Responsibilities

The Cultural Rights Committee is responsible for all that protects and promotes the cultural rights of a person, guaranteeing that these rights are practiced, and raising awareness of Human Rights in general and consolidating a culture of Human Rights.

Committee priorities for the year 2005-2006:

1. Raising awareness of Human Rights and defining what constitutes Human Rights to all sectors of society.

2. Dealing with traditional culture that is infested with discriminatory ideologies resulting in differential treatment that contradicts the principles of Human Rights on both levels of the individual and society at large.

3. Instilling values of knowledge, logic, and equal opportunity for all in order to influence current cultural and ideological principles, while pressuring for logical explanations to justify current ideals to encourage respecting the rights of all people.

4. Instituting religious discourse that ensures basic Human Rights principles and establishing the fact that religious freedom is a fundamental right in all of the Abrahamic religions.

5. Preserving the legacy of Egyptian culture, art, and civilization, while ensuring that it is not encroached upon.

6. Collecting and documenting all publications to create a cultural / educational reference that is available at all times.

Activities

1. Holding a seminar titled, "Towards a Media Strategy that Spreads the Culture of Human Rights" on July 21st-22nd, 2005 in conjunction with the Egyptian Ministry of Information and the UNDP. Together they devised a comprehensive strategy that laid out appropriate diction that spreads a culture of Human Rights through the means of mass media including television, radio, journalism, and cultural creativity. It was suggested that a joint committee should be created between NCHR and the Radio & TV Union. These recommendations were sent to the Ministry of Information and the Council proceeded to work with the Ministry on the implementation of these suggestions.

2. The Committee is currently collaborating with a team of specialized workers in analyzing educational texts in reference to a culture of Human Rights at the primary level of education. The books are examined with regards to the manner in which they treat Human Rights issues including political, civil, and legal rights as well as the rights of women and children. Also, the manner in which the books relay and explain its messages to the children is also analyzed. The analysis is both quantitative and qualitative. The research body presented a project aiming at identifying the components and accurately defining the Human Rights discourse in educational textbooks.

3. The Committee presented a vision for reforming religious discourse in preparation for sending it to concerned parties such as the Ministry of Religious Endowments, Sharia (Islamic law) schools, and all other bodies specialized in developing religious discourse. This vision aims at furthering society and speaking out of the interest of citizens.

Committee Chairman

Dr. Zenab Abdel-Mgeed Radwan

Members

Contact :  crc@nchr.org.eg

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