AHRLA: Re-holds its General Assembly Meeting

 The Association for Human rights Legal Aid decided to re hold its ordinary general assembly meeting to elect a new Board of Directories, keeping the capacity of the old board up till the next general assembly meeting. The decision came due to the rigidity of the administrative authority that refused to approve the resolutions adopted in the last general assembly meeting on November 30^th 2003. The very refusal itself presents a practical test of the association’s claims. 

On 30/11/2003,AHRLA invited its members for the general assembly meeting, which was attended by 70% of the members who have the right to vote. In that meeting the members discussed the meeting agenda, then elected a new board. The administrative authority in the Ministry of Social Affairs, excessive in its rigidity, refused to approve the resolutions adopted by the general assembly meeting, alleging that the letter of invitation is not in accordance with the executive panel of the Civil Associations Law No 84 for 2002.

 Though AHRLA had corrected the alleged mistake in the invitation letter sent to the members, the MSA insisted on its situation refusing to consider the meeting rightly convened.

       AHRLA also invited, in its last general assembly meeting a number of observers from the Egyptian civil institutions to supervise the elections in order to be performed fairly and in a transparent atmosphere. 

Doing so, AHRLA chooses to struggle for its right to elect those who will represent it and manage its activities, in order not to be in a state of chaos. Such state, from which, the only beneficiaries are the enemies of any real practice of democracy, and of which the only victims are those who work to hard to establish the values of transparency, democracy, justice and freedom.

Note worthy that the administrative authority, represented in the MSA, had earlier asked AHRLA to postpone holding the general assembly meeting until the current existing law is enacted, after the last one was determined unconstitutional.

AHRLA expresses its refusal to this red interest tape manner followed by the administration authority, the very manner that concerns more with the formal procedures and hinders the association in pursuing its goals in reality. 

     Finally AHRlA affirms its disagreement with the last edition of the civil associations law, which is considered a real burden on the Egyptian civil society institutions for the continual intervention of both the administrative authority and the security apparatuses in the internal affairs of these institutions.