MEMBERS of the re-formed National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) will hold their maiden meeting on February 25 to prepare a plan for monitoring the forthcoming parliamentary and presidential elections. The council's chairman Boutros Boutros Ghali, an ex-UN chief, has said that he will return from abroad this week to meet with the newly appointed nine members, work on forming the council's nine ad-hoc committees, and review their terms of reference. Ghali added that the new appointments were a prelude to enhance the performance of the council, created in 2004, during its third three-year term. However, he said that the NCHR Secretary-General Mokhlis Qotb would maintain his original post because there were many legal, technical and administrative problems to find a suitable candidate to replace him before the limited reshuffle that occurred this week. The Government has nominated topshot judicial and legal persons to replace Qotb, who has asked to be relieved of his council duties upon his own wish. "But, the council's old and new members wanted Qotb to continue with his official duties thanks to his outstanding status and wide expertise, which he has gained during the past two sessions," Ghali said. However, he said that he was concerned with relieving his deputy Kamal Abul Magd, a law professor, from all of his official duties before the start of the council's new term. "Abul Magd's absence will affect the council's work and performance in dealing with the pressing local and regional issues, in addition to its overall day-to-day routine work," Ghali said in press remarks. Meanwhile, Safwat el-Sherif, the chairman of the Shura Council (the Upper House of the Egyptian Parliament) that endorsed the new NCHR formation, said that the council's next three-year term would be full of challenges especially now that the country is gearing up for parliamentary elections next October and the 2011 presidential polls, which are in accordance with the constitutional amendments that had been introduced by President Hosni Mubarak in 2005. El-Sherif added that the newly formed Human Rights Council, which played its role independently during the past two terms, would have to identify its new priorities following the new appointments, which replaced Abul Magd with Moqbil Chaker. "The council has to set its new priorities, amend the terms of reference for each one of its ad-hoc committees, up-grade its by-laws, find innovative means to finance its future activities, and amend its foundation statute to add new dimensions and powers to deal with governmental agencies and ministries," el-Sherif said.
