According to a statement by the United Nations Secretary, Egyptian Minister of Social Solidarity, Ghada Wali, has been appointed as the director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Tuesday. The minister was also appointed as the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV), succeeding Yury Fedotov. On the occasion, Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the appoointment and stressed the Minister’s qualifications for it in a press statement. “Egypt is keen on contributing to supporting the United Nations system and enhancing multilateral cooperation, whether through Egyptian nationals holding positions in the United Nations or its missions to the Organization and its specialized agencies, thus fostering the implementation of the UN Charter principles and goals,” the statement reads. During her years of service under Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Wali, one of eight women serving in the cabinet as ministers, implemented a number of significant policy changes and oversaw multiple campaigns to tackle contemporary social obstacles. In July, the Ministry of Social Solidarity launched the initiative ‘Decent Life’ in collaboration with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi; it aimed to help 32 million people living in…
Egypt is the 8th Safest Country Worldwide: Gallup 2019
Gallup’s Global Law and Order 2019 Report ranked Egypt among the ten safest countries in the world, outranking the United States, the United Kingdom and most countries in Europe. Egypt, to the surprise of many, placed 8th out of 142 countries with Singapore topping the list. In last year’s ranking, the populous country in the Middle East ranked 16th. Gallup’s Law and Order Index’ annual survey is intended to assess citizens’ sense of personal safety as well as their faith in law enforcement and experiences in crime. “Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live?” and “In the city or area where you live, do you have confidence in the local police force?” were among the four questions asked to residents countries across the world. For the second year in a row, Egypt ranked safest in Africa while Gabon and Liberia found themselves at the bottom of the survey results. The interviews carried out in Egypt were conducted face-to-face with 1000 interviewees. Gallup’s polling pool excluded the opinions of residents in Matruh, Red Sea, New Valley, North Sinai, and South Sinai as…
Christmas Done Right: AUC Creates This Year’s Christmas Tree Out of Water Bottles
For this year’s Christmas, the American University in Cairo (AUC) displayed a Christmas tree created from plastic bottles to raise awareness about plastic consumption. The tree is made of 10,000 plastic bottles, which constitutes only 15% of the monthly plastic consumption on campus. “This 6 meter high tree is a small reminder to people on out daily consumption of plastic,” Seham Sultan, the designer of the tree and AUC’s graphic design program coordinator, reiterates, “If everyone looks for greener alternatives and cuts down their consumption, it does make a difference on a boarder scale.” Inspired by the mosaic of the hanging church in Coptic Quarter in Cairo, the tree was created to reflect the beauty of Egypt’s history by shedding light on Coptic Art. “We decided to celebrate the Christmas season this year by going green for three main reasons : to shed light on the importance of maintaining a green campus, encourage the community to seek greener alternatives in every day life, and bring the community together,” Sultan elaborates. The project was designed, executed and coordinated by alums of the graphic design program of AUC – Sultan, Ahmad Refaee (the execution…
Stories of an Entreprenelle: How Nada Turned Her Art Into a Sustainable Fashion Business
For many people, particularly a lot of women, transforming their talent in art into a business seems like an unattainable goal. Yet for Nada Mohsen, founder of ‘Nada Mohsen Arts’, this was achieved when she began to believe that there was no end to opportunities and learning, and that talents do not exist to be cornered in a shelf. Women-owned businesses are growing to be the shining light in the local market, with at least 30 percent or more of all businesses in Egypt are owned by women despite the many challenges they face, such as access to finance and cultural norms. As prices of imports and foreign brands also increased in the last couple of years, Egyptians are beginning to seek an alternative with local brands. However, women-owned businesses remain to be one of the most underrepresented businesses, with little exposure and connections to the market, which is why it is essential to shine light on the many examples of women who were able to overcome great odds and serve as an inspiration for all those to follow. In this series, Egyptian Streets speaks to several women from the Entreprenelle community, a platform dedicated…
Ministry of Tourism Freezes Water Sport Licenses in the Red Sea and Sinai
Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism has issued a one-year moratorium on new business licenses for diving and safari yacht centers and other activity providers in the South Sinai and the Red Sea governorates, Egypt Independent reports. The administrative decree also prohibits the expansion of existing licenses to include any additional activities or zones. As part of decree no. 617 of 2019, issued by Tourism Minister Rania Al Mashat yesterday and released in the official Egyptian Gazette, kitesurfing and windsurfing centers and sail boat operators are exempt from the measure. The directive goes into effect today, but it won’t apply to dive centers and other water sport providers whose licensing proceedings began prior to this date, Wednesday, November 20th, 2019. It is not clear why the measure was adopted, however some in the media have speculated that it is aimed at addressing the mounting pressure on marine life in the Red Sea due to climate change, plastic pollution, and other environmental factors. These stressors are compounded by the surge of tourist influx into Egypt over the past few months, which are expected to add additional pressure on marine life in the Red…
Egypt Secures Olympic Games Spot After Victory Against South Africa
Beating South Africa 3-0 in the U23 Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals, Egypt has successfully ensured its competing spot in the upcoming 2020 Olympics. The anticipated match, in which Ramadan Sobhi and Abdel-Rahman Magdi scored the decisive goals, took place on Tuesday, at Cairo Stadium. Captain Sobhi scored a 59th-minute penalty score after a strenuous standstill, followed by Magdi in the 84th and 89th minutes. S C E N E S #TotalAFCONU23 pic.twitter.com/gnvQU6Kfy0 — CAF (@CAF_Online) November 19, 2019 On Friday, Egypt’s under-23 team is set to face Ivory Coast’s in the finals; both countries’ teams are the firsts to qualify for the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament in the Tokyo Games. According to local news outlet, such as Al Shorouk, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi congratulated the team for its success, and praised its performance on the field. Scheduled to take place from July 24 to August 9, 2020 in Tokyo, the Summer Olympics is an upcoming multi-sport event which gathers competing athletes worldwide. Egypt’s first participation in the prestigious event was first attested in 1912, with its most medal producing sport categories since being weightlifting, wrestling and judo….
Cairo Rejects Pompeo’s Statement Legalizing Israeli Settlements
In a statement to reporters on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Hafez reiterated Egypt’s position on Israeli settlements in the West Bank. “Egypt is committed to the resolutions of international legitimacy on the status of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, being illegal and inconsistent with the international law (sic),” the official said, according to State Information Service. Zaher’s comments to reporters came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s controversial declaration that Israeli settlements on internationally recognized Palestinian lands are consistent with international law. “Calling the establishment of civilian settlements inconsistent with international law has not advanced the cause of peace,” Pompeo said, according to The Guardian. “The hard truth is that there will never be a judicial resolution to the conflict, and arguments about who is right and who is wrong as a matter of international law will not bring peace.” Adding that the legality of each Israeli settlement should be ruled on by Israeli courts. Pompeo’s statement challenges a long held legal opinion by the State Department that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are “inconsistent with international law.” Shortly after Pompeo’s statement on Monday, EU Foreign…
Egyptian Actor Amr Waked Announces Upcoming Role in Wonder Woman Sequel
Egyptian actor Amr Waked took to Twitter to announce that he will be appearing in the upcoming Wonder Woman sequel, Wonder Woman 1984. Waked didn’t elaborate on the specifics of the role he would be playing. However, when prompted by one Twitter user who wished to see Waked share an onscreen kiss with the star of the franchise, Gal Gadot, the actor stated that most of his scenes are with Narcos star Pedro Pascal. This would mark Waked’s second blockbuster movie after Luc Besson’s Lucy (2014), which saw the Egyptian actor star alongside Scarlett Johansson. Some Twitter users were less than happy about Waked’s involvement with the project, citing Gadot’s past military service with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), and accusing the Egyptian actor of normalization. Waked addressed the backlash in several tweets saying that he viewed normalization as the act of working to glorify, help, or cover up the crimes of the Israeli occupation. “Acting in a multinational film, in my view, is not normalization at all,” one tweet concluded. Wonder Woman 1984 is set to be released on the 4th of June, 2020, and stars Kristen Wiig as Cheetah,…
Aswan International Women Film Festival to Focus on Egyptian Women in Politics
Maya Morsi, President of the National Council for Women, announced on Monday that the main theme of the fourth edition of the Aswan International Women’s Film Festival to be held in February 2020 will focus on Egyptian women’s participation in politics. The announcement came during a meeting with Ambassador Mervat Tallawy and chairperson of the festival’s board of trustees, in the presence of Mohamed Abdelkhalek, president of the festival, Hassan Abu El-Ela, festival director, and Dr. Azza Kamel, vice-chairperson of the festival board of trustees. Ambassador Mervat Tallawy, who was previously the deputy director of the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, expressed her pride in the efforts of Dr. Maya Morsi in the field of advancing the status of Egyptian women, stressing that today’s meeting aims to present the experiences of the third edition of the festival and focus on the lessons and challenges to avoid in the fourth edition. Dr. Azza Kamel noted that the ‘Nut Forum for Women’s Issues’, which are social forums integrated with the festival’s activities, will focus on combating marriage of young girls in cooperation with Aswan’s civil…