CAIRO: Sawfat El Sherif, head of the Shura Council (SC), the upper house of Parliament, announced Wednesday Jan. 24 the new formation of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR). El Sherif said during the parliamentary session that only two current members have asked him personally to withdraw their memberships: Bahi El Din Hassan, head of Cairo Center for Human Rights; and Ahmad Youssef, director of Arab Studies Center. He continued that the SC has decided to replace them with two new appointments: Ahmad Mohammed Refaat, President of Beni Sueif University, and Mohammed Hassanein Abdel Aal, professor of constitutional law at Cairo University. El Sherif stressed the importance of the NCHR s next three-year term, especially in light of the constitutional amendments instigated by President Mubarak emphasizing the principles of citizenship. He added that the NCHR has played its role independently, issuing three human rights reports which objectively contributed to highlighting human rights issues. Boutros Ghali will continue in his capacity as president of the council and Ahmad Kamal Abo Al Magd as vice president. NCHR was established in 2004 by the government to monitor human rights violations. Since then, there has been much debate over the council s role, especially at a time when the media has been launching campaigns against torture cases. Bahi El Din Hassan told The Daily Star Egypt that the reason for pulling out of the NCHR was that he realized the ruling regime did not have the political will for reform in general or to improve human rights conditions. He said: "When the state establishes a human rights council, it is supposed to give it executive authority to deal with individual cases, but this didn't happen. The opposite happened, with the government interfering in the council s decisions. He explained that the structure of the NCHR strips it of its independence because most of its members have an organic relationship with the ruling National Democratic Party or empathize with it. Hassan said he knew there was no hope for improving the political and human rights situation under the current regime and so he decided not to waste his time and damage his reputation at the council. Hassan expressed his disappointment that the council didn't play any role in addressing the torture cases highlighted by the press and bloggers inside and outside Egypt recently. On the other hand, Mounir Fakhry Abdul Nour, member of the NCHR and deputy head of Al Wafd Party, defended the council, confirming that it was an important addition to the human rights scene in Egypt. He pointed to the studies published by the NCHR reviewing Egyptian educational curricula concerning human rights and how it helped improve the temporary custody cells in police stations. He said that the NCHR s suggestions for constitutional amendments were all taken into consideration and that the council had contributed to new legislation such as the amendments to the temporary detention laws. The People s Assembly, he said, is expected to agree on another draft law concerning unified places of worship. "Human rights issues are related to the general culture in society, and the duty of the NCHR is to spread that culture. This takes time and I think that the council, with its high profile politicians, human rights activists, legal experts and journalists, is capable of accomplishing this mission. Being involved is the solution to solving our problems and the way forward. But boycotting will get us nowhere, Abdel Nour told The Daily Star Egypt.
