Seminar on “legislative and judicial strategy to activate women\'s rights in accordance with international covenants"

Cairo, 16^th December 2012

Press Release

Seminar on “legislative and judicial strategy to activate women\'s rights in accordance with international covenants"

 

The Arab Center for the Independence of Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) organizes a seminar on "legislative and judicial strategy to activate women\'s rights in accordance with international covenants" on Monday, 17^th December 2012 in Pyramisa Hotel- Dokki, Cairo.

The workshop comes in the context of participation in community dialogue at this time, on the draft of the Egyptian constitution, issued by the Constituent Assembly on Friday, 30^th November of 2012, and managing a discussion on Articles relevant to women\'s rights from the reality of ratification and accession of Egypt on relevant international conventions, particularly the Convention on Elimination of All forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the political rights of women. The workshop will also discuss the extent to which the draft of the constitution will protect the rights of women and promote their right to participate in the public life.

It is scheduled that the following attendees will participate in the discussion according to the order each of the following sessions: Ms. Hala Abdel-Qader, a lawyer and director of the Egyptian Organization for Family Development, Lamia Lotfy researcher and human rights activist Mr. Mahmoud Mortada, director of the Center for Alternative Development Studies, Mr. Malik Adly, lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Saber Ammar, lawyer at cassation court and Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab Lawyers Union and Mr. Mr. Essam  Al-Islamboly, lawyer at cassation court and the Supreme Constitutional Court.

The seminar aims to reveal the trends of the draft of the constitution on the availability of constitutional protection for women\'s rights, especially their right to participate in public life without the discrimination based on gender, the commitment of the draft referred to Egypt\'s international commitments and obligations and put visions of the proposals and perceptions that guarantee constitutional protection for women\'s rights and Egypt\'s respect to its international obligations.

The seminar will discuss many topics and issues such as lacks of rights of Egyptian women from the reality of the draft of the constitution, national legislation and practice, evaluate the role of national judiciary towards protecting the rights of women, proposals and perceptions of legislative reform and support the role of the judiciary in protecting women\'s rights.

The seminar comes within the framework of the ACIJLP’s activities on the project “Support Women Involvement in Public Life” which will continue over two years, with financial support from the European Union, and includes a number of conferences, workshops, seminars, relevant research papers and training courses.