EGYPT: Forced Religious Conversion of 14-Year-Old Twins before the African Commission

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بالعربية

[Cairo, 10 November 2008] The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) filed a new lawsuit before the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) challenging the Egyptian government's policy of altering the religious affiliation of Christian children when one of their parents converts to Islam and granting automatic custody to the Muslim parent.

 The African Union's primary human rights body starts its biannual regular session today in Abuja, Nigeria, during which the ACHPR is expected to consider the case (number 363/2008) before referring it to the Egyptian government for response. 

The Applicant in the case is Ms. Kamilia Lotfy, who lost custody of her 14-year-old twin sons Mario and Andrew on 24 September 2008, after the Alexandria Appellate Court issued a final decision granting custody of the twins to their father who had converted from Christianity to Islam and left the family in 2000. In 2006, the father had also succeeded in changing the religious affiliation of the children in public records to Islam.

The custody decision was based on the court's interpretation of Shari'a, despite the fact that Article 20 of Egypt's Personal Status Law stipulates that a mother shall be the custodial parent of children below the age of fifteen without distinction on the basis of religion.

The complaint before the African Commission accuses the Egyptian government of violating the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, ratified by Egypt in 1984. The government's treatment of Ms. Lotfy, the case argues, constituted discrimination based on her religion and violated her right to equal protection before the law. The case also charges that the government violated the two boys' right to freedom of religion and contravened the state's legal obligation to protect child rights.

The EIPR submitted the new case in partnership with the London-based INTERIGHTS- International Center for the Legal Protection of Human Rights.

** More resources children's rights in Egypt

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pdf: http://www.eipr.org/en/press/08/1011.htm

Country: 
Egypt
Issues: 
Minority or indigenous children
Attachment Link: 
http://www.eipr.org/en/press/08/1011.htm
Tags: 
Individual cases of violations

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