President El-Sisi's Speech at the Launch of the National Strategy for Human Rights

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Honorable Attendees,

It is my pleasure to start my address on the occasion of the launch of the National Strategy for Human Rights by welcoming you all, contributors to the preparation of this strategy, Egyptians or foreign guests, as you are all sharing with us this radiant moment in Egypt’s contemporary history. I consider this step to be momentous on the path toward promoting human rights in Egypt, given the vital importance of this issue when it comes to gauging the status and advancement of societies.

In this context, I would like to point out that Egypt was at the forefront of countries that have contributed to the formulation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Its contribution did not end at that point but rather is continuing until our present time with profound belief and national conviction in the importance of adopting a comprehensive and serious approach to enhance and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Here we are, today, with the Egyptian government launching its first National Strategy for Human Rights, which is considered to be the outcome of relentless efforts exerted by the Supreme Standing Committee for Human Rights (SSCHR) for more than a year. I would like to commend the methodology adopted to formulate this strategy, which was created in a joint, consultative manner, in response to the Egyptian people’s hopes and aspirations.

I would also like to thank the National Council for Human Rights, civil society representatives across different governorates and members of the consultative authority for their constructive contributions in formulating this strategy.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The Egyptian vision for human rights is based on a multitude of fundamental principles, most importantly being:

That all rights and freedoms are connected and integral. There is a firm connection between democracy and human rights. It is important to realize a balance between rights and duties, and the right of the individual and society, while stressing the importance of combating corruption as a guarantor for enjoying rights and freedoms.

That the commitment to preserving rights and freedoms and enhancing their respect is realized through legislations and public policies on one hand, and the enforcement of these legislations and policies by the various national institutions and mechanisms, on the other. The National Strategy for Human Rights was keen on taking the aforementioned aspects into consideration. On the level of legislations and public policies, the state’s efforts are based on the constitutional and legal principles and obligations. The constitution has realized a quantum leap in this regard, as it has consolidated the principles of citizenship, justice, equality in all rights and duties without discrimination, while making equal opportunities the base for building society.

The constitution also stipulates the independence of the judicial authority as a fundamental means to realizing justice, which ensures the actual enforcement of all rights. The Egyptian legislative structure boasts all necessary guarantors to enhance and respect human rights as “all are equal before the law”.

The Egyptian State also confirms its commitment to respecting and protecting the rights to physical integrity, personal freedom, political participation, freedom of opinion and expression, establishing civil society organizations in addition to the right of the protection of the law. Egypt always welcomes diversity and even differences in opinions, as long as they don’t encroach on others’ freedoms. This aims to realize the best for Egypt and its people through constructive criticism and participation.
Egypt has always adopted freedom of artistic expression and creativity, which paved the way for Egypt’s leading contribution in its region in the areas of arts, literature and culture. This field enjoys the state leadership’s direct support and encouragement.

In parallel, we have a deeply rooted conviction in the importance of enhancing efforts toward achieving swift justice and ensuring fair trial. The state has been exerting relentless and continuous efforts to stress the principles of citizenship, tolerance, dialogue, combating the incitement of violence, and discrimination.

Egypt enjoys a rich national institutional infrastructure that works on enhancing and respecting human rights, and is under constant development. The establishment of the Supreme Standing Committee for Human Rights came as an important addition which will support and enhance coordinated national efforts in this field, in addition to the specialized human rights units and departments in all ministries, governorates and relevant authorities. Moreover, the national councils for women, childhood, motherhood, people with determination and special capabilities are assuming leading roles in the field of enhancing the rights of these groups.

The National Council for Human Rights, as an independent national institution, as per its jurisdiction within the constitutional framework, is performing a pivotal and active role in consolidating the relevant principles and raising awareness. It presents its annual reports to the state.

The civil society is an important and key partner in the process of enhancing and fostering human rights in all its political, economic and social dimensions. It also raises awareness of human rights in society, while encouraging the culture of volunteer work and contribution to efforts to combating extremism and tendencies against the values of our Egyptian society.


Without a doubt, the contributions and achievements of civil society organizations are clear and their partnership is indispensable to the State.

Therefore, I have instructed the government to reconsider the previous civil society law. This resulted in issuing a new law that regulates the practice of NGO activities, including facilitations and guarantees that strengthen their work. That was after conducting community dialogue that included 1,300 Egyptian and foreign NGOs. Upon issuing the executive regulations of this law, a new phase of partnership begins between the government and civil society based on cooperation and respect of the rule of law.

As far as civil and political rights are concerned, we attach special interest to reinforcing the right to participate in the political and public life, given that it is an important component in elevating all human rights fields and contributing to the consolidation of the pillars of democracy and the rule of law. In order to enhance these rights, national legislations have been placed and updated and a number of independent authorities and bodies have been established to regulate practicing these rights and ensure that they are enjoyed.

The political and public life in Egypt saw intense activity in the past period, culminating in the achievement of all constitutional milestones that guarantee the people’s expression of their free will through the presidential and parliamentary elections. The people’s representatives undertook their responsibilities to freely express their vision regarding the national trajectory, and evaluate the performance of the executive authority through a parliamentary session that was busy with interactions and political affiliations that sought to achieve public good.

We have completed our legislative institutions by reforming the Senate upon holding elections in order for it to undertake its role along with the House of Representatives. This is in addition to establishing the National Elections Authority as an independent and permanent body that is the only specialized body to run elections and referenda at all stages so as to ensure their integrity and encourage political participation.

A number of legislations have also been placed and updated to ensure that Egyptian citizens practice their political rights. These include the law on exercising political rights, law on political parties, law on the House of Representatives, law on the Senate, law on presidential elections, law on the division of electoral districts and law on the regulation of NGO activity.
These laws represented a significant progress towards dedicating and guaranteeing the practice of political rights and freedoms.

As for the freedom of religion and belief, Egypt- a country that has rich religious heritage- continues to exert relentless efforts in underscoring the principles of citizenship, tolerance, dialogue, combating the incitement of violence, and discrimination. The Egyptian State has achieved noticeable progress in this field to ensure equality among the sons and daughters of this nation when it comes to rights and duties. There is no stronger evidence than issuing a law for the construction and renovation of churches to legalize the status of almost 1,800 churches and affiliated buildings. Al-Fattah Al-Aleem Mosque and Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ also stand in harmony in the New Administrative City as witnesses to these efforts and achievements.

With regard to economic, social and cultural rights, the comprehensive and developmental vision of the State (Egypt 2030) is based on the concepts of inclusive, sustainable and balanced growth to ensure the fair distribution of the benefits of development, achieve the highest level of societal integration of all groups and ensure the rights of the current and future generations in using resources.


The magnitude of achievements made, in terms of mega- national projects implemented across the country, in the past 7 years reflects national capabilities whether at the level of planning or execution. This is in addition to the sound management of various resources to reach the highest level of development. This directly reflected on the level of enforcing economic, social and cultural rights, especially those related to the right to decent housing, healthcare, regular job, adequate nutrition, clean drinking water, advanced sanitation and good education.

The State took special interest in social protection measures while executing the economic reform program to alleviate its impact on limited income brackets and the most vulnerable groups .This took place by adopting various policies, programs and initiatives, the most notable of which are Takaful and Karama Initiative and Decent Life Initiative to develop the Egyptian countryside, which is home to half of the Egyptian population, in addition to other initiatives.

During the past years, Egypt was able to make great strides toward achieving equality and empowering women. They have held 128 seats in the House of Representatives in the 2021 elections, constituting more than 28% of its members.

In fact, Egyptian women have become judges and ministers, with a total of eight female ministers in the current government, making up almost 25% of it. Equal pay for women and men is also ensured without discrimination on the basis of gender.

The Egyptian state moved forward with the development of the 2030 strategy for the political, economic and social empowerment of women. The Egyptian government’s endeavors did not stop at this point. Rather, the government has done its due diligence to promote the rights of children and people with special needs and abilities.

We have a strong political will that supports the issues of these priority groups and we spare no effort to achieve their hopes and aspirations. This has been manifested in the translation of their guaranteed constitutional rights into numerous laws, strategies, policies, and executive programs.

As for the youth, the state has been keen to take care of them, develop their capabilities, enable them to participate in public life and provide them with job opportunities. Based on the importance of their openness to others and the knowledge of multiple cultures, we have thus been keen to launch appropriate forums, chiefly the "World Youth Forum", which Egypt is keen to organize annually. We also hope to resume it soon after the end of the coronavirus pandemic and its precautionary measures.

The state has also taken keen interest in training young cadres capable of shouldering national responsibilities; hence, the “National Training Academy” was established in 2017. Hence young people have become involved in formulating and implementing development plans, and some of them have even become deputy ministers, governors and representatives of the people in Parliament. The Academy includes qualification programs to hone skills of the young people.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to reaffirm that this first national strategy stems from an Egyptian philosophy underpinning the importance of achieving integration to upgrade the society. This can only be attained through a clear national strategy for human rights, one that deals with challenges and takes into account the principles and values of the Egyptian society.

Hence, the strategy focuses on human rights from an integrated perspective and a comprehensive concept of those rights. Believing that it is concrete action that counts, I direct the Supreme Standing Committee for Human Rights to continue implementing the mandates entrusted to it, and I instruct the government to take all the needed steps, foremost of which are:

First:

Continuing efforts to integrate human rights goals and principles into the state’s public policies, under the “Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt Vision 2030”.

Second:

Inviting political entities and civil society organizations to evince interest in enriching the Egyptian political experience and developing trained cadres by encouraging participation and expression of opinion in a creative, interactive atmosphere encouraging objective dialogue.

Third:

Ensuring the equitable distribution of the fruits of development and guaranteeing the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, in a way that meets their basic needs.

Fourth:

Strengthening communication with various civil society institutions and providing all facilities for the effective implementation of the law regulating the practice of civil work and its executive regulations, to provide them with an appropriate atmosphere conducive to working as a key partner for achieving development and spreading human rights culture in society.

Fifth:

Ensuring, during the implementation of the integrated vision of administrative reform, the establishment of an efficient and effective administrative apparatus that follows the mechanisms of good governance, is subject to accountability, gains citizens’ consent for the services provided to them, and is characterized by efficiency, justice and non-discrimination.

Sixth:

Developing a system for receiving and following up on complaints with regard to human rights for a swift response to any complaints and effective communication with the competent authorities in this respect.

Seventh:

Intensifying national efforts to build capacity and provide training in the field of human rights.

Before I conclude my speech, I would like to declare 2022 “Year of Civil Society”, which I call upon to continue working hard and diligently side by side with the Egyptian state institutions with a view to achieving sustainable development in all fields and spreading awareness about the culture of human rights, thus realizing hopes and aspirations of the great Egyptian people.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished Guests,

Egypt reaffirms its respect for all its pledges and commitments to human rights and fundamental freedoms. Egypt avidly seeks to ensure that the Egyptian society enjoys its full rights, guaranteeing the country's security and stability. To that end, further sincere effort and hard work needs to be undertaken to promote human rights.
Egyptians always deserve the best and hence the Egyptian governmental and civil institutions will continue their national endeavors to that end.

Egypt, on the cusp of establishing a "new republic", has not forgotten to initiate a future era in its long-standing history without devising a national strategy for human rights believing in its importance in the continuation and renewal of the national state as well as supporting sustained efforts to preserve the dignity of the Egyptian citizen.

Thank You.

Peace, Mercy and Blessings of Allah Be Upon You."