Problems on hold

At this time every year, as Christmas, Epiphany and later, Easter approach, a contentious issue surfaces, that of Christian religious feast days and whether or not Copts are entitled to paid leave to honour them. Only this year it coincides with the wide debate on the implementation of citizenship rights—which naturally involve equality between all Egyptians no matter what their religion—called for by the recent Egyptian Declaration of Citizenship Rights. The issue involves two problems, that of leave granted to Copts from their work on their feast days, and that of examinations—whether in schools or universities—scheduled on Christian feast days; this latter question will be the subject of a future article. Five years ago President Mubarak decreed Coptic Christmas on 7 January every year a national holiday. This made Copts really happy and they thanked the president for his gracious move. At the time I wrote asking Parliament to take their cue from the move, which was meant to attain equality between Egyptians, and to decree all major Christian feasts—Christmas, Epiphany, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, (Good Friday is naturally on Friday, the national weekend) and Easter Sunday—national holidays. In 1953, 1967, twice in 1978, 1981, 1982, and 1991, several prime-ministerial and presidential decrees, as well as labour laws concerning civil servants and workers in the business sector, were issued stipulating Christian feasts as holidays for Copts. I cite these figures in detail as an answer to the denial of some employers, whether in the public or private sectors, of the right of Coptic employees to these holidays. Sadly, many employers hurl at Copts galling remarks such as: “Isn’t it enough Mubarak has given you 7 January as holiday? What more do you want?” Or: “Show me the decree that stipulates your feast as holiday”, as though it were the responsibility of the employee, not the legal department, to look up the decree. Even worse is: “Take it as unpaid leave or as part of your annual leave.” All such unreasonable arguments from fanatic employers should have ended once the Court of Cassation issued its ruling that: “No employer should refrain from granting employees paid leave on occasions other than those stipulated by the law, so that if these leaves become customary and are granted on a regular basis they become a de facto obligation.” Unless clear legislation stipulating paid leave for Christians on their feast days, and holding violating employers accountable, is passed, the issue will remain a pain in the neck of Coptic families. Under the current ambiguous legislation members of the same family are never guaranteed leave on their feast days; one member may easily be granted paid leave while other members may fight for it and finally obtain it as unpaid leave or not at all. It all depends on how tolerant—or intolerant—an employer is. So I believe the only way out of this dilemma is for the State to do as President Mubarak did in case of Coptic Christmas, and declare Christian feast days national holidays. This would indeed implement equality between all Egyptians. Back in 2003, Speaker of Parliament Fathi Sorour commented on President Mubarak’s decree saying: “The President’s decree is well in accordance with the Constitution which holds all citizens equal, and with the principles of Islamic sharia”. Dr Sorour said several Arab countries also considered the AD New Year a national holiday just as the Hijra New year—which begs the question why the Coptic New Year (11 September) should not be treated the same. Many MPs joined in the fray, commenting in the same vein. This prompted me to write on the issue then under the title: “What if the President hadn’t done it?”. Today, five years later, have the honourable MPs done anything on the ground to honour their previous declarations? Or was it sufficient for them to indulge in flowery rhetoric? After all, it is definitely easier said than done. Must the President issue separate, specific decrees for each Christian feast to be a national holiday in order to accord with the Constitution and sharia as Dr Sorour said? The problems concerning Christian feast days, which have long been placed on hold, should today be finally dealt with within the context of full citizenship rights.

Comments

comments