As part of the “Let’s write our constitution ourselves” initiative, the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights (ECWR) will form a committee parallel to the constituent assembly responsible for drafting the constitution to draft a document containing the rights women wish to be included in the new Constitution, the organization announced in a statement Thursday.
The ECWR said the committee would press for the adoption of these rights in the new constitution to overcome the “post-revolution exclusion of women,” which it said it considered a form of “non-traditional violence."
The parallel constituent assembly consists of 100 female former MPs and parliamentary candidates of various political affiliations, as well as members of women's rights associations, coalitions and advocates. It will also include members of the ECWR’s popular committees, which were formed to collect women’s demands nationwide through opinion polls and questionnaires, as well as a number of public figures and journalists.
The draft document includes provisions for general and personal rights, including social and political participation, citizenship, freedom of expression, education, health and reproductive rights. It will also focus on economic and social rights “which are overlooked by everyone, in light of the political conflict.”
Translated from al-Masry Al-Youm
