Report on participation to a conference in Naples
La tutela dei minori di cultura islamica nell’area mediterranea: Aspetti sociali, giuridici e medici (The protection of children of Islamic culture in Mediterranean area: social, juridical and medical aspect)
28. - 29.10.2009, Naples
This conference was held at the premises of the University of Naples “L’Orientale”, and was focused on the protection of children rights in countries of Islamic culture. It was divided in three main thematic areas: law, Islam and medical and psychological aspects.
The morning and the first part of the afternoon of the first day were devoted to pure juridical issues: the protection of children in international law and in European laws, the impact of Italian migration laws on children of Islamic culture, the phenomenon of juvenile deviance for what regards Muslim children in Italy and the practices of female genital mutilations. The second part of the afternoon was devoted to the thematic area of Islam, which for me was the most interesting. After a general presentation on the concept of children in Islamic law, given by Prof. Cilardo, Prof. Francesca presented a paper on the human development and protection of children and women in Arab countries. Then a paper about the reception of the Convention on the rights of the Child in Arab countries was given by Dr. Carlo de Angelo and another about the concerning legislation in Tunisia and Morocco was given by Dr. Vasco Franzoni.
The following day, after the presentation of a paper about family and protection of children in Islamic tradition given by Prof. Tottoli, I presented my paper about “The protection of children in Egypt: the Qanun al-tifl after the amendments in 2008 and the role of NGOs.”, followed by the paper of Federica Fedeli that was thought to complete my paper, giving the practical example of an non-governmental organization (NGO) working on children rights (qariat al-’amal).
The last part of the conference was devoted to medical and psychological aspects: there was the presentation of a paper on the strategic role of services offered in detention centers and of a paper on the importance of volunteering for integration between people. The last one was on the migrant children of second- generation in Italy.
In my paper I presented the Egyptian legislation on children rights, which dates back to 1996, although it was widely amended in 2008, after the insistences of the UN committee or the rights of the child. The amendments modified not only the Qanun al-tifl, the Code of the Children, but also limited parts of Penal Law and Family law. The main changes regarded the possibility for a woman to register her newborn, also without having a contract of marriage, the prohibition of female genital mutilation (with the exception of those mutilations done for “medical necessity”, concept that has been widely criticized by local and international organizations) and the raising of the minimum age for marriage to 18 also for female.
The aim of my paper was to demonstrate that, although its shadows, the law is a very advanced one. But then, on the practice, almost nothing is done by the State to ensure its application. This concept is totally delegated to the NGOs, that somehow substitute the State. I made the example of disabled children: despite the large amount of money devoted to this cause by the Egyptian State, in practice almost nothing has been done, and children affected by serious disabilities are totally neglected. To have some services they have to completely rely on the work of NGOs, that of course can’t be complete, for lacking of funds and for their geographical positions. The main idea was that it’s completely useless to have a good law if then it is practically neglected by the State itself.
It was interesting for me to present a paper like this because for the first time I presented in an academic context something that was not related to my phd project. Moreover, the fact to work in strict connection with Federica Fedeli, that presented the following paper, was also an important experience to learn the importance of having a shared objective and to train my skills in group work.
This paper will be published, in a revised edition, with the proceedings of the Conference.