Habitat in the Egyptian Constitution
Amid an atmosphere of clouds and confusion mixed with the anticipation of building the future, the new version of the Egyptian Constitution has been a long-awaited feature of the Egyptian people’s struggle for better life. No one could guarantee achieving universal satisfaction with this Constitution, or that it would flow from the current revolutionary tide. The limits to political and social mobility, as well as a lingering authoritarian mentality resist this tide, dismissing popular demands, especially of the youth, who aspire to a future grounded in a constitution that clearly upholds their rights and freedoms.
It is well known that this revolutionary tide has arisen out of struggles for economic, social and cultural rights: rights to education, health, water, adequate housing and land, and decent work. In this pessoptimistic climate, many initiatives also have arisen to press for a constitution that would correct the ship of state’s course. One of these inspired and inspiring efforts has been A Constitutional Approach to Urban Egypt, the articulation of a local civil society coalition in the form of a consensus draft of principles for the Egypt Constitution.
The document acknowledges that:
“During the past four decades, the Arab Republic of Egypt has evaded its state obligation to respect, protect, and fulfill the human right to adequate housing for the poor and those with limited income. Concurrently, Egypt has also suffered from the complex effects of real estate speculation, declining public housing standards, reductions in food and fuel subsidies, inflation and other pressures that bear heavily upon those households struggling to achieve adequate housing. One consequence is the predominance of informal housing areas that the government unjustly labels as ashwā’iyāt (slums). Official sources estimate that Egypt has approximately 1,125 informal areas, populated by 20 million people, or around 23% of the Egyptian population.”
The Coalition statement outlines and advocates for a habitat Bill of Rights. It asserts the right to the city among the demands for the new Constitution. It lays out the content of this demand, comprised of the right to participate in the management of the urban space to ensure equitable and sustainable urban planning and development. Within the human right to adequate housing, A Constitutional Approach to Urban Egypt recognizes the social production of habitat, the right to security of tenure and the social function of property. The document outlines the rights to, and responsibilities in the public space; the right to information, the right to heritage, the right to a sustainable environment, and the right to public transportation and movement within the city.
When the authors and supporting groups reviewed and adopted the document on 30 November 2013, they held a press conference of all participants advocating adapting the document within the new Constitution. At the press conference, the organizations issued a public call for citizens to be included in the constitution. Supportive public figures include Minister for Environment Dr. Laila Iskandar, who urged support for the document.
Work on refining A Constitutional Approach to Urban Egypt’s content and objectives will not end with the adoption of, and referendum on the new Egyptian Constitution. The document promises to be an essential literary and theoretical reference for constitutional principles in an evolutionary process toward Egypt as a human rights habitat.
The deliberation process toward the Constitutional Approach document has coincided with the civil society submission of a parallel report to the Committee on the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The outcomes of the Committee’s review of the 2010 government report and the State of Egypt’s current treaty performance are reported in UN Judges Egypt`s Habitat Rights Peformance, in this issue of Land Times.)
The Constitutional Approach to Urban Egypt document is open for comment and/or endorsement here.
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