Press Release
Today, “Center for Memory and Knowledge Studies” issued the report “100 Years of Negotiation over Personal Status,” in our attempt to participate in the debate surrounding personal status laws.
The report comes at a time when we have recently witnessed the spread of news about the imminent issuance of a “Personal Status Law for Christians,” which is the first of its kind in the history of Egypt, after years of controversy over a unified law that addresses all Christian sects. But Christians, like others - until the issuance of this law - are still subject to the Personal Status Law issued 100 years ago, surrounded by a recurrent controversy about the necessity of changing, especially since its amendments over the past century and the laws accompanying it have not succeeded in creating a legislative environment capable of keeping pace with social changes, amid voices demanding a unified civil law for all citizens, without discrimination on the basis of religion, race or gender.
At first glance, it seems strange that it would take a century – with no conclusion - to discuss how to organize the lives of two adults who decided to marry and form a family, whether the project of this association succeeded or ended in separation. What is logical is that the two parties agree on what is expected and required of each of them, whether in the case of harmony or disagreement, as is the case in all contracts. But the matter is completely different when it comes to the personal status law.
In our opinion, the attempt to agree on a personal status law that guarantees equality, dignity, and freedom of decision-making for both parties will require, sooner or later, that the civil personal status law be a demand capable of presenting itself forcefully and without political, religious, or patriarchal blackmail, in the face of political and religious stubbornness and insistence that societal hierarchy remains as it is.
The report includes two sections; the first prepared by Sarah Qadri, and presents the political and social context accompanying the path of development of personal status laws and their amendments since the 1920s in Egypt and looks at the positions of the main stakeholders, starting from the efforts of the first wave of the feminist movement before the issuance of the Ottoman Family Law in 1917, until now.
The second section, prepared by Asmaa Naeem, provides a simplified explanation of the concept of “personal status” laws and the details of those laws and their amendments over the course of a century from a legal perspective, to place before the reader the journey of those laws beginning with Law No. 25 of 1920, amended by Law No. 25 of 1929, then again amended by Law No. 100 of 1985, in addition to accompanying laws such as Law No. 1 of 2000 and its amendments, known as the Khul’a Law, as well as family laws. Finally, it looks at the relationship of all those laws to the international covenants and conventions to which Egypt is party.
The report is the fourth in the series “Thirty Years of the Justice System Archive,” which has hitherto produced “The Trial of the Privatization Process: A Critical Reading from the Economic and Legal Points of View,” “Erasing the Effects of Agrarian Reform and Social Contempt for Agricultural Tenants,” and “Professional Unions and 18 Years of struggle with law 100” reports, the last of which was issued last April.