The Ministry of Justice and the 5 formally acknowledged Christian sects in Egypt have signed the long-awaited draft of the Private Standing Legislation for Christians, counselor Monsef Naguib Suleiman, a key advisor to the Coptic Orthodox Church and Member of Parliament, introduced on Saturday, 14 December.
The legislation is hailed as a historic first for Egypt, in line with Suleiman, marking a big milestone within the authorized recognition of Christian household issues within the nation.
Throughout a cellphone interview on Saturday night with TV anchor Amr Adib on Al-Hekaya program on MBC Masr, Suleiman defined that the drafting strategy of the legislation started in 1977, however confronted quite a few delays through the years.
“It was solely after current efforts, guided by the President’s directives, {that a} complete and unified model of the legislation was agreed upon by all 5 Christian denominations,” Suleiman mentioned.
Suleiman highlighted a number of key provisions of the brand new legislation, most notably its groundbreaking adjustments concerning divorce and inheritance. Regarding divorce, the legislation expands the grounds for invalidating a wedding, the place any type of fraud within the marriage contract will now justify a divorce.
Beforehand, divorce was solely allowed in circumstances of infidelity, but the brand new legislation permits for divorce in any state of affairs the place deception is discovered, reflecting a big shift within the authorized method to marital integrity.
One other crucial growth is the remedy of inheritance. Suleiman emphasised that the brand new legislation adheres to Article 2 of the Egyptian Structure, which requires compliance with the provisions of the holy books. This legislation contains the precept of gender equality in inheritance, whereas women and men will inherit equally, a call rooted within the church’s dedication to equality as mirrored in spiritual texts.
Christianity is the second-largest faith in Egypt, with nearly all of Egyptian Christians figuring out as Coptic. Whereas there aren’t any current statistics, it’s generally identified that Coptic Christians comprise about 10 p.c of the nation’s inhabitants, totaling an estimated 9.5 to 11 million folks.
