(HRW/IFEX) – In a 9 May 2000 letter to Prime Minister Atef Ebeid, the Academic Freedom Committee of Human Rights Watch protested sanctions imposed in March by the Ministry of Education on primary school teachers who attended training sessions on civic education and democratization. In March, Minister of Education Hussein Kamil Bahaa Al-Din issued a […]
(HRW/IFEX) – In a 9 May 2000 letter to Prime Minister Atef Ebeid, the Academic Freedom Committee of Human Rights Watch protested sanctions imposed in March by the Ministry of Education on primary school teachers who attended training sessions on civic education and democratization.
In March, Minister of Education Hussein Kamil Bahaa Al-Din issued a ministerial decision docking the pay of thirty-six teachers and a headmaster, all from Qena in Upper Egypt, for having attended a program organized by the Group for Democratic Development (GDD), a leading Egyptian nongovernmental organisation (NGO). The teachers were fined amounts ranging from nineteen days’ to two months’ salary. One teacher was reportedly transferred to an administrative job.
The teacher training sessions at issue, held over a four-day period in June and July 1999, were part of GDD’s Friends of Democracy Programme, an outreach programme aimed at promoting civic education and enhancing democratic participation in various aspects of Egyptian life. Lecture topics included: “Establishing an activity and educational tools unit for democratic formation in and outside the classroom”, “Educational curricula: a critical review from a democratic perspective”, “Democratic values and teaching: between diction and activation”, and “A general view of the situation of human rights and the rights of women in Egypt”. Other lectures addressed political subjects, including “Political participation and the development of the democratic movement in Egypt”.
While the seminar was in session, state security officers went to the hotel where the training session was held and wrote down the names of participants. In November 1999, teachers who had attended the session were brought in for questioning by the Ministry of Education, apparently having been identified by the list provided by state security. The thirty-six teachers and one headmaster were accused of having attended a training workshop organized by a “dubious body” without prior permission from the ministry. The GDD responded by providing the ministry with information on the training session that included an outline of the programme, names of lecturers, copies materials distributed, and documents confirming the legality of GDD.
Staff of the Friends of Democracy Program then went to Qena and met with Deputy of the Ministry of Education Osama M. Salah who reportedly told them that the decision to question the teachers had been made by state security forces responsible for the Ministry of Education. In late March, the minister announced that the teachers’ pay had been docked.
The punishment of the teachers takes place against a backdrop of increasing attacks on human rights organizations and groups that advocate greater democratization in Egypt. In May 1999, the Egyptian parliament passed a law that includes language so broad that it invites arbitrary application against groups perceived as critical of the government. In January 2000, the GDD was forced to cancel an academic seminar on transforming Islamicist groups into legitimate political
groups. In February, Hafez Abu Saada, secretary-general of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, one of Egypt’s leading human rights organisations, was charged with violating a military decree that prohibits acceptance of funds without government approval (see IFEX alerts of 9 and 8 March, 23, 18, 16 and 15 February 2000 and others). The punishment of the teachers who joined the democracy training seminars is part of this broader pattern of attacks.
The punishment of the teachers for participating voluntarily in the GDD training session constitutes a clear violation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), ratified by Egypt on 14 January 1982, which guarantees all individuals the freedom “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds”. The Academic Freedom Committee is particularly concerned with the adverse consequences of this case for education and scholarship. There can be no liberty and no meaningful citizenship where individuals are denied the basic right to ask questions and seek information about what is going on in their own society, and to share their ideas and views with others.
The preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that “every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for [human rights]”. To this end, the declaration specifically provides for the right to education, mandates that access to educational institutions and to the cultural and scientific resources of society shall be available to all, and provides that “education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms”.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the prime minister:
– stating that in your opinion educational institutions cannot fulfil their mission of strengthening respect for human rights when the basic rights of educators themselves are not respected
– suggesting that the order of the minister of education should be rescinded, the teachers’ pay should be reinstated, and other penalties that were imposed as a result of the order, including the reported transfer of one teacher to administrative duties, should be withdrawn
– urging him to call on the minister of education to rescind the order and ensure that, henceforth, all ministerial decisions and decrees comport with educators’ basic civil and political rights
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:Prime Minister Atef Ebeid
Office of the Prime Minister
Maglis al-Sha’ab Street
Cairo, EgyptPlease copy appeals to the source if possible.
