to be restricted to isolated incidents and thus not in need of legislation. "The opposite is true," he says. "The problem is that no one reports the beatings and the victims, children, are often too frightened to speak. They are minors, vulnerable, and cannot resist their abusers." Under the new amendments it will be up to the authorities to decide whether to allow the child to remain with his or her family once parents agree to abide by measures deemed necessary to eliminate the danger to which the child is exposed. The situation will then be monitored by the relevant childhood protection committee. While the changes are intended to protect children from danger, critics argue that the danger itself remains ill-defined. "Will parents who punish their children for failing to do their homework be deemed to have endangered their children's security? Will withholding pocket money be considered 'a negative action that endangers the child's emotional well-being?'" asks Nadia Halim, anthropology professor at the Cairo-based National Centre for Sociological and Criminological Research. "And will taking children from their families and putting them in a 'more secure place' not expose them to greater danger?" Critics also allege that increasing government intervention in the personal lives of families will exacerbate conflicts between parents and children. The draft makes it an offence for anyone who is aware of an "endangered" child not to inform the NCCM or childhood protection committee in charge. Failure to do so could result in up to three months in prison and/or a fine of between LE500 and LE2,000. How can society be expected to feel secure, asks Nuseir, when people are being encouraged to spy on their neighbours? Won't it open the door wide to grudges and vendetta, especially when the law fails to specify any punishment for those who make false reports? Article 45 of the draft law states that impeding or preventing the child's access to education will be punished by a fine of between LE500 and LE2,000. "But the draft law," insists Nuseir, "does take into account differences in the mental and psychological ability of children. And how will poor parents who cannot afford the cost of educating their children in the first place pay a LE2,000 penalty?" The amended law, says Nuseir, also compromises the efficacy of legal sanctions. Anyone between the ages of 15 and 18 found guilty of a capital offence will have the sentence commuted to imprisonment, while for lesser offences sentencing is severely restricted. "If an adolescent aged 17 years and 11 months committed murder or rape, this 'child' would be punished by imprisonment. If a boy or girl less than 15 years of age committed murder or distributed drugs, he or she would not be punished at all."
