Since the beginning of 2024, the House of Representatives has been busy grappling with new laws covering criminal procedures, old rents, labour regulations, refugees, elections, and local councils. While some laws were submitted to the House based on presidential directives and cabinet requests, others were based on recommendations by the National Dialogue’s Board of Trustees or to meet constitutional obligations.

The draft Criminal Procedures Law, which includes articles on pretrial detention, stirred controversy when it was discussed by MPs in early November. The Press Syndicate and the National Dialogue Board of Trustees voiced concerns that many of their recommendations on pretrial detention had been excluded from the final draft. They want pretrial detention to be significantly reduced, and in many cases replaced by electronic surveillance or house arrest. The final draft of the law reduced the maximum period of pretrial detention for misdemeanours from six to four months, for felonies from 18 to 12 months, and for crimes that carry the death penalty or life imprisonment from 24 to 18 months.

According to Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Political Communication Mahmoud Fawzi, the law is an integral part of Egypt’s new human rights strategy and will reinforce liberties and civil rights.

The law comprises six main chapters covering criminal prosecution, evidence collection, courts, appeals, enforcement,and international judicial cooperation. The bill protects the rights of both the defendants and victims of crime while maintaining public order and safeguarding individual freedoms, according to Justice Minister Adnan Al-Fangari.

The law allows the use of modern technology to notify defendants of legal proceedings and conduct remote trials. It gives police officers the right to search homes only after obtaining a judicial warrant. Defendants have an automatic right to be represented by lawyers. The bill also regulates financial compensation for those wrongly detained and/or subjected to travel bans and asset freezes.

Approval of a landmark law regulating the status, rights, and obligations of refugees and asylum seekers also met with criticism, this time from local and foreign NGOs.

The 39-article law proposes the creation of a permanent committee for refugee affairs to handle refugee-related matters, including managing data and statistics. The committee will be affiliated with the Prime Minister’s Office and headquartered in Cairo. In coordination with the Foreign Ministry, the committee will be responsible for processing asylum requests, cooperating with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and providing support, care and services to refugees.

Head of the House’s Defence and National Security Committee Ahmed Al-Awadi told Al-Ahram Weekly that the new law is the first piece of domestic legislation to regulate the affairs of refugees and asylum seekers in Egypt in line with international agreements, most notably the 1951 Geneva Convention. Al-Awadi added that the law reflects Egypt’s respect for human rights and commitment to international conventions and agreements and that, while acknowledging the high cost of hosting migrants, the government, in coordination with parliament, could not ignore the fact that Egypt has become a safe haven for millions fleeing wars and conflicts in neighbouring African and Arab countries such as Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Somalia.

He also stressed that under the law, refugees are entitled to obtain a travel document issued by the Interior Ministry, perform religious rituals, own fixed and movable assets, be employed, receive health care and have access to basic education.

A report prepared by the House’s Defence and National Security Committee said that in 2023 Egypt ranked third in the world in terms of the number of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers it was hosting. Between nine and 10 million refugees from 133 countries currently live in Egypt, equivalent to 8.7 per cent of the total population. According to head of the House’s Budget Committee Fakhri Al-Fiqi, the hosting of refugees costs Egypt more than LE300 billion — around $6 billion — each year.

Twenty-two local and foreign human rights NGOs signed a statement saying that “the law gives the proposed permanent committee for refugee affairs absolute powers in overseeing the asylum process which could result in a reduction of protection levels available to the refugee population in Egypt,” adding that the committee has been given carte blanche “to take whatever measures it deems necessary towards refugees”.

Al-Awadi dismissed criticisms of the permanent committee’s mandate and questions over its impartiality, pointing out that while the committee is mandated with deciding on asylum requests, in case of rejection asylum seekers have the right to appeal committee decisions before the Court of Administrative Justice. He also stressed that one of the committee’s main tasks is to gather statistical data on the numbers of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers living in Egypt.

Labour Minister Mohamed Gobran told the Senate last month that the 267-article redrafted labour law, which received preliminary approval from both the cabinet and the House’s Manpower Committee in October and November, was drafted following multiple rounds of consultations with workers and businessmen over a two-year period.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Fawzi told Senators that the government has placed the newly redrafted labour bill on the top of its legislative agenda and wants to see it on the statute book before the end of 2024. The bill, according to Fawzi, balances the interests of government, workers, and employers.

“We want a balanced law that protects the rights of workers and at the same time attract private investments,” said Gobran, noting that “the private sector now employs 80 per cent of Egypt’s 30 million workers.”

After provisionally approving the redrafted Labour Bill last month, the House’s Manpower Committee passed 63 articles covering child labour, recruitment, women in the workplace, maternity leave, working hours, and the establishment of a training fund.

Chairman of the committee Adel Abdel-Fadil told the Weekly that the draft Labour Law approved by the Senate in February 2022 was withdrawn by the government on the grounds that some articles needed further amendments after the draft had met with extensive criticisms from the business community and the General Egyptian Federation of Trade Union (GEFTU).

The Federation of Egyptian Industries criticised 17 articles, including on strikes, maternity leave, contracts and bonuses, while GEFTU voiced concerns over articles relating to strikes, women in the workplace, maternity leave, workers’ bonuses, child labour, VAT on labour dispute lawsuits, and training.

Abdel-Fadil described the labour bill as progressive: not only does it tackle the shortcomings in the current law (12/2003), but it aims to streamline work conditions.

“It was important for Egypt to draft a new labour law in line with the country’s 2014 constitution and new rules instituted by the Supreme Constitutional Court and new International Labour Organisation conventions,” said Abdel-Fadil. “Many of the current law’s articles contradict regulations regulating child labour, social insurance, and pensions.”

There is a pressing need to issue a new labour law to reflect changing economic and labour conditions and create a balanced relationship between employees and employers, he said.

Under the new law, a Higher Council for Planning and Employing Labour Forces will be set up to oversee labour policy and assistance for seasonal workers.

The law regulating rents for housing units and residential properties has figured prominently on the House’s legislative agenda in recent weeks. Following a 9 November ruling by the Supreme Constitutional Court declaring the 1981 landlord-tenant relationship law — the so-called the old rent law — unconstitutional. The court argued that the fixed rent cap — set at seven per cent of the value of the land and building at the time of licensing — fails to take inflation into account and is unfair to landlords.

Determining rent levels, said the court, must be based on objective criteria that achieves a balance between the interests of both parties in the rental relationship. The court called on the House to amend the first two articles of the law before the legislative season ends in July 2025.

The House issued a statement saying it had entrusted the Housing Committee with preparing a comprehensive report on laws regulating housing rents and on the court’s ruling on the relationship between landlords and tenants.

Mohamed Attia Al-Fayoumi, head of parliament’s Housing Committee, told the Weekly that the committee has already begun holding hearing sessions on rent laws. “There are two potential approaches to resolving the long-standing issue: either amend the old law to allow for a gradual increase in rents or draft an entirely new law,” he said.

The House is also slated to discuss and vote on a number of political laws before parliamentary elections are held on November 2025. Most of the proposed changes follow National Dialogue recommendations.

The creation of a new local council law tops the list. A majority of participants in the National Dialogue recommended new legislation should grant elected local councils as much power as possible to oversee the performance of local governors and the heads of local council executives. The legislation should also ensure the independence of elected local councils in terms of performance and budget.

Participants in the dialogue also want to combine the closed system and open proportional lists in local council elections, with 75 per cent of councillors elected by the former and 25 per cent by the latter.

Head of the House’s Local Administration Committee Ahmed Al-Sigini doubts that a new local council law can be passed by the end of the House’s current parliamentary session, saying there is not enough time to discuss and vote on such complex legislation.

Diaa Rashwan, general coordinator of the National Dialogue, said that political laws that should be passed by the House before its five-year term comes to an end in July include changing the 2014 law on the exercise of political rights to allow for more rights in terms of voting, campaigning, and media coverage, and amending laws regulating the performance of the House of Representatives and the Senate to allow for the use of combinations of three election systems— the closed party-list system, open proportional lists,and a mix between the closed and open list system with individual candidacy.

Rashwan also said new laws should increase the number of senators and MPs to better reflect demographic changes.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 26 December, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly