Last month, Suez governorate witnessed an assault on an elderly man, which sparked a wave of widespread anger on social media after the circulation of a video clip showing a young man violently assaulting an elderly man unable to defend himself.
In a parliamentary move that followed the assault on an elderly man in Suez governorate, Dr Freddy El-Bayadi, a member of the House of Representatives and deputy head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, submitted a briefing request addressed to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Social Solidarity regarding the government’s delay in issuing the executive regulations of the Law on the Rights of the Elderly No. (19) of 2024, despite more than a year having passed since its issuance.
The MP explained that the law was issued on 4 April 2024 and published in the Official Gazette, and that it stipulated that its executive regulations be issued within six months of the date it came into force, but the government has not complied with this so far, which has obstructed its application and left older people without the protection the legislator granted them. He pointed out that parliament had done its part by passing the law, which aims to safeguard the dignity of older people, provide them with health, social and psychological care, and toughen penalties against those who assault them, but the government, according to him, “is dealing with the file without seriousness, amid a clear absence of executive and political will”.
The Egyptian House of Representatives finished drafting the Law on Caring for the Rights of the Elderly No. 19 of 2024 on 4 April last year, and the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, ratified it at the time. The law received widespread praise from a number of human rights advocates, on the grounds that it achieves unprecedented gains in the file of older people, which would deliver social, economic, health and psychological rights to this group; the law aims primarily to protect and care for older people (every Egyptian man or woman who has reached 65 years of age) and to guarantee their comprehensive rights so as to ensure a dignified and safe life for them, and its provisions also cover foreigners residing in Egypt, on condition of reciprocity.
The law criminalises the various forms of abuse against an older person, whether material or moral, such as exploitation, neglect, physical or verbal assault, or restriction of freedom, and it guarantees respect for the older person’s dignity and freedom to make his own decisions, prohibits discrimination against him on the basis of age, and affirms his right to active participation in society. It also obliges the state to provide the highest degree of protection for older people in times of disasters, crises and epidemics, and to provide safe shelters for them, and it grants “the older person most in need of care” the right to receive a monthly social security allowance if he does not receive an insurance pension. The law also provides a service for delivering the pension or financial assistance to the older person’s place of residence for a nominal fee not exceeding EGP 100, and if the family does not fulfil its duty, the competent ministry has the right to refer the matter to the family court to appoint a care provider from among the relatives, or to decide to place the older person in one of the social care institutions.
Under the law, the financial fees imposed on 19 services are increased by EGP 5 to fund the Elderly Care Fund. These services include: issuing and renewing weapons licences; tickets for sports matches, theatre and cinema, and for concerts and music festivals of all kinds; applications for admission to military and police colleges and institutes; sports club subscriptions and the renewal of their annual membership; as well as work permit fees for Egyptians; the books of terms and specifications for tenders and auctions concluded by public bodies; contracting and supply contracts; building permits; applications to reserve a plot of land or a housing unit from the land or units offered by the state in the new urban cities; registration fees for civil society organisations; and licensing or licence renewal for the work of foreign non-governmental organisations. The law also imposes a fee not exceeding EGP 100,000 for licensing the establishment of social institutions for the care of older people, and of social institutions that provide social, cultural, recreational, religious and sports services to them.
Although more than a year has passed since the House of Representatives issued the law and the President ratified it, the government has not yet issued the regulations that will set out the mechanisms for applying the law, and without them many of its provisions remain inactive, which obstructs the implementation of the law and deprives older people of their gains.
MP Freddy El-Bayadi had previously submitted two briefing requests on the same issue: the first after six months had passed since the law was issued, and the second after a year. The government’s answer on both occasions was that “the regulations are ready and will be issued soon”, which has not happened to this day, as El-Bayadi confirms in his conversation with us.
El-Bayadi believes that the delay in issuing the executive regulations represents a flagrant disregard for the rights of older people and an unacceptable disregard of the will of the House of Representatives, and that the government’s obstruction of the issuance of the regulations constitutes a flagrant violation of the constitution and a breach of the principle of the rule of law established by (Article 94) of the Egyptian Constitution, and of citizens’ right to social security and a dignified life stipulated in (Article 17), which obliges the state to guarantee social insurance services and guarantees citizens not covered by social insurance the right to social security so as to ensure a dignified life for them. The article also provides for the state to provide an appropriate pension for small farmers, agricultural workers, fishermen and irregular workers, and affirms that insurance and pension funds are private funds that are protected, invested safely and managed by an independent body. It also contradicts the international obligations the state has undertaken, in addition to being an insult to the authority of the House of Representatives and a belittling of its oversight tools.
He tells Zawia3 that “the regulations were supposed to be issued within six months of the passage of the law, whose importance lies in the fact that it grants many rights and privileges to older people, and it is the least that can be offered to them in terms of rights; it is an honouring of the older people who served the homeland. Good privileges were set out in the law, but without executive regulations the law remains mere ink on paper, as if nothing had happened”.
The MP considers that the recent “Suez elderly man” incident highlights the seriousness of this delay, asking: “What is the point of issuing laws if they remain ink on paper? And does the dignity of older people not deserve speedy implementation and accountability from the government?”
The MP demands that the Prime Minister be summoned to parliament to be held directly accountable for this unjustified inaction, and that the government be obliged to set an immediate and final date for issuing the executive regulations, stressing that the continued delay is “gross negligence that costs the state its credibility in caring for older people.”
El-Bayadi concludes his remarks, saying: “The laws are ready and the House has played its role, but the government’s will is still absent. And the absence of this will is no less dangerous than any assault that befalls older people in the street.”
Law No. 19 of 2024 was published in issue (14), continued (D), of the Official Gazette on 4 April 2024, and it stipulated in its second article that the Prime Minister shall issue the executive regulations of the attached law within six months of the date it comes into force, and that all bodies concerned with it shall regularise their status in accordance with its provisions within a period not exceeding six months from the date of issuance of the executive regulations of the attached law.
The law is ink on paper
Human rights lawyer Malek Adly, head of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, explains that the Law on Caring for the Rights of the Elderly, which was issued in April last year and whose executive regulations have not been issued so far, concerns the care of a special and valued group in society. He considers that the matter calls for parliamentary accountability, because the law stipulates that the executive regulations must be issued within a specific period of time, and this period has expired without the regulations being issued. This law has therefore become effectively suspended, and the whole matter should be subject to parliamentary and legal accountability.
He tells “Zawia3″: ” The delay in issuing its executive regulations reflects either a state of severe negligence, since the authorities issue many laws and the government may forget some of them amid the crowd of recently issued laws, or that the law itself was originally prepared for domestic consumption, meaning that there is no seriousness about implementing it, because without the executive regulations it is ink on paper, and this is a big problem. The matter has other consequences related to the funding of the councils and the expenditures stipulated by the law, whether they were included in the state’s general budget or not, and whether the law will be applied or not. This creates many administrative and financial problems and complications, and these are matters that require accountability. There is supposed to be a body responsible for issuing the executive regulations of this law, so why have they not been issued? That body is the one that should be held accountable, not us.”
Adly adds: “When the executive regulations are issued, they will make clear to us how this fund is to be established, whether it is a cash fund or a financial fund, its financial purposes, the services it provides, its resources, its buildings, its staff, their allocations and their powers. All of this is determined by the executive regulations. If there are no regulations, on what basis will we judge? As long as there are no executive regulations, this means that this law is suspended, or that it is mere ink on paper”.
The human rights lawyer affirms that the absence of the executive regulations means there are no bodies to enforce this law, no procedures for enjoying the rights it provides for, no buildings designated for providing the services that are to be delivered through it, and no staff tasked with implementing it. All of this is determined by the executive regulations, and since they do not exist, there is consequently no law on the ground.
Squandering the rights of older people in Egypt
The provisions of the Law on Caring for the Rights of the Elderly apply to any Egyptian who has reached the age of sixty-five in Gregorian years. Its provisions also apply to foreigners legally residing in the Arab Republic of Egypt who have reached the age set for retirement under the laws of the countries whose nationality they hold, on condition of reciprocity, and an exemption from the reciprocity condition may be granted by decision of the President of the Republic, for considerations he deems appropriate.
This law, according to what is stated in Chapter One, aims to protect and care for the older person, guarantee his enjoyment of all social, political, health, cultural, recreational and other rights, provide him with the necessary protection, enhance his dignity and secure a dignified life for him. It affords older people social protection, through an integrated set of measures and procedures taken by the state to extend the social safety net and provide a minimum level of cash or in-kind support to the older person most in need of care in a way that guarantees him a dignified life, as well as social care through the provision of a range of social services, recreational and cultural activities and other services that meet the needs of the older person in line with his economic, social and health circumstances and his personal inclinations.
The law also provides a strategy that operates within the framework of community development and is based on rehabilitating the older person and enabling him to exercise his rights and freedoms, integrating him and affording him equal opportunities in society through the combined efforts of himself, his family, members of society and its organisations to help bring about this integration. It grants the older person most in need of care a card that serves as an official document issued by the competent ministry, proving that its holder is entitled to the services provided to the older person most in need of care and that he is subject to the provisions of this law, and it gives him the right to the elderly companion service, provided by persons who are practically and technically or academically qualified and accredited by the competent ministry, under which they contribute to providing comprehensive daily care to the older person and helping him perform his functions and life skills inside his home, in a hospital, in an elderly care institution or in other places where he is present, in exchange for a fee borne by the older person or by the person charged with his care.
For his part, Dr Alaa Ghannam, head of the Right to Health Unit at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, stresses to “Zawia3” the importance of the Law on Caring for the Rights of the Elderly, which lies in the fact that older people in society represent a group that needs protection, and this new law provides them with this protection, especially in light of the various crises from which society and the country are suffering.
Ghannam questions the reasons that led to the Egyptian government’s delay in issuing the executive regulations of the Law on Caring for the Rights of the Elderly, issued in April last year, considering this to be negligence and a squandering of the rights of older people in Egypt, at a time when any civilised nation is bound to protect its children and its elderly.
The first Egyptian law concerned with older people
Parliamentary candidate Nashwa El-Deeb, director of the Nashwa El-Deeb Foundation for Development, affirms that the executive regulations were supposed to have been issued more than six months ago, but their issuance has been greatly delayed, and this obstructs many of the gains the law granted to older people. She points out that the relevant government bodies, such as the Ministry of Social Solidarity, have not mentioned any obstacles holding up the issuance of the law and its executive regulations; indeed, the government itself submitted a draft law parallel to the draft law submitted by the Nashwa El-Deeb Foundation for Development, and it was good that the Egyptian government took an interest in the issue of older people and submitted a draft law that includes many obligations the state places upon itself towards the elderly. She attributes the delay in issuing the executive regulations to preoccupation with other matters.
She tells “Zawia3”: “In fact, this law is the first Egyptian law concerned with the issue of older people, as it provides them with a rights-based, legal, social, health and recreational umbrella. It also places older people within the framework of active life, without viewing them as having become a burden on society or as waiting for death.” She adds: “The law has given the older person a strong boost for life, through the many privileges he obtains, whether in transport, in places of entertainment or in the field of health, in addition to obliging the state to provide social care for the needy older person. The law also imposes severe penalties for negligence in caring for an older person, whether this negligence is on the part of the family or on the part of care homes.”
The former member of parliament continues that “the law also includes a large section that binds care homes to many guarantees, including, for example, that no care home may ever force an older person into compulsory residence inside it, which unfortunately happens on a large scale in many care homes. The law also includes the establishment of a fund for the care of older people, and this is extremely important.”
Nashwa says: ” President El-Sisi himself put a large sum into this fund, I think EGP 10 billion, for the benefit of older people, and the President himself is very interested in the law, the fund and the whole matter, so I do not know the reason for the government’s failure to issue the executive regulations.” She calls on the government to issue the executive regulations of the Law on Caring for the Rights of the Elderly quickly, otherwise it will remain mere ink on paper without any implementation, and older people will not obtain any of the gains of this law.
An official at the Ministry of Finance had revealed, in earlier media statements, that the government had allocated EGP 5 billion to the Elderly Care Fund, and that their rights and needs had been included in poverty-fighting and poverty-reduction programmes and policies and in sustainable development programmes. Large groups of older people also benefit from the social programmes previously approved by the government, foremost among them the “Karama” programme, from which 700,000 older people benefit, with a total of EGP 4,700,000,000.
Despite the honourable promises of a dignified and safe life for older people that the Law on Caring for the Rights of the Elderly No. 19 of 2024 carries, the absence of executive regulations more than a year after its passage and ratification effectively makes it a suspended law, mere texts on paper without mechanisms for application. It appears that what was supposed to be an unprecedented rights and social achievement has become a clear example of the wide gap between issuing legislation and actually implementing it on the ground. While the government speaks of its commitment to social protection and care programmes, the elderly, who spent their lives serving society, remain waiting for these promises to be translated into tangible reality.
As the regulations continue to be ignored without explanation, parliamentary and rights voices are growing louder in demanding that the responsible bodies be held to account, that the government be obliged to disclose the reasons for the delay, and that a clear timetable for implementation be set. The delay of the regulations is not merely an administrative flaw, but a deliberate squandering of the rights of one of the most vulnerable groups in society, and a failure unbecoming of a state that declares its commitment to social justice and human dignity.
Editorial correction: The first version of the report stated in its introduction that the Law on the Rights of the Elderly bears the number (10) of 2022, that it was issued on 6 March 2022 and that more than two years had passed since its issuance; in fact, it is the Law on Caring for the Rights of the Elderly No. (19) of 2024, issued and published in the Official Gazette on 4 April 2024, as stated in the rest of the report.
Editorial correction: The first version of the report stated that the law imposes an amount of EGP 100,000 for licensing the establishment of social institutions for the care of older people; in fact, it imposes a fee not exceeding EGP 100,000, according to the text of the law.
