A Higher Council for Justice and Eq
A Higher Council for Justice and Equality is Established
A Useless Council and Should Abolished
The departing Prime Minister – Dr. Essam Sharaf – issued, a few weeks prior to the change of Cabinet, Decree No. 1427 of 2011 (Official Gazette, Issue No. 46, November 17th, 2011) establishing a new Higher Council for Justice and Equality (“the Council”) with the aim of “supporting the values of justice and equality and promoting the culture of citizenship and reinforcing the awareness thereof and contributing to all that would guarantee the legal and effective administration of justice and equality among the Egyptian people, irrespective of origin, gender, religion or belief”.
The Decree states that the Council shall be composed of twenty five expert members, appointed for three years by the Prime Minister. As to its role, the Decree states wide ideas, including “the immediate intervention to resolve problems relating to religious and sectarian tension”, and “evaluate institutions that are responsible for the application of the law”, both of which are examples of wide responsibilities that are impossible to apply in the absence of any specific powers.The Decree further states that it shall have its own premises, employees, experts, specialized committees, and bank account to be held with the Central Bank of Egypt.
The Council in reality is the worst example of attempting to resolve social problems with the formal establishment of administrative bodies that achieve nothing except spending resources and energy without having the powers to achieve results. Moreover, the establishment of a council to support the values of justice and equality, and assessing legislative and judicial institutions is in itself an affront to the value of justice and the independence of those institutions by a body appointed by the Government. The Council is a badly conceived idea and should be abolished.
A Useless Council and Should Abolished
The departing Prime Minister – Dr. Essam Sharaf – issued, a few weeks prior to the change of Cabinet, Decree No. 1427 of 2011 (Official Gazette, Issue No. 46, November 17th, 2011) establishing a new Higher Council for Justice and Equality (“the Council”) with the aim of “supporting the values of justice and equality and promoting the culture of citizenship and reinforcing the awareness thereof and contributing to all that would guarantee the legal and effective administration of justice and equality among the Egyptian people, irrespective of origin, gender, religion or belief”.
The Decree states that the Council shall be composed of twenty five expert members, appointed for three years by the Prime Minister. As to its role, the Decree states wide ideas, including “the immediate intervention to resolve problems relating to religious and sectarian tension”, and “evaluate institutions that are responsible for the application of the law”, both of which are examples of wide responsibilities that are impossible to apply in the absence of any specific powers.The Decree further states that it shall have its own premises, employees, experts, specialized committees, and bank account to be held with the Central Bank of Egypt.
The Council in reality is the worst example of attempting to resolve social problems with the formal establishment of administrative bodies that achieve nothing except spending resources and energy without having the powers to achieve results. Moreover, the establishment of a council to support the values of justice and equality, and assessing legislative and judicial institutions is in itself an affront to the value of justice and the independence of those institutions by a body appointed by the Government. The Council is a badly conceived idea and should be abolished.