Annual Report of The National Council for Human Rights

Chapter Five - Cont.
Human Rights Practices in Egypt For 2004

The Constitution guarantees several economic, social and cultural rights, while the law protects a number of these rights.

Further, the government shoulders the burden of the liabilities emanating from its ratification of a number of international conventions, headed by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Labor Organization agreement. The government programs assert its commitment to human development and governance principles: dominance of the rule of law, transparency, accountability and independence of the judiciary.

International criteria have determined the principles of graduation and capability, as a foundation for the implementation of the acknowledged rights. However, a consensus exists on the understanding of this principle, that there are rights such as guaranteeing the non discrimination principle or the principle of equality between the male and female, which require immediate implementation and may not be postponed or carried out gradually. As for the other liabilities related to the allocation of resources, the State is under obligation to initiate this matter without delay by taking the measures to ensure gradual enjoyment of the rights ⁽¹⁾.

Poverty Alleviation:

Liberation from poverty is considered one of the basic human rights. This concept agrees with the right to adequate living standards for the individual and the family, promoted by international conventions. The state of poverty affects a vast group of the individuals' economic, social and cultural rights, as well as civil and political rights. The spread of poverty leads to serious social phenomena and creates a favorable environment for the spread of crimes, deviation and extremism.

Human rights literature distinguishes between two types of poverty. First, temporary poverty, such as the unemployment of academically qualified persons and skilled laborers; and, secondly, the state of chronic poverty due to structural reasons such as illiteracy or lower academic levels, absence of any professional skills or ill-health.

Additionally, the anthology warns that the harmful effects of poverty are not limited to the present generation. Rather, they flow over to the next generation affecting the children of poor families who constitute the workforce in the future. It points to what is known as "poverty duplicator" which leads to transfer of the poverty limit from generation to generation.

The studies note that poverty is an international phenomenon which is not limited only to developing countries. They also note the sensitivity of the governments of developing countries towards the poverty phenomenon, as they consider it an accusation leveled against them, and not as a feature of the underdevelopment suffered by the country, and hence the need for admitting it and taking the appropriate policies to eliminate it ⁽²⁾.

The examination of the phenomenon on the national level suffers from confusion in defining the term, as well as shortage of in-depth field studies. However, since the mid 70's, the government has provided such studies and provide researchers with the available data, to assist in confronting poverty and its features. Till the end of the 90's, several in-depth studies emerged, based on urban and rural populations, which used international definitions, scientific methodologies and approved a line for poverty ranging between 1332 pounds and 1500 pounds per capita annually ⁽³⁾.

These studies indicated that poverty features in Egypt affect a percentage of the population ranging between 27 and 48%. They estimated that abject poverty amounts to 8.6% of the population and revealed that the poor and very poor are focused in the countryside. A study explained that the number of people living below poverty line amounts to 15.7 million citizens, while another study said they amounted to 26.8 million persons.

The studies revealed as well serious suffering on part of the poor as a result of reducing food subsidy due to the implementation of the structural conditioning program, while the compensatory means adopted by the government were not adequate.

The results of such studies revealed a serious gap between the poor and non poor, particularly in the educational and health services.

The government initiated a joint study with the World Bank to lay down a comprehensive strategy to combat poverty in Egypt. The World Bank announced on 9 January 2005 the initial results of these studies, covering the period from 1996 to 2000 of the report, which revealed the following ⁽⁴⁾ :

· The alleviation of poverty is still one of the most persistent challenges, with the income of the individual reaching 1530 dollars in the year 2000-2001. Meanwhile, an extensive agreement was reached that the severity of poverty was reduced in the past decade. However, in the absence of a careful and organized evaluation of poverty, there were sharp objections to the correct evaluation of the extent of occurrence of poverty.

· Poverty declined in Egypt from 19.4% in 1995/1996 to 16.7% in 1999/2000. However, despite its decline in urban cities and lower Egypt, it is increasing in upper Egypt, while the slowdown of the Egyptian economy since 1999/2000 raises concern on the potential of the increase of poverty.

· Poverty in Egypt, according to indicators which are unrelated to income such as education, represents a serious challenge. Although the net enrollment rate at primary schools amounts to 8%, yet the illiteracy of adults is still high as it amounts to approximately 35%.

Official estimates indicate that unemployment amounts to 9.9% (although widely purported to be much higher) and the growth of new job-seekers at the rate of approximately 5.5%-6% annually, i.e. around 550,000 persons. Egypt needs a real and sustainable growth rate of its GDP to amount to 7% annually in order to reduce unemployment to controllable levels.

Among the most prominent findings of the study conducted by the government with the World Bank is that the geographical and regional variations are more significant in fact than the traditional decisive factors of poverty, such as the gap between urban and rural populations. The report reveals that poverty has indeed declined in the four major Egyptian cities of Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and Port Said, in addition to the Nile delta region. However, it is accelerating in Upper Egypt during the concerned five years (1996-2000) and as a result, the government has increased its emphasis on bridging the gap between the areas.

Further, one of the significant results of the research was also to determine a direct link between education and poverty, as it is revealed that 46% of the poor are illiterates, while the academic level of 40% of them stops at the primary education or less. This evidence is considered as a second basis which assists the government much more than focusing on some dimensions of poverty which are unrelated to income, such as illiteracy, mortality rate and health care.

Education:

The government exerted serious efforts to reform education in Egypt over the past decade. Such efforts yield their fruits, manifested in the increase of admission to schools among groups who were deprived from education previously such as girls and children in the rural areas in general and Upper Egypt in particular. Deprivation of education reduced by almost one half, leaving behind currently 15% of marginalized groups outside the system.

There is another achievement, which is the increase in the rates of continuing education among the marginalized groups, especially girls.

Further, the government issued the National Criteria for Education, aimed at upgrading the quality of education and reducing manifestations of inequality to the minimum limit.

Nonetheless, inequality indications have persisted, as school enrollment on part of the poor continued to be less, their academic achievement levels lower, as well as their weak acquisition of the skills required in the labor market, which undermines their chances of moving up the social ladder. In addition, a gap still exists between males and females in having access to education.

"The NCHR records the decline in the quality of education at the various schools, universities and academic institutions in general, and the drop in the competitive ability of the education outputs in Egypt, a matter which does not agree with the right of the citizen to have access to quality education. The NCHR recommends expediting the establishment of an authority to ensure the quality and reliability of education, which it has announced repeatedly, provided it is independent from the educational service providers, neutral and announces its reports with transparency to the entire society.

The Human Development Report on Egypt, published in 2004, recorded five manifestations of inequality in education ⁽⁵⁾.