LCHR's Organizational Structure

The reports appendices Annex (1): Structure and regulations governing the activity of the Center
The Land Center for Human Rights is a non-governmental organization established as a civilian non-profit firm in 1996.
The Center mission is to assist, strengthen and enhance the rural populations to be able to rely on themselves; and to achieve this, the center works to strengthen the rule of law and legal and social equality. Also, it monitors, documents and studies the conditions of the Egyptian countryside, and educates the rural population about their rights. The Center is composed of two chambers: the first is called the Board of Trustees; an advisory body. And the other is an executive body, as it performs the daily work and plans of the center and implements a plan of activity.
The center adjourns a meeting, every 15 days, for the heads of units, in addition to the Director of the Center, as each unit provides an official report on the achievements, simplifies the problems and obstacles, and elaborates how they can be solved. It also holds a monthly meeting of the Working Group to assess the performance of the Center, planning and overcome obstacles and solve problems related to the activities. Evaluation shall be conducted mainly depending on the monthly and annual activity plans, which is expected and prepared prior to the beginning of the year.
This takes place when the administrator of each unit submits a detailed report that includes the activities, results, advantages and obstacles before the Executive Director. The executive director presents, in periodic meetings of heads of units, the solution to these problems and how to overcome these obstacles, where the official of each unit follows-up his staff, evaluate their performances, and comments on the performance. In the case of any differences between the official unit and a worker, the issue is to be submitted before the Executive Director to resolve the problem.
The entire staff of the center must commit to the general rules for administrating the Center, as well as the rules on financial and administrative policy. Lawyers are also committed to the rules governing their work, which is included in three annexes attached to these regulations.
1 - General rules for the administration of the Center:
- The relationship between the Center Executive Director and the various units is organized by officials of the units
. - The unit head has the right to take decisions that will conduct the work within the unit.
- Legal Unit will hold a weekly meeting for the distribution of legal work for members of the unit focus on previous work and discuss the problems faced by employees. In addition, all of the Research Unit, documentation unit, international relations and the administrative unit shall hold a meeting every two weeks to discuss the problems and constraints, and to suggest solutions to them, and the Executive Director has the right to participate in these meetings.
- The various units plan for the annual activity, where it has to submit these plans to the Executive Director not later than early October of each year. These units present, at the meetings of workers, the different perceptions to be discussed during the first half of October, for approval, that to be submitted through the Executive Director on the Board of Trustees. - In case of dissolution or cessation of center by force of law, the Board of Trustees or the remaining persons of them shall determine, by regular majority, the transfer of funds and assets of the Center to one of human rights organizations interested in economic and social rights.
- The Center retains all documents, files and folders related to its activity at its residence for a period of three years. And it is entitled, after this period which begins from the date of the activity completion, to dispose these documents.
2 - Financial and administrative policies for the Land Center:
There are a number of points that formulate the financial and administrative policies of the Center, most notably:
- The Secretary of the Treasury can't do the disbursements, except after the adoption of the financial officer to the amounts to be disbursed by selecting the amounts to be spent. - At the end of each day, the Secretary of the Treasury must check the monetary performances of the Treasury, as it is reviewed each month with reviser. Then it must be adopted by the Director of the Center, where it must be accompanied by disclosure of all documents supporting the exchange.
- Monetary actions of the Treasury must be recorded in a daily Treasury ledger. As for the transfer of workers, request custody shall be prepared and adopted by the Chief Financial Officer to settle these amounts at the end of each month.
- The lawyers, at the end of each month, prepare a litigation analytical statement, attached with it the supporting documents.
- After the adoption of the transfer and litigation analytical statement, accompanied with the documents supporting the exchange, there must be a settlement with the Secretary of the Treasury, where the costs are paid after approval by the chief financial officer and executive director.
- At the end of each month the vouchers are to be displayed before the Director of the Center, after its review by the financial director of the Center.
C - Treasury
- Responsible by the internal accountant, where a daily inventory of the treasury must be done.
- The amount of money with the accountant shall not exceed 5000 pounds, where the Director of the Center is required to complete the money after the completion of the disbursement.
D - Salaries and bonuses:
- Rewards and incentives are granted to lawyers and expatriate workers according to the contracts, while the employees at unit administrative staff are given a monthly salary, where commitment and non waste of time and effort shall be considered for all employees. The incentive for the performance of each worker is to be paid, however it is estimated by the Director, where it must not increase for more than the basic salary. It also must be adopted by the Director of the Center before being discharged. In addition, periodic bonuses are to be granted for each worker who worked for more than a year, but it shall not exceed more than 15% of his basic wage.
- All staff of the center is to attend and leave on a daily basis and regularly, where the official working hours are from 9 am to 5 pm, except on Fridays, Saturdays and holidays, taking into account the fact that the working hours are 42 hours weekly, where the additional working hours increase the additional payment. - For part-time researchers and expatriate workers, they do not have to follow the rules of engagement, attendance and leave.
- Days of absence and delay will be deducted from salary for the administrative unit, where deduction for each day of absence is counted by two days of basic salary or monthly stipend. - Depending on the nature and size of the error, taking actions begins with blaming, then warning, payroll deductions, leave without pay deduction, and ends with dismissal as a final sanction. However, the dismissed worker shall be paid a reward of two months as bonuses for each year, and the Director of the Center shall signed by at any penalty issued against an employee, but in case the worker intends to leave for personal reasons, he must inform the administration of the Center just two months at least before he leaves, where he is entitled for a month bonus for each year. And in the case of leaving without briefing note, the worker does not deserve any reward from the above-mentioned. Center may sue him if there was a serious breach committed before leaving work.
- In case of failure of any of the employees to perform work assigned to him, the director is entitled to take action to implement these actions, so as to not be affected by activity plan and goals. He might depend on some of the staff of the center, or he can rely on expatriated workers. In addition, he imposes appropriate punishment for the error of the worker.
G - The duties of workers:
- The worker in the center shall perform work assigned to him accurately and honestly, and to do it himself, and to take the measurements of a caring person.
- The worker shall devote time to act for the performance of official duties, and he may be assigned by the administration of the Center or the head of the unit to operate the work in non-working hours, if the work needs this.
- The worker shall treat the beneficiaries of the activities of the Center in a good manner, and give them the proper and humanitarian treatment. - The worker in the center is obliged to maintain the property and funds of the Center, the unit he works at, cares for it, maintenance to it and to all the tools and hardware ... etc..
- The worker in the center is to collaborate with colleagues in all units in the performance of the urgent tasks necessary to ensure the workflow.
- Workers are not allowed to divulge any secret of the Center, pertaining to one of the files, cases or reports.
- Workers of the center are not allowed to accept any gift, reward or commission, while doing their work within the unit, from any of the visitors to the center or the beneficiaries of its activities.
- Any violation of any of the prior items is considered as an offense that requires disciplinary liability included in penalties regulations.
- No financial and administrative rules is applied to expatriate workers, but provisions of the contract of agreement signed between the workers and the Center, including with regard to the type and duration of work agreed by them. Those workers are not entitled to claim any place other than the benefits agreed in the concluded agreement between them and the center.
3 – Internal regulations of the legal unit of land center:
Organizational structure of the legal unit
Legal Unit consists of: Coordinator of the Legal Unit and a number of workers depending on the size and requirements of the work required, where it is conditioned for those appointed at the legal unit: --
- Not under the age of 25 years.
- To be of Egyptian nationality.
- To be well mannered and in good behavior.
- Not have been convicted of a criminal offense or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude or dishonesty.
- Hold a Bachelor of Law from one of the Egyptian universities or equivalent, where he has to be enrolled in the scale of Appeals Bar Association.
- Must have practiced law for a year prior to his work at the center, at least. It is required, in addition to the previous conditions, for the Coordinator of the Legal Unit to have practiced law for at least seven years from the date of registration of the General Schedule, and to be enrolled at the scale of Appeals Bar Association.
Commitments of the Coordinator of the unit:
- The Coordinator supervises the work of the Legal Unit and the work performed by the staff of the unit, whether the administrative work of courts and hearings and the corresponding files that need legal effort, by typing papers and notes of cases and appeals, or the work attributed by the administration of the Center.
- The Coordinator will distribute the administrative work, coordinate the courts meetings, and coordination the work among workers in the unit, to complete the work assigned to them by the management.
- Coordinator will be responsible, directly, before the administration of the Center, for the entire Unit's work, its achievements and its difficulties, and his workers per unit of work.
- Coordinator has the right to impose the sanctions on one of the workers in the unit, after consulting the director of the Center.
And he has to take into account what was mentioned in the duties and rights of workers.
Jurisdiction of the Legal Unit:
They are the following:
- Receiving complaints and reports, examine and study and take appropriate act, which relates to violations of the rights of peasants, workers, fishermen and women and children working in agriculture.
- Prosecutions and appeals to all courts and judicial jurisdiction.
- Complaints and reports to the competent authorities and follow-up to remove the causes of the complaint.
- The presence in D.A. investigations, which include accusations that constitute a violation of a fundamental right of the target groups by the Center.
- The preparation of unit activity, of plans, monthly reports on its activities and reports on problems and constraints, for being submitted to the Director of the Center.
The authority to supervise and follow-up:
The authority to supervise and follow up of the Legal Unit work and the Unit staff is held to the Coordinator of the Unit and the Director of the Center, for the supply of all data and information requested by, where his failing is considered as an administrative violation, which requires a disciplinary act. The Coordinator of the Unit has the right to refuse some issues but he must abide to the opinion of Director of the Center after he shows on the reasons for rejection.
4 - Financial Regulations of the legal unit
First: All the legal union workers keep recording, in private records, what he spent for logistical expenses or litigation.
Second: The liquidation of finances, whether logistical or litigation, related to each month, is to be performed by the chief financial officer, together with the supporting documents for expenditures.
Third: Any amounts to be disbursed, related to procedures of litigation, without being supported by documents, shall not be calculated, and the employee who made these expenditures without having to provide evidence of expenditure bears them.
Fourth: The worker who commits, due to his negligence, whether intentionally or unintentionally, a fault that causes an increase in spending, as a result of a write-off of one case, is committed to renew it on his own money, without being included in the accounts of the unit.
Fifth: The workers bear the travel expenses outside the big city of Cairo without entitlement to travel allowance, if he was assigned for some work that he didn't perform, without prejudice to disciplinary liability.
Sixth: For internal transitions in the Greater Cairo, account must be considered in the view of attending meetings and administrative work. As for the allowance of transfer to some other governorates, the list was clear and must be adhered in this point. For the places not mentioned in the table, it must be take into account the distance, time, and allowances compared to the mentioned governorates. To measure the allowances, value of second-class of the train was used as a criterion for determining the allowance: --
To maintain the travel allowance
Beni Suef, 25 pounds
Fayoum, 25 pounds
Ismailia, 25 pounds
Mansoura 30 pounds
Mitt Ghamr 25 pounds
Alexandria 60 pounds
Zagazig 25 pounds
Echmoun 30 pounds
Husseinieh 25 pounds
October 10 pounds
Benha 10 pounds
Khanka 10 pounds
Minia 60 pounds
Basyoun 30 pounds
Kafr El-Sheikh £ 40
Damietta 60 pounds
Sohag 80 pounds
Qena, 100 pounds
6 - Job description
The Center is divided according to its competence and the role of each member to the following:
- Board of Trustees
It is an advisory body of the Center, and the Center Director is to submit annual reports to it and take its view for the adoption of the reports. The Executive Director is the link between the board and the Center
- Executive Director
It is the link between the Board of Trustees and staff of the center, it is also the link between the center staff and coordinators of units. The Executive Director follows-up the daily work of the units, overcome the obstacles that will conduct the work, and achieve the objectives of the Center.
He also plans, with the coordinators of the units, for the activity and objectives of each unit and how to implement these activities. And Director of the Center represents the Center at local and international forums and has the right to choose his representative in this regard.
- The Legal Unit:
It is the unit to provide legal proceedings before the courts and various blocs of investigation. The Unit is composed of full-time lawyers or workers from abroad, and it is working to support the target groups of the Center of the farmers, workers, women and children of workers and the agricultural sector and fishermen.
The Unit also is specialized for arranging the complaints and violations they have received from the Research Unit, which is handed over to the legal unit every three months or on a daily basis. In the case of a sudden violation, the intervention of the Center is required, to defend the mentioned rights focused by the center.
- Unit of Research and Documentation:
This Unit is meant for the preparation of reports issued by the Center, through full-time researchers or researchers from abroad, where the unit follow-up activities in the field of studies issued.
This unit works on saving the Center's information, organizes its retrieval, and is interested in classification and indexing of the library and the responsibility of distribution of books, magazine, and reports, in addition to the classification of the archives.
The unit also documents and orders information and the problems of workers, peasants,
women, children and fishermen. The Unit issued press releases and pamphlets of the Center, which reflects the conditions of peasants and rural Egypt. The Unit also follows-up the implementation of workshops, seminars and training courses that is implemented by the Center in different villages.
- A unit of international relations and translation
This unit translated versions of the Center, its periodic and annual reports, and has the responsibility of the editing of versions through the use of translators and editors from the outside. It also follows-up international relations, addresses international institutions that support the Center projects, for the achievement of its objectives, and participates in networks interested in economic and social rights and the conditions of rural farmers and up to international conferences, and to ensure representation of the Center Supervisor .
The Unit is also building a network of international relations for the exchange of experiences, skills and participation in international activities of common interest, and the search for sources of funding for the Center and follow-up to United Nations committees, participating in its work.
- Administration Unit
The Unit is responsible for opening the Center's headquarters and maintenance of devices and situations, and receives faxes and sends it. It also follows-up the gathering of the computers and follow-up purchase of office stationery and the basis In addition to the unit took up photography, domestic and international mail and correspondence Center
- Finance Unit
Unit to work on a daily movement of the Treasury, processing and audit of the month with the staff (salary - Bonuses - Transitions ... etc.) and prepare a monthly budget and semi-annual financial assessment and the preparation and the preparation of the annual budget for the Center and the work of a monthly inventory of the contents and belongings and furniture of the Center.