The Canada Egypt Business Council, CEBC hosted a special event featuring guest speakers H.E. Moushira Khattab, Egypt’s Minister of State for Family and Population and Sheikh Ali Gomaa, The Grand Moufti of Egypt, discussing the topic of “Family & Child in the Muslim Community versus Contemporary Challenges”.

Mr. Motaz Raslan, Chairman of CEBC delivered his opening remarks by outlining the general condition of family and child in Egypt, highlighting that the state is suffering from various obstacles for attaining development and prosperity in the political, economic and security spheres. He further added that the Egyptian society, especially in rural areas, is suffering from major tribulations as female genital mutilation, early marriage of girls, employment of children, as well as the physical and psychological abuse of children.

He then discussed the phenomena of ‘the street children’ stating that it should be addressed as an issue of national security. “This can be done by striving to support and protect the rights of Egypt’s children and preserving their rights without exception”, said Mr. Raslan. He then added that we should not ignore the major problem of population explosion, which represents a major challenge and obstacle to development. He reviewed the national rate of growth in population, mentioning that Egypt’s population might reach a figure of 93 million by 2020 with an annual birth rate of 1.9 million people.

“Family is the cornerstone of any abundant society”, he added, pointing out that the reinforcement of women’s roles in society; the study and resolution of problems confronting children; the improvement of family performance in society, the monitoring of education; and the establishment of a healthy environment for children would be the only rescue package out of such development barriers.

He finally concluded that the propagation of science and information, besides the upholding of religious values are the only path that should be followed, adding that Egypt is determined to face the challenge by stimulating economic growth, rather than hindering it through investment in children that might provide the highest economic returns ever.

Mr. Raslan then gave the floor to H.E. Moushira Khattab, who started her speech by explaining that the goal of the Ministry is to establish strategies as well as operational work plans related to family empowerment and well-being, introducing a new vision of human development in Egypt by working in coordination with other government ministries across different sectors as education, health, and labor as well as various stakeholders, including government entities and NGOs.
The Minister further underscored that the wellbeing of children is directly linked to family wellbeing. “Children comprise a large proportion of Egypt’s population and our aim is to create a new socio-cultural environment that focuses on the role family as the main bastion of safety for children which enables them to be productive collaborators in the society. She explained that any negligence in the family’s role would definitely lead to the spread of a number of impediments that may hinder social and economic development.
Moving on discussing these impediments, Minister Khattab agrees that poverty, family breakdown, child abuse and neglect, seem to be the leading causes for the problem. Many Egyptian families who are economically marginalized have become seriously dysfunctional, placing their children in circumstances that lead them to leave their homes trying to survive in the unprotected and hazardous street milieu. These circumstances have included child abuse by the family, and exploitation of the child as a wage earner, by abusive employers, resulting in the plight of ‘street children’ where the recently adopted amendments to the child law were primarily motivated by the plight of street children. “We now have a legal framework that ensures their full enjoyment of rights, integral effort is also needed among civil society organizations that have greater accessibility to these marginalized children,” she explained.
She further explicated that the problem of population explosion as well as the inequality in the geographical distribution of the population, together with low population characteristics might lead to children exposure to real or constant threat of violence from hostile-abusive community members.
“The starting point is the education of women, because knowledge is the key to their emancipation,” she said. “We also believe that just legislation is the umbrella for safeguarding the progress of women and the family as a whole.”
Optimistically, Minister Khatab added, “Currently we are concentrating on modern legislations as well as many successful initiatives which address the needs of modern times, and give women the status they deserve. We have great pilot projects, as “Girls Education Initiative” that were able to reach the poorest of the poor, but pilot projects are not enough. We must ensure equal access to services without discrimination and this is our challenge”.
She also argued that the proper understanding of religion is essential in the decision of birth planning where Islam has always urged parents to provide good care of their children and ensure their peace and security. “Family Planning is a socio, economic cultural decision that is totally dependant on the literacy of the family and especially women”, said the Minister.
The minister finally stated that the government of Egypt is formulating legislations criminalizing harmful practices against female children, such as female genital mutilation and early marriage, in addition to inserting a new section on social and psychological measures for the protection of children at risk and their families; strengthening penalties on parents who abandon their children or relinquish their responsibilities; prohibiting all forms of violence against children; prohibiting child labor below statutory minimum age, and ensuring the enrolment of illegal child workers in schools.
Sheikh Ali Gomaa, Egypt’s Grand Moufti then took the podium explaining that Islam views childhood with hope and aspiration, as children are the nucleus of a healthy society. “Islam guarantees the child’s right to survival, even if he is still a fetus in his mother’s womb,” said the Grand Mofti. “Islamic Shariah was pioneering in providing a faith and ethics-based set of precepts to guarantee sincerity in implementation. It attends to childhood with care long ago. Islam also stipulates taking care of children; and ensuring the maintenance of their physical and moral rights and prohibits the violation of any of these rights. At the early era of Islam, the Islamic community was an integral one, constructed on strong beliefs of sponsorship of orphans and care for the elderly and there were no need for the society organizations to perform such role, as every member of that strong community was doing his/her role.”

Moreover, he added that Islam perceived the family as the essential unit of community, encouraging a balanced, healthy society, pointing out to the fact that birth planning relies on the cultural inheritance of the society rather than religion. However, he noted that in many illiterate and rural communities in our society parents finds their children a way of income earning, even if they are employed in hard and dangerous labor, which is prohibited by Islam as explained by Shariah, that inflicting harm is forbidden, asserting that Islam provides children with a protective environment.

Moreover, the Grand Mofti added when addressing the issue of circumcising women, or the female genital mutilation from an Islamic perspective, that such practice is ‘un-Islamic inherited practice’, he also urged all Muslims to stop practicing this habit, according to Islam’s teachings which prohibit inflicting harm on any human being.

The floor was then opened to questions raised from the audience covering topics such as the religion versus the legislative opinion, the expenditure on human capacity in rural areas, as well as child labor as a gross violation of the rights of the child to education.