An assault on an older man in Suez in October triggered widespread anger after a video circulated showing a young man violently attacking him as he struggled to defend himself. The incident also renewed questions in parliament about protections promised to older people but still awaiting implementation.
Freddy El-Bayadi, an MP and deputy leader of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, submitted a parliamentary request for a briefing from the prime minister and the social solidarity minister over the delay in issuing the implementing regulations for the Older Persons’ Rights Care Law.
The legislation is Law No. 19 of 2024, published in the Official Gazette on 4 April 2024. Its promulgation provisions required the prime minister to issue implementing regulations within six months of its entry into force. More than a year later, interviewees said the missing regulations were preventing many of its guarantees from taking practical effect.
El-Bayadi argued that parliament had fulfilled its role by passing legislation intended to safeguard older people’s dignity, provide health, social and psychological care, and strengthen protection against abuse. The government, he said, was approaching the issue without sufficient seriousness or the political and administrative will to implement it.
Ratified by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the law was welcomed by rights advocates for providing an extensive framework of social, economic and health protections. It applies to Egyptians aged 65 and above. It also covers legally resident foreign nationals who have reached the retirement age set by their countries’ laws, subject to reciprocity, which the president may waive.
The legislation addresses exploitation, neglect, physical and verbal abuse and restrictions on liberty. It affirms older people’s dignity, independent decision-making and participation in society, and prohibits discrimination on grounds of age. It also requires particular protection during emergencies, disasters and epidemics, including safe accommodation.
Older people most in need who do not receive a social insurance pension are entitled to monthly assistance under the rules to be set out in the implementing regulations. The law provides for pensions or assistance to be delivered to a person’s home for a fee of 0.5% of the payment, capped at EGP 100. Where relatives do not agree on arrangements for care, the responsible ministry can refer the matter to the family court to appoint a caregiver or determine suitable residential care.
To finance an older persons’ care fund, the legislation adds EGP 5 to fees on 19 categories of services. These include firearm licences; tickets for sports matches, theatres, cinemas, concerts and festivals; applications to military and police colleges and institutes; sports club subscriptions and annual renewals; and work permits for Egyptians.
The list also covers tender documents for public bodies, contracting and supply agreements, building permits, applications to reserve state-offered land or housing in new urban communities, civil society organisation registration and licences for foreign non-governmental organisations. Separately, licensing institutions providing residential, social, cultural, recreational, religious or sporting services for older people carries a fee capped at EGP 100,000, with categories and exemptions to be determined by regulation.
“What is the point of issuing laws if they remain ink on paper? Does the dignity of older people not deserve prompt implementation and accountability?” El-Bayadi asked.
He told Zawia3 that he had already raised the issue twice: once six months after the law was issued and again after a year. On both occasions, the government’s answer was that the regulations were ready and would be issued soon. By the time of this report, he said, that had not happened.
El-Bayadi regarded the delay as disregard for older people’s rights and for parliament’s will. He argued that it conflicted with the rule of law under Article 94 of the Constitution, the social protection guarantees in Article 17 and Egypt’s international commitments. Article 17 requires social insurance provision and social security for citizens outside that system, alongside protections for pension and insurance funds.
“The regulations should have been issued within six months,” he said. “The law grants older people many rights and benefits—the least that can be offered to people who have served the country. But without implementing regulations, it remains ink on paper, as though nothing happened.”
He called for the prime minister to be summoned to parliament to explain the delay and for the government to commit to a firm, immediate deadline. Continued postponement, he said, was serious negligence that undermined the state’s credibility on care for older people.
“The laws are ready and parliament has done its job, but the government’s will is still absent,” he concluded. “The absence of that will is no less dangerous than an assault on an older person in the street.”
Article 2 of the promulgating law set the six-month deadline for issuing the regulations. It also allowed relevant bodies up to six months after the regulations were issued to bring their arrangements into compliance.
A law left on paper
Human rights lawyer Malek Adly, head of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, said the missed deadline demanded parliamentary and legal scrutiny. The law concerned a group entitled to particular care, yet the procedures needed to implement many of its provisions had not been issued.
He saw two possible explanations: severe negligence amid the volume of legislation being passed, or a law intended primarily for domestic public consumption without a serious commitment to implementation. Either possibility required accountability, he argued.
“There are other consequences concerning funding and the expenditure the law provides for,” Adly told Zawia3. “Has it been included in the state budget? Will the law be implemented? This creates many administrative and financial complications. A body is responsible for issuing these regulations. Why has it not done so? That body should be questioned.”
He said regulations were needed to clarify how the care fund would operate, the services it would offer, its resources and administrative arrangements, and the responsibilities and allocations of those implementing it. Without those details, assessing the scheme’s operation was difficult.
For Adly, the missing regulations meant older people lacked clear procedures for obtaining the law’s promised services, while the institutions, staffing and practical responsibilities required to deliver them remained unresolved.
His criticism concerned the gap between legislation and implementation: a written entitlement offers little practical reassurance when people do not know where to apply, which institution must respond or how the service will be funded.
Rights awaiting delivery
The law’s first chapter sets out a broad objective: to protect and care for older people and ensure their enjoyment of social, political, health, cultural, recreational and other rights. Its social protection framework includes cash or in-kind support for those unable to meet essential living needs, alongside services adapted to a person’s economic, social and health circumstances and preferences.
It also envisages community-based support that enables older people to exercise their rights and freedoms and participate on equal terms. Families, community members and organisations are expected to contribute to that inclusion.
An official card issued by the responsible ministry is intended to establish eligibility for services for older people most in need. The law also provides for accredited companions or caregivers: trained people who can help with daily activities at home, in hospitals, in care institutions or elsewhere. Their fees are paid by the older person or the person responsible for their care.
Alaa Ghannam, director of the Right to Health programme at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, stressed the importance of such protection, particularly amid the crises affecting society. Older people, he said, are a group whose rights and welfare require specific safeguards.
Ghannam questioned why the government had still not issued the implementing regulations for a law passed the previous April. He described the delay as neglect and a loss of rights at a time when protecting older people and children should be a basic obligation.
A comprehensive framework without its implementing rules
Parliamentary candidate Nashwa El-Deeb, director of the Nashwa El-Deeb Development Foundation and a former MP, said the delay had gone well beyond the expected timetable and was holding back many of the law’s benefits. The relevant authorities, including the Social Solidarity Ministry, had not identified obstacles that explained it, she said.
She recalled that the government itself had submitted a bill alongside the proposal advanced by her foundation. Its willingness to address older people’s needs and accept substantial state obligations had been welcome. She attributed the subsequent delay to other matters taking precedence.
“This is the first Egyptian law to address older people through a framework of rights, legal protection, social care, health and recreation,” El-Deeb said. “It places them within an active life, rather than treating them as a burden on society or as people waiting to die.”
She pointed to benefits concerning transport, recreation and health, and to the state’s responsibility for older people unable to afford care. The law also imposes penalties for neglect, whether by families or care homes.
Residential institutions, she emphasised, are subject to safeguards. They cannot compel an older person to remain against their will or simply reject a request to leave. The creation of a dedicated care fund was another central provision.
El-Deeb praised the president’s interest in the fund and recalled what she believed was a contribution of EGP 10 billion. This was her recollection, rather than a figure independently established in this report. Earlier reporting cited comments from an unnamed Finance Ministry official giving a different figure: EGP 5 billion allocated by the government to the fund. The two accounts should not be read as a single verified allocation.
That official, quoted by Masr360 in August 2024, also said older people’s needs had been incorporated into poverty reduction and sustainable development programmes. The official cited 700,000 older beneficiaries of the Karama social assistance programme, receiving a total of EGP 4.7 billion.
El-Deeb urged the government to issue the regulations promptly so that older people could obtain the rights and services the law promised.
More than a year after Law No. 19 of 2024 was enacted, the absence of detailed implementing arrangements remained the central concern voiced by parliamentarians and rights advocates interviewed for this report. The gap between passing legislation and delivering services was leaving older people waiting for commitments to become practical support.
They called for the responsible authorities to explain the delay, face scrutiny and set a clear implementation timetable. In their view, this was more than an administrative lapse: it was a failure to deliver protection to a group particularly exposed to neglect and abuse.
