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Labourers’ protests in Egypt facing dismissal and vagrancy
Labourers in the different economic sectors always suffer from violating their human rights. The LCHR issues its report monitoring and analyzing labourers’ conditions entitled “labourers’ protests in Egypt facing dismissal and vagrancy”. It is the sixth reports that the LCHR issues around labourers’ conditions, while it is the report No. 22 of the socio-economic rights series. The report monitors the labourers’ protests along the last year, which were 138 one in different sectors as private sector, public sectors, etc. it is the first time that the LCHR monitors journalists’ protests. It points to the economic crisis that affects on the various economic activities in Egypt through the last year that was the most powerful crisis that was occurred since the beginning of the economic reform in the beginning of ninetieths. The government of Dr. Attef Ebeed confessed with the crisis after flood of bright promises that declare the imminent of luxury year. Through the different means of media, many governmental officials criticize the crisis’s aspects that increase after tragic events of September 11. It is enough to mention that the Egyptian reserves from the international capital decreases with 40% comparing with 1997, moreover, the local debt increased to LE164 milliards in last June.
Consequently, the government deals with the crisis confusedly that it applies new taxes on the clothes industry that is considered a direct cause to limit the Egyptian market to be available for only the local producers, who aim to achieve monopolistic benefits although it always repeats that it adopt the liberal economic policies. But the crisis is tranquilized with the ten and half milliards that are given by “Givers conference” in Sharm El-Sheik, which reveals not only the lack in expenditures scale, the fall down of the Egyptian pound and the debts’ increase but also the sufferings of the wage-labourers, moreover, the youth demonstrations that were organized in nine governates through the last summer protesting against the unemployment. Those categories suffer from a lot of burdens along the crisis hoping to enjoy with the counterfeit luxury in order to achieve the simplest needs as work opportunity, housing, suitable medical treatment, etc. these circumstances lead to more poverty and deteriorate social and economic conditions.
Moreover, there are hundreds of labourers, who are laid off from both the private and public sectors in addition to the continuous governmental violations as the governmental interference in the last labourers’ election. It seems that the government finds no solution for the crisis but committing more violations. That the mentioned elections through which about 40 thousands nominees compete, is described as the worst elections since the seventieths. For example, there are direct omitions because of political reasons in addition to the monitoring of the ministry of labor force. It is accompanied with applying the secret declaration No. 7 for 1996 of Mr. Mohamed Refaey “the security manager of ministry of industry” concerning putting aside the nominees, who disagree with the privatization. There are a lot of judicial appeals ended with deleting the ministerial decision No. 148 for 2001 with its all procedures.
The worst thing is that the government applies the conditions of the economic liberalization policies like acceleration of privatization operation especially in water and electricity administrations and banks in addition to continuing the labourers’ layoff law, which gives businessmen the validity to dismiss labourers, increase work hours, decrease vacations of motherhood and kids’ care and deny the right of strike. On the other hand, the labourers protest strongly against these violations that LCHR monitors that there are about 138 protests in different productive sectors through the last year. This year, we tries to monitor some movements of some categories as journalists not only for their effective role in revealing the public opinion but also for the franchises that they have in order to reveal the crisis depth that affects on the lucky categories.
Finally, we try to discuss the negative effects of the globalization on the weakest categories in the society in addition to revealing the impact of applying policies International Monetary Fund on deteriorate living conditions that led to strenghtening the anti-globalization movement in the whole world. For example, the Second International Social Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil in the last of February. It was international demonstration through which different categories from the whole world crowded declaring their protests for new possible world that they lifted many logos like “we need peace not war”, “no for paying debts”, “the land for its cultivator” and “food for each mouth and milk for each baby”.