Witness Egyptian National Dialogue A new phase of its phases will begin tomorrow, Sunday, May 14, 2023, when the sessions will begin to discuss the three axes of the dialogue, which are:
- political axis.
- community hub.
- economic hub.
Political discussions
The General Coordinator of the National Dialogue, Diaa Rashwan, and Counselor Mahmoud Fawzi, Head of the Technical Secretariat of the National Dialogue, held this morning a meeting with the general and assistant rapporteurs of the three axes of the national dialogue to finalize the final vision of the structure and form of the conduct of the discussion sessions.
The meeting also discussed emphasizing the participation of all groups and parties, and equal representation at the national dialogue table.
The meeting was attended by Dr. Ali El-Din Hilal, General Rapporteur of the Political Axis, Dr. Ahmed Jalal, General Rapporteur of the Economic Axis, Dr. Abdel Fattah Al-Jabali, Assistant Rapporteur of the Axis, Eng. Khaled Abdel Aziz, General Rapporteur of the Societal Axis, and Dr. Hania Al-Shalqami, Rapporteur of the Axis Assistant, with the participation of a number of members of the Technical Secretariat. for national dialogue.
And he stated Dia RashwanHe stated that, in continuation of affirming the public opinion’s right to know and immediately and transparently follow up on the course of the national dialogue, representatives of the Egyptian and foreign press and media outlets accredited in Egypt will attend to follow up on the sessions of the National Dialogue Committees, starting from Sunday, 14/5/2023 at 11:00 pm, in the Cairo Center. International Conferences in Nasr City.
The General Coordinator explained that the attendance of journalists and media professionals for the coverage will be for representatives of the Egyptian press and media outlets, according to cards and letters of accreditation from their unions and their press and media organizations, and for representatives of foreign press and media outlets accredited in Egypt, upon invitations from the State Information Service.
The General Coordinator concluded his statements that the right to live broadcast all dialogue sessions is exclusively owned by Egyptian TV (the National Media Authority), and apart from that, all media outlets are allowed to carry out their professional work in covering the sessions as appropriate.
Tomorrow, the first session of the political axis of the national dialogue will begin with a discussion of some issues of concern to citizens. Four sessions will be held on that day, two of which will be devoted to discussing the electoral system for the House of Representatives. In parallel, the other two sessions will be devoted to discussing the two issues of eliminating all forms of discrimination, which are among the topics listed. On the agenda of the Committee on Human Rights and Public Freedoms, in addition to the challenge of cooperatives, which are among the issues on the agenda of the Committee on Trade Unions and Civil Society.
Political themes
Under the scope of the political axis, there are 5 sub-committees as follows:
- Political Parties Committee.
- Committee of Trade Unions and Civil Society Organizations.
- Committee for the Direction of Political Rights and Parliamentary Representation.
- Municipalities Committee.
- Human Rights and Public Freedoms Committee.
The Political Parties Committee discusses 3 files, namely:
- Rules for promoting and supporting the activity of parties and removing obstacles in front of them.
- Formation and terms of reference of the Parties Committee.
Financial and administrative governance within the parties.
The Committee on Trade Unions and Civil Society Organizations discusses these files:
- Law regulating civil work and its executive regulations.
- Solving obstacles to civil work.
- Solving trade union challenges.
- Solving cooperative challenges.
The Committee for the Exercise of Political Rights and Parliamentary Representation discusses 4 files, namely:
- The electoral system under constitutional controls, and is divided into: “House of Representatives Law, Senate Law.”
- Judicial supervision between the constitution and practical necessity.
- The number of members of the two councils.
- Resignation of the membership of the two councils.
The Municipalities Committee is discussing two files, as follows:
- Local People’s Councils Law “Professionals and Formation – Electoral System”.
- Local Administration Law towards Decentralization (Division and Structures – Funding – Cairo Governorate, New Administrative Capital).
The Human Rights and Public Freedoms Committee discusses 7 issues, namely:
- Torture “definition – filing a criminal case – limit of harm.”
- Conditions in prisons, “correction centers”, and detention centers, “judicial supervision – organizing regulations”.
- Amending the provisions of preventive detention, restriction of freedom, the rules of compensation for them, the seizure of their money, the travel ban, the appeal of felonies, and the protection of witnesses and whistleblowers.
- Freedom of Expression and Opinion “Provisions for freedom of the media and the press, their independence, impartiality and plurality, and penalties depriving them of freedom in cases of publication and publicity,
- Freedom of Information Act.
Rules and provisions for encouraging interaction between the Egyptian academic community and its counterpart abroad, and freedom of scientific research and its requirements. - Freedom-depriving penalties in cases of publication and publicity, creativity and freedom of opinion.
The state is obligated to take the necessary measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination, and the law regulates the establishment of an independent commission for this purpose, the “Commission for the Elimination of Discrimination.”
For his part revealed Nejad El-Borai The well-known human rights lawyer, a member of the National Dialogue Board of Trustees, the names he proposed to participate in the Human Rights and Public Freedoms Committee, and they were approved by the Board of Trustees. Invitations are supposed to be sent to them to participate in the topics they were chosen for dialogue, according to what he said.
Suggested names to participate
Al-Burai indicated: Some other names will be added to the working groups to take into account the balance between the interlocutors, commenting: “But the names that he published are the ones that were presented as jurists, and they were approved by everyone.”
He stressed: “I consulted with all of these before submitting their names, and they agreed and welcomed the participation,” commenting: “With pride, the most important human rights activists in Egypt will participate in the dialogue.”
