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Agricultural and trade prospects for the future

Within the framework of The Land Center educating farmers about their rights to organize and form independent trade unions to defend their rights and protect their gains hold the Land Center for Human Rights and a training workshop entitled "Trade Unions and the prospects for the future" on Tuesday, 10/5/2011 at the Centre in Cairo and attended the workshop, executive board srepresentatives from several peasants unions foundations recently in a number of villages in the provinces from upper and northern Egypt.
The number of attendance reached (52) participants; representatives from Upper Egypt and Fayoum governorate from the villages of Moses, and the village of koutet Karun and the village Al abaadia and also from the province of Beni Suef, representatives from Al fashn province and the village of Jabal El noor. From northern Egypt, representatives from the Governorate of Kafr El-Sheikh of the village of Green Island (fishermen), and finally attended by representatives from El beheira governorate from the province of Abu Hommos and El ashraak village, Beheira.
The workshop included three sessions, the first session entitled "The situation of the right to organize and the role of the independent trade unions (Independent - Democrate - Republican)" and was chaired by Dr. Yousry Mustafa - expert and a human rights activist - and make the Professor Saber Barakat - a labor union and one of the founders of the Coordinating Committee - who talked about the principles and rules are based upon trade unions and organizations indicated that they are based on independence and the Republican.
The main objective of the union is to defend the rights of their members and express their interests and improving their status and representation in the face of others. He spoke about the axes of work of trade unions, he explained they are working on several fronts, including: the center of a professional or qualitative, service-axis and the axis of a national
He also spoke about the principles of the work of trade unions, non-discrimination, and the unity of the movement, independence, democracy, and finally public, and eventually talked about the content of the rights and freedoms of association
It was then the second session entitled Management Independent Union (Board of Directors - President - Secretary - Treasurer), which was headed by Mr. / Abdullah Al maamoon, a human rights activist and researcher in The Land Centre, and in which he spoke of a. Talal Shokr- Vice President of General Union for pensioners - and Mr. Mohamed Hijazi, head of the rural friendship flowers, Qaliyoubeya.
The first speaker was Mr. Talal who spoke in detail about the management of the Association of Independent Board of Directors and the functions of each member of the Board of Directors and the responsibilities and powers of each of them Then spoke, Mr. Mohammed Hijazi lawyer asserting that the union must be more than just a way to solve the problem of fertilizer or irrigation or other problems that there is no dispute as important and essential, but should go beyond the role of the union of these problems to have a greater role and more effective
He also pointed to the eligibility of members to participate in more than one union and more of the organization not only to join the Board of Directors of only one union and to be ordinary members of other
It was then the third meeting, which revolved around the work programs of trade unions in the coming period and how to activate the role of the union to resolve the fundamental problems of the members of the session was chaired by Mr. Abdul Aziz Jamaluddin historian and researcher in the Egyptian history and in which she spoke Alostadh Mona Ezzat journalist and human rights activist was divided attendees into four groups based on the similarity of the nature of places and thus the similarity of problems and the division of groups was as follows:
* Group i: Farmers union of El fashn centre- Beni Suef.
*Group ii: Farmers union in the village of Jabal El noor- Beni Suef.
* Group iii: Association of peasants in the village of Moses - Youssef al-Siddiq - Fayoum
* Group iv: Union of Peasants of Abu Hommoss, Beheira- El hamra village
• Group v: Association of fishermen in the village of Abu Khashaba - Green Island - Kafr El-Sheikh
The groups discussed the most important problems experienced by members of trade unions which they belong and how to activate the role of the union in resolving those problems and define the roles and the extent proposed timetable for implementation was then moved each group to a separate place to discuss the action plan during the coming period and after the massage the groups meet again to discuss plans of action reached by each group alone has a variety of problems that have been displayed but are limited to:
- Ownership of agricultural land and land and housing for the lone farmers
- Treat the problem of irrigation and the provision of agricultural inputs
- The corruption of agricultural associations and the employees of the Agricultural Development Bank.
- For the fishermen was the biggest problem for them is the decline in available space for them to catch fish farms because of the takeover by
Have been developed each group an action plan to address those problems have benefited from the show the audience all the collective view of the diversity of ideas between groups, allowing the utilization of the benefit of the activities of the Union have expressed their enthusiasm for the audience and their desire to enhance the role of solving the problems of union members
It was agreed to meet again during the coming period to discuss the implementation of their plans that have been developed and to benefit from the experiences of other unions in the face of various obstacles.