Welcoming Egypt’s 1st General Trade Union for Peasants and Small Farmers
After more than three years of struggle and negotiations with the Egyptian government, Egypt’s small-scale farmers celebrated this year’s International Day of Peasant Struggles and Solidarity with Small-scale Farmers (17 April). This year, they succeeded to establish the country’s first general trade union under resolution of the Ministry of Labor issued in 20 February 2025 and published in the Egyptian Gazette on 28 April 2025.
The official recognition with the General Trade Union for Peasants and Small-scale Farmers comes under the Law 213 of 2017 on the issuance of trade union organizations and the protection of the right to organize, and its amendments pursuant to Law 142 of 2019.
The small farmers have faced several challenges, including compliance with the first requirement to establish a general union, as it must include no fewer than 15,000 members representing at least ten trade union committees, in addition to the complex and lengthy red tape. The founders of the general trade union succeeded to overcome these obstacles and gathered more than 35 thousand members, representing more than 11 provinces across Egypt.
This important and unprecedented achievement comes against backdrop of deteriorating the economic and social conditions of the small farmers and agriculture workers and the lack of social protection. HIC Member, Egyptian Center for Collective Rights (EACR) especially welcomed this achievement and called for continuation in this good path to realize the right to organize and build institutions for male and female farmers and agricultural workers. EACR’s director Abdelmawla Ismail called this development “a gateway to improving the conditions of agricultural workers, in particular, and, thus, the population of Egypt in general.”
The number of men and women working in agriculture in rural Egypt total approximately 18 million. EACR told HIC-HLRN that women are prominent actors in the General Trade Union, both the in General Assembly and executive structure, where women founders hold three seats on 17-member Executive Council. One of the main objectives of the General Trade Union, to improve the economic, social and health conditions for its members, including the women and their households.
It is worth noting that, after facing bureaucratic, societal and customary challenges, a woman farmer in al-Minya, in Upper Egypt, succeeded for the first time in 2022 to establish small-scale farmer trade union with 500 members, 80% of whom are women.
Women’s land rights also formed the subject of HIC-HLRN cooperation with Egypt’s New Woman Foundation [AR] to develop and deliver a training curriculum for men and women farmers last September. Founders of the General Union also took part in the workshop that focused on the norms and opportunities arising from the UN Human Rights System and Development System, with a special focus on the obligations [AR] of states to realize the rights of rural women and states’ 2030 Agenda commitments [AR] to ensure women’s equitable and sustainable access to, use of and control over land [AR] and other productive resources. That came at an opportune time to reflect also on the commitments and implementation of the Beijing Platform at the upcoming 30th anniversary.
The HIC-HLRN team met founding members of the General Union in a Ramadhan iftar, along with other civil society organizations and concerned academics, to discuss prospects for the new farmers’ organization. With the passing of the recent `Id al-Fitr holidays, the Executive Council now has begun its work to formulate the General Union’s program and set actionable priorities to improve the lives and living conditions of all Egyptian peasants and small-scale farmers.
Image: An early Ramesside Period (Dynasty XIX) mural painting from Dhayr al-Madina tomb, depicting an Egyptian couple
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