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Egypt Today
A landmark in the progress in human rights in Egypt and the empowerment of women, veteran diplomat and politician, Moushira Khattab, has been selected, Monday, to lead The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR).
The Egyptian House of Representatives announced the selection of Khattab to the post.
The NCHR is Egypt’s independent body in charge of promoting human rights. It was established in 2003, and is composed of twenty-seven members, including the president and vice president.
The council mandate is to develop and implement a national strategy for human rights to protect and promote human rights in accordance with the constitution. It holds conferences, round-table discussions, and issues regular reports on recent human rights developments in the country.
Khattab had held several senior diplomatic posts and was Egypt’s candidate for the post of UNESCO Director-General at the 2017 elections, however, she lost the runoff vote to her French rival, Audrey Azoulay.
Born in 1944, Khattab holds a BA in political science from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science in Cairo University. She also holds a PhD from Cairo University on child’s rights and an MA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in international relations.
In 1992, Khattab served as Egypt’s ambassador to Czechoslovakia then to Slovakia then to Czech Republic. She also served as Egypt’s ambassador to South Africa between 1994 and 1999.
She served as the secretary general of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood until 2009 and was a Minister of Family and Population until 2011.
