Country Analysis: Egypt
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Constitution
The Egyptian Constitution, promulgated in April 1923, Article 11 which declares:
"The State shall guarantee the proper coordination between the duties of woman towards the family and her work in the society, considering her equal with man in the fields of political, social, cultural and economic life without violation of the rules of Islamic jurisprudence."
Article 40 adds:
"All citizens are equal before the law. They have equal public rights and duties without discrimination between them due to race, ethnicity, language, or creed."
Article 151 of the Egyptian Constitution states: The President of the republic endorses treaties and notifies the People's Council, and it has the power of the law after its endorsement.
Nationality Law
In Egypt, the country’s legislations reveal a high level of complications regarding this issue, which reflects the will to deprive the Egyptian women of their equal right to men concerning nationality transfer.
The Egyptian nationality law, which denies women the right to pass on their nationality to their children, constitutes a clear violation of all the principles that treaty stood for.
Furthermore, the Egyptian law (26 in year 1975) said that a child whose father and mother are both unknown has the right to acquire the Egyptian nationality. Those illegal children directly acquire nationality with no need for an alleged mother.
Commitment and reservation to the Treaties
Egypt ratified most of the international treaties and acknowledges all the international pacts regarding human rights. It even considers those documents as part of the Egyptian system insofar as they do not contradict the country's Constitution and local traditions.
Egypt also ratified the Children's Rights Treaty and CEDAW in 1980, which was utilized in an Egyptian Legislator's statement following the presidential decision 434 in 1981. The decision to take the treaty on board included reservations on Clause 2 of Article 9.
Egypt had reservations to the Clause 2 of the Article 9 of the treaty for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
The reservations indicated that:
“In case of marriage between a national and a non-national, the transfer of the father’s nationality to the children reduces the threats to the children’s future. Acquiring the father’s nationality is mostly appropriate for children. This do not hinders the principles of equity between men and women since women who wish to marry non-nationals should accept that the children will acquire the nationality of the father.”
Personal Story
X is an Egyptian widowed woman aged 52 who was married to a Palestinian in 1976.
I was 19 years old when I was married. Today I’m fifty two. My husband died and my marriage lasts for only 3 years, where I gave birth to two kids a girl and a boy. My eldest daughter graduated as a nurse, and my son is a senior in the architecture school.
My husband died after 3 years of our marriage, and my x-husband’s children dropped me out of my house when I was pregnant in my second child, and seized the house and land.
I’m facing double violent by both the state – by regarding my children as foreigners, and by society – as I’m obliged to enduring the families’ unfair dealings and attitudes toward my case.
My children were being treated as foreigners in their country – my youngest child lost a whole academic year due to incompleteness of his official papers, which was very hard carrying them out – without mentioning the expensive costs, I kept on running – every year for around 15 years – between the different governmental departments where I was asked to issue a new passport, and to certify that I have a full and permanent residence in Egypt in order to grant my kids an opportunity of schooling.
These sufferings were extended to reach my children, who were faced by impediments in university registration. Accordingly I headed towards the lawyers’ syndicate, where a lawyer has voluntarily adapted my case, and succeeded in granting me the right to own my husband’s land 7.5 Hectare. Yet, after 15 days I was informed that the land would in no way be the right of my children as they are non Egyptian-Nationals, so the court’s sentence was revised to reduce the land into 15 Kirat (my legal portion).
Recent developments in the Nationality and Law – efforts of the campaigners
In Egypt, the Government announced permission to grant Egyptian citizenship to children of Egyptian women married to non-nationals under the condition that they meet certain requirements, such as proof of consistent residency in Egypt for at least ten years. This law is a positive development but it has yet to be finalized, ratified, and implemented.
As a result of the advocacy campaign carried out by the CEDAW coalition represented by the Women Development Association and partner associations, the National Council for Women drew up a bill based on the full citizenship of Egyptian women including the following proposal: “Shall be deemed Egyptian any child born of an Egyptian father or mother”.
The case of children of Egyptian mothers married to foreigners and born before the enforcement of the law was also studied. The bill was submitted during the meeting held at the headquarters of the National Council for Women within the framework of the preparation of the national report on the CEDAW on May 15, 2004.
The campaign launched in Egypt was carried forward in order to ensure gender equity in terms of citizenship rights and the equality between women and men as regards the granting of the nationality to children irrespective of the father’s nationality. On the other hand, CSOs which are member of the CEDAW coalition continued to collaborate (follow-up on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women) with allies, such as members of the People’s Council, the State Council, senior officials, other CSOs, women concerned by the same cause and the National Council for Women, drawing from the results of the legal and field research on the level of the Egyptian provinces.