Moushira Khattab Named President of National Council for Human Rights

Moushira Mahmoud Khattab has been appointed as the first female President of the National Council for Human Rights since its establishment in 2003.

Khattab is venerated for her long diplomatic and ministerial career, spanning over three decades. She served as the Ambassador to Czechoslovakia during its separation to Slovakia and the Czech Republic in 1992, and then served as Ambassador to both nations until 1994. She was the first Egyptian Ambassador to Nelson Mandela’s South Africa until 1999, and went on diplomatic missions around the world, including to Bosnia, Vienna and Melbourne.

Khattab is known as a fervent champion of human rights across the world, having acted as Vice-President of the International Bureau for Children’s Rights, as well as independent Rapporteur and Vice Chair of the UN Committee on Rights of the Child. In Egypt, she was the Secretary General of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, and then Minister of Family and Population until 2011. She is credited with leading the charge to amend Egypt’s penal system against human trafficking, sexual abuse, exploitation in pornography, sale of children, and Female Genital Mutilation.

The National Council for Human Rights is tasked with reporting and addressing the human rights situation in Egypt. 27 new members - 11 of them women - were appointed by the General Committee of the House of Representatives to the National Council for Human Rights, as part of the government’s efforts to restart the council after a four-year hiatus.