Parliament is set to select new members of NCHR

CAIRO – 13 August 2018: The selection of new members of the National Council of Human Rights (NCHR) is atop the Parliament’s priorities during the upcoming session, said Deputy Speaker of the Human Rights Committee Margaret Azer on Saturday.

In press remarks on Saturday, Azer said that the committee is slated to discuss the reasons of the delay of the selection of new members for the council for two years and the preparations for setting the new structure of the council and the choosing of the new members soonest.

She also mentioned that the Parliament has already approved the new amendments of the law that regulates the work of said council last year.

According to the new amendments, the elections of the council’s new members must be held every four years and no one shall serve for more than two consecutive sessions.

For his part, Abdel Hady Kasabi, chairman of the Social Solidarity Committee in the Parliament, said that the formation of the National Council for Human Rights will be announced after the end of Parliament’s first session, pointing out that the Parliament is keen to choose the new members based on their competences and qualifications as well as distinguishable characteristics so that they could be capable of closely following the Human Rights situation in Egypt and communicating with international communities.

He further said that the Commission on Human Rights to coordinate with the Bureau of the House of Representatives to choose names is most eligible to be in place
based on a merit-based system.

The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) was amongst the national organizations and entities that were entitled with monitoring the presidential election process that took place last April and resulted in the re-election of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

During his meeting in September with Head of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), Mohamed Fayek, Sisi affirmed that Egypt will continue its efforts to maintain human rights and basic freedoms in line with confronting terrorism and protecting its national security from current dangers threatening the region.