Cairo 52 is a research institute, that aims to restore the balance to the scale of justice by reproducing simplified legal materials and connecting those materials to the concept of basic human rights, as it was stated in national and international laws and as it is protected in the Egyptian constitution.
The institute will enable people access to know their full legal rights, as stated in the Egyptian Constitution and international law, without misleading or failing to fully state the facts to persons in the event that they appear before the law enforcers.
The institute was established by a group of people, who are passionate about human rights and as an attempt to break the chains that were imposed by the elites of the Egyptian society on all those who sought change in defiance of the policy of gagging the voices of change imposed by the Egyptian state, by its people and its government.
ElKarakhana: History of Sex Working in Modern Egypt between Legalization and Criminalization
A Litigation Guide on Crimes of Sex Working and Homosexuality (Prostitution and Debauchery)
Egypt only started criminalizing sex work or “Prostitution” as officially called in the early 50s. The Egyptian parliament passed law No 68/1951, which prescribed criminal sanctions for criminalized the entirety of the sex work industry. In 1959 Egypt (The United Arab Republic then) joined the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others and the government brought the domestic law in line with the requirements of the Convention in 1961 with the adoption of Law Nr. 10/1961 on Combating of Prostitution. The scope of this law – which is criminal in nature – covers all aspects of the sex working industry and beyond e.g. homosexuality and transsexualism in some cases. Individuals can be prosecuted for aiding, inciting, seducing and advertising of debauchery or prostitution, in addition to, owning a brothel, forced sex work and habitual debauchery or prostitution. In this chapter, we will cover some of the actions criminalized by this law, in addition to the criminalization scope under Article 178 of the Penal Code. It is important to note that criminal crimes always consist of two core elements; actus reus and means rea, and whilst actus reus is changeable among different crimes, mens rea is almost always have the same elements to be fulfilled for the crimes under review in his book.
Queer Not in the Army
Every year, many Queer people across Egypt are faced with a heavy burden; applying for the nation’s compulsory military service, and every year Queer people ask themselves and their friends how can they avoid this service. Egypt’s military law has provided for several conditions upon which a person can be exempted from doing military service and out of our belief that laws and bylaws should be accessible and understandable by the public, we have conducted this study to provide an overview of the legal conditions that may assist Queer people in Egypt to receive their military service exemptions.
For this study, we have conducted interviews with multiple people who managed to receive their military service exemption due to their gender identity, sexual orientation, or their status as a person living with HIV. Moreover, we have conducted an in-depth analysis of the country’s military law, as well as, any available bylaws that outline the conditions of military service exemptions
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Tina is back home
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Cairo 52 Institue is operating as a voluntary non-profit, if you want to support the work being done by the institute you can consider donating.