Throughout Egypt’s modern history, the October War will remain an icon of superiority in all its meanings. It is not a passing battle on the folded pages of history, but rather a victory for human dignity, and a breaking of the arrogance of an army that was seen as God’s chosen army. October 1973 is a victory for truth and virtue, and a strong message to everyone who dares to harm the land of Egypt or its identity.

On October 6, Egypt was not fighting the Israeli army alone, but rather was fighting a brutal international force. It supports the occupation army with weapons and equipment, and represents a strong support and back that prevents it from being defeated or broken. But Egypt was alone fighting, with the power of truth, will, faith, and patience behind it, so truth triumphed over falsehood.

The October victory was and will remain a pain in Israel’s chest that always reinforces its desire for revenge. It disrupted Israel’s plan to expand in the region and declare its alleged state from the Nile to the Euphrates. Fifty-one years have passed and Israel is still dreaming of the moment of revenge, and every time it seeks to achieve it. The dream remembers the bitterness of defeat and finds the Egyptian army alert, aware of its plans and always ready for confrontation.As the Egyptian army once did; He is ready and able to do it a thousand times.

Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has fought many unorganized combat battles characterized by military bullying, falsification of facts and victories, even falsification of the reasons for the battle itself, which in its entirety is more like guerrilla warfare and not the wars of sober armies that are based on solid military principles… and despite Israel’s victory in all or Most of its battles are in the region, but the October War remains the only battle that Israel lost. It lost its balance in just six hours, and forced its arrogant army into its barracks.

Israel realized through the October War and its aftermath that it was facing an army left behind by a people who believed in their right to fight. And that the army will not fight in isolation from the people, and that every member of the people is armed with military doctrine and awareness, and has full readiness to join the army and fight for the homeland, when the homeland senses danger… and that when the homeland calls on him to enlist, he considers that answering the call is a duty, and that death is in The path to the homeland is an honor, an honor that transcends the boundaries of time and place.

What terrified Israel the most was the people’s alignment behind the army and its political leadership… and despite Israel’s attempts with all its intelligence services to undermine the bridges of trust between the people and the army, and create a space for itself between them; However, it failed.

The events of January 25 were a testament to the sincerity of the doctrine and the unity of ranks. The demonstrators welcomed the army’s descent into the street by shouting “Allahu Akbar” and shouting “Allahu Akbar” and lining up in order to restore the stability that was targeted by Israel and its allies and threatened by the chants of the revolutionaries in the squares. And the army’s firm doctrine preserved it. The slogans in the hot fields were: “The army and the people are one hand.”

The revolution of June 30, 2013 came to be a new battle for awareness, for human dignity, for victory for the homeland, for stability, and for development. It was a strong message to Israel and those who supported it… that it is facing an army with a hundred million citizens behind it… and that we are facing a people with an army behind it that believes in its right to life and live in peace… and that When the will of the army meets the will of the people, victory is achieved.

History reminds us every day that Egypt is present, is still present, and will continue to stand tall, and that the love and belonging of its people for it is not a bright slogan, but rather an established belief, passed down by authentic Egyptian genes throughout history.

International history did not mention that the Egyptian army committed a single humanitarian crime against civilians in Israel during the October War, unlike the occupation army, which committed many humanitarian massacres, the most important of which was the massacre of Bahr al-Baqar Primary School in the north of Sharkia Governorate in 1970, in which more than 19 children were killed and more than 50 children were injured.

The October War was like an earthquake that Israel suffered, according to the description of the battle by the occupation army commanders. They affirmed: “What happened on October 6, 1973 removed the dust from our eyes and revealed what we had not seen before. This led to a stormy change in the mentality of the Israeli army leadership. The October War surprised us in a way we did not expect, and no foreign government warned us.” “There are specific plans for any Arab attack.”

The lesson of October taught us that an army left behind by a people who support it is never invincible, and that a nation left behind by an army that believes in its cause never dies. Egypt is the land of revolution that never ceases, and the Nile that never dries up, it is Noah’s Ark of Arabism, on its land Moses walked with Al-Khidr, and in its heart was the journey of the Holy Family… and in its hand was the key to life…

A salute to this valiant army on the anniversary of its immortal victories, a salute of loyalty, appreciation and respect…and a salute to the conscious Egyptian people who are always aware of the seriousness of the event and the importance of preserving their army and lining up behind their political leadership for the sake of a homeland that deserves life as well as development and deserves its people to live in peace..

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Therefore, regular migration or “legal migration” is an integral part of the strength of the national economy of any country and an important source of national income, and in turn contributes to the achievement of development goals. But the real challenge facing governments is “irregular migration “or what is known as ” illegal migration”, for which the search for decent work is the most basic motivation, where young people risk their lives and their families in search of decent jobs and a better life – as he believes– in other countries, oblivious to the serious consequences of this .

In line with the above, the strategic forum for public policies and Development Studies “Derayah” issues a research paper highlighting the “difference between regular and irregular migration in terms of concept; with monitoring of some statistics on the volume of regular and irregular migration in Egypt, the dimensions of the problem of irregular migration in Egypt and its causes, and finally the efforts of the Egyptian state in reducing and dealing with this phenomenon”.

The most important recommendations reached by the paper, which can be put in front of the decision maker, may provide solutions that integrate with the vision of the state and its plans in this regard, were the following:

1-studying the social, cultural and economic nature of the cases of young people who have applied for irregular migration in a scientific and detailed manner to find out their motives, and providing appropriate support and solutions through state institutions.

2-developing a preventive and remedial strategy for the phenomenon of irregular migration based on providing job opportunities, facilitating legal migrations, and providing training opportunities to raise the level of competence and professional performance of young people, enabling them to find job opportunities in other countries.

3 – working to reduce poverty and unemployment rates and considering this as a top priority for the Egyptian state, as they are the most important factors that aggravate the phenomenon of irregular migration.

4-increasing state support for poor and marginalized families and communities, especially as they are the most important source of victims of irregular migration.

5-developing a major media plan to raise awareness of the dangers of irregular migration in which religious institutions actively participate.

6-increasing the volume of political and security measures and confrontations of smuggling networks, within the framework of internal, regional and international efforts to combat crimes of smuggling migrants and human trafficking.

7-increasing international cooperation and coordination in the field of countering irregular migration, through the conclusion of more relevant agreements and work to activate them, as well as the exchange of studies and data on the phenomenon of irregular migration.

8-work on concluding more agreements between labor-exporting countries and those that need seasonal labor in order to maximize the benefits of the migration phenomenon for both parties.

9-increasing the regular immigration outlets, and coordinating between the concerned government agencies to promote job opportunities available to young people in the countries they wish to immigrate to.

10-expanding the conduct of more surveys and studies on the needs and requirements of foreign labor markets, and focusing on providing immigration opportunities for those wishing to do so, with the importance of highlighting the laws governing immigration systems in other countries.

First: the difference between regular and irregular migration, in terms of concept 

The National Coordinating Committee to combat and prevent illegal migration and human trafficking defined “safe migration “or” regular migration” as:(the movement of a person from his usual place of residence to a new place of residence, in line with the laws and regulations governing the exit of the country of origin, travel, transit and entry to the destination or host country).

While the committee pointed out that the definition of ” irregular migration ” or “illegal migration”:(is migration outside the regulatory standards of the sending state, transit state or receiving state of migrants. From the point of view of the receiving state, it includes illegal entry, residence or work in the country. From the point of view of the sending state, it involves violation of regulations and laws in cases such as: a person crosses the international border without a valid passport or travel documents or does not meet the administrative conditions for leaving the country. However, the term is more associated with cases of illegal/ legal smuggling of migrants).

It should also be noted that there are also fundamental differences and similarities between the term “illegal immigration” or “smuggling of migrants “and “human trafficking”; both are profitable trades involving people and carried out by organized groups, but there are differences between them:

People can be trafficked within the country (internal trafficking) or across the border (international trafficking), while the smuggling of migrants occurs only across the border.

Trafficking in Persons is a crime against humanity, while smuggling of migrants is a crime against the state.

Second: statistics and figures on the volume of regular and irregular migration in Egypt

Regarding the volume of irregular migration in Egypt at the current regional level, the Arab Barometer network has issued a report on the intentions and motives of migration in the Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa; the survey results published on the research network’s website showed that “almost half of the respondents (48%) want to leave the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, while Egypt ranked lowest in that regard, with only 13% expressing their desire to emigrate . The survey also indicated that economic difficulties represented the biggest driver of migration in Egypt at 97%, but it did not represent the same percentage in Jordan, reaching about 93%, and in Libya it decreased to 53%.

Egypt also ranks second in terms of the number of irregular migrants crossing the sea route from the Mediterranean Sea and land to Europe, which amounted to approximately 7,938 migrants since January 2021 until December of the same year, the vast majority of them are heading to Greece, Malta and Italy.

With regard to regular migration, Egypt has witnessed a significant increase in the number of regular migrants over the past two decades, specifically since 2005, where the total number of migrants increased from 1.3 million in 1990 to 1.8 million in 2005 and then jumped to 3.6 million in 2020, which represents about 3.5% of the total population. Egypt is considered one of the largest countries of origin for migrants, as it ranked 19th globally and the second ranking in the Arab world (after Syria) in 2019.

With regard to the countries receiving Egyptian workers, the statistics of the Egyptian labor market survey for 2018 indicate that the Arab countries are considered the first destination for Egyptian migrant workers, especially in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, where the percentage of Egyptian migrants reached the total number of immigrants in these countries is 41.3%, 28.7%, 10.5% and 5.3% respectively. The percentage of work permits abroad for these countries amounted to about 97% of the total work permits abroad.

In the next ranking of the Arab countries are some countries of the organization for Economic Cooperation and development with 2.9% and the European Union countries with 1.6% of the total employment. Immigration to foreign countries is concentrated mainly in Italy with 37.1%, followed by the United States of America with 35.4%, then Canada with 19.4% and finally Australia with 2.9% of the total permanent immigrants to foreign countries.

Immigration to these countries is considered a permanent migration for the purpose of improving living conditions and obtaining the rights of a native citizen in this country, unlike immigration to Arab countries, which takes a temporary form in order to obtain a high income, but staying there does not add rights to the traveler.

In general, migrants with the best educational levels go to Western countries, while those with the lowest educational levels go to Arab countries and represent the largest source of remittances of workers abroad.

The search for a suitable job opportunity is considered the central goal pursued by all migrants, whether in a regular form or otherwise, in light of the inability of the economy to create sufficient demand to absorb the labor force on the one hand, and the low skills and quality of education on the other, resorting to many young people go to irregular migration routes in search of decent job opportunities.

Third: the dimensions of the problem of irregular migration in Egypt

* The origin of the problem : The problem of irregular migration began in Egypt since the seventies of the last century; where Egyptian labor flowed to the Gulf countries in order to participate in the huge construction projects that these countries began to build from oil revenues, especially because Egyptian labor was low-paid at that time compared to those from other countries of the world, but the matter changed with the beginning of the nineties and the end of the first Gulf War and the trend of the Gulf countries to replace Egyptian labor with Asian the time when countries The European Union signed the Schengen agreement in 1990 and then the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 to guarantee the freedom of movement of EU citizens within the borders of its members without restrictions, and this has resulted in the imposition of severe restrictions on the movement of foreign workers inside the European Union, and therefore the tendency of those wishing to migrate to illegal and illegal ways to move to these countries.

* The most exporting Egyptian governorates for irregular migrants :

A recent research study conducted by the National Center for social and criminal Research among Egyptian youth who wish to immigrate irregularly showed that there are eleven governorates that are sources of irregular migrants: Sharqiya, Dakahlia, Qalyubia, Menoufia, Gharbia, Beheira, Kafr el Sheikh, Fayoum, Assiut, Luxor and Minya.

* Characteristics of villages and provinces exporting irregular migrants:

1-these villages are famous for agriculture, fishing, ship industry in the sea face, agriculture, grazing, tourism and trade related to them in the tribal face.

2-the lack of the role of health care services, especially in the maritime area, and the lack of material and human capabilities, in addition to a shortage in middle schools and a severe shortage in secondary schools.

3-the roads are mostly dirt and very bad on the sea side, but they are better on the tribal side as a result of tourist activities.

4-the availability of a network of relationships from acquaintances/ relatives/ relatives in the country of destination or previous experience for them in it, so that information related to the availability of job opportunities, the level of wages and living conditions can be obtained. Here it should be noted that Italy is one of the most important destination countries because of its proximity to Egypt and most of the migration routes depend on the sea at the sea and land routes through Libya at the front.

5-there are brokers, travel agents, translators, employment offices and bankers, most of them have previous experience in immigration.

6-the presence of peers in the village who migrated and signs of wealth appeared on them after returning, in addition to the presence of encouragement from the family.

* Demographic characteristics of immigrants :

1-most of them are either unaccompanied children and their ages range from 18:9 years or young people from 35:18 years, all of them are males, most of them are late in marriage and drop out of education, and most of them live in large families.

2-the majority of them are employed in informal jobs or unemployed (frustrated /dissatisfied with local job opportunities).

3-almost a third of young people have computer and language skills, among them.

4-infrastructure is available in different proportions and they have durable goods but do not own land or real estate.

*The most attractive destination countries:

Although statistics indicate that some Egyptian irregular migrants are heading to Greece and Malta, Italy remains the preferred destination for most migrants; approximately 649 young people were deported in 2001, and then increased to 5,102 young people in 2007, from these countries upon arrival.

The reason why immigrants prefer Italy is due to:

The good economic situation of Italy compared to Malta and Greece.
Italy’s large informal sector attracts many skilled and unskilled migrant workers looking for work, as they do not have to reside and work legally.

Encouraging Egyptian communities in cities such as Milan for their family members, friends or acquaintances from the same villages, who are looking for work and living opportunities in Italy, to immigrate illegally.
The dangers surrounding irregular migration in Italy:

The dangers of irregular migration are the same for both adults and children and consist in the difficulty of the journey from their country of origin. However, it often has a more severe negative impact on children because they are more vulnerable, as unaccompanied migrant children are vulnerable to exploitation once they arrive from Egypt for a number of reasons, especially if it is escaping from migrant centers, the most prominent of these risks is:

– These children are often ignorant of their rights or of the provision of Italian law protecting them; they derive their information only from their acquaintances and often have to pay adults to accompany them to social services appointments, police stations or court and may also need to do so in order to obtain a certain Guardian. Sometimes, young people are exploited by The Guardian of their choice.

– Unaccompanied migrant children are also particularly vulnerable to exploitation due to the cost of the migration journey; this means that it is possible to exploit them in poor or inhumane working conditions to repay the debt to smugglers.

– These children can also be forced into other human trafficking activities, including prostitution, drug trafficking, forced labor or forced removal of their organs.

Fourth: the causes of irregular migration in Egypt:

The causes of irregular migration in Egypt are numerous and intertwined, but they can be summarized in the following points:

A-economic reasons:

– Poverty and lack of basic needs.

– The desire to improve the standard of living.

– High level of unemployment or work in unstable conditions (informal sector) and dissatisfaction with the available local job opportunities.

B. cultural reasons:

– Encouragement of irregular migration by the family and the community in the villages, viewing it as a form of struggle.

– The cultural heritage related to having a large number of children, and the consequent growth in the population and the size of the labor force with a shortage of jobs.

C-social reasons:

– Inability to afford the costs of marriage.

– Comparison with peers in the village who were able to emigrate and showed signs of wealth after returning.

D-other reasons:

– High costs of legal/regular immigration and restrictions on it abroad.

– The existence of stimulating conditions in the villages of origin of migration ( such as the network of relations and brokers, the availability of information about the countries of destination, previous experiences).

Fifth: the efforts of the Egyptian state to reduce the phenomenon of irregular migration :

The Egyptian state has made great and sincere efforts to reduce the phenomenon of irregular migration at the local and international levels, the most prominent of which were:

A-at the local level:

1-the establishment of the National Coordinating Committee to combat illegal migration in 2014 in accordance with the decision of the chairman of the Council of ministers No. 380 of 2014.

2 – the establishment of the “National Coordinating Committee to combat and prevent illegal migration and human trafficking” as a restructuring of the previous committee, and the membership of the committee consists of 30 ministries, bodies and national centers, including the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of manpower, the Ministry of migration and the affairs of Egyptians abroad and the Ministry of Interior and foreign affairs the National Centre for Human Rights and the National Centre for motherhood and childhood are responsible for the legal representation of unaccompanied migrant children whose families have not been identified.

3-the issuance of Law No. 82 for the year 2016, which is the first law to discuss the fight against irregular migration, where the law criminalizes assistance in any form on irregular migration and smuggling of migrants, and set a penalty of imprisonment or payment of a fine not less than fifty thousand pounds and not more about five hundred thousand Egyptian pounds according to the severity of the crime. The law did not hold irregular migrants or their relatives any civil or criminal responsibility, as they were considered victims of the crime of smuggling. The law also guarantees the establishment of a” fund to combat illegal immigration and protect migrants and witnesses”, and it has a public legal personality and its own budget to provide financial support to victims of illegal immigration.

5 – launching the Presidential Initiative “lifeboats” at the conclusion of the Youth Forum in December 2019 to address irregular migration, which was considered a national initiative and was linked to the Egypt 2030 strategy, where the Ministry of planning allocated an amount of EGP 250 million to activate the initiative in 70 villages in the governorates that are the most exporting of irregular migration.

B-at the international level:

1 – the “For Africa” initiative was launched in 2016 in cooperation between the European Union and the International Organization for migration to facilitate safe and orderly migration, protect migrants and achieve their reintegration upon return, which began in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin in the Horn of Africa region; the initiative covered North Africa, including Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco and aims to identify the needs of vulnerable migrant communities from these countries, improve their conditions, protect them, ensure their voluntary return to their countries and help them return integrate with it.

2 – the launch of the “migration for development” project, implemented by the German agency for international cooperation on behalf of the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and development in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of migration; the project aims to improve the living conditions of returnees from migration in a number of countries, including Egypt on the side of Iraq Tunisia, Morocco and a number of other countries, as well as encouraging labor migration specialized in some magazines and professions that are in demand in Germany. This initiative resulted in the establishment of the Egyptian-German Centre for jobs, migration and reintegration.

3- The signing of a protocol of cooperation between the International Organization for Migration in Egypt, the Ministry of State for Migration and the affairs of Egyptians abroad and the agency for the development of Micro, Small and medium enterprises, where the first phase of the project aimed to reduce irregular migration through the adoption of local development projects and the provision of job opportunities; the second phase aimed at enhancing the participation of Egyptians abroad in development and enhancing communication and communication with them, and cooperation is also being carried out between Egypt and Italy in particular to hold training programs for Egyptian migrant workers to Italy, with the aim of qualifying them to join the Italian society.

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The Forum issues this report, which presents in a scientific manner “the meaning of atheism, its history, its motives, and its indicators, as well as a presentation of the efforts of the Egyptian state and its religious institutions to confront this phenomenon.”

The most important recommendations to limit the spread of this phenomenon:

1- Activating the role of the Friday sermon to respond to the suspicions and concepts promoted by atheist websites, which have great repercussions among young people.

2- Exploiting drama in an effective and scientific manner to explain the true religion and shed light on human values and the concepts of mercy and justice in Islam.

3- Develop a major media plan in which traditional media and social media participate to confront the spread of atheism in various societies.

4- The commitment of the relevant religious institutions to moderate religious discourse and the rejection of strange and deviant opinions, which were appropriate for past and past eras.

5- Forming a global body of specialists in the religious, scientific and human sciences on platforms in various languages to respond to suspicions of atheism and dialogue with atheists with reason and logic.

6- Holding open dialogue meetings in universities, mosques, and churches to respond to the suspicions of atheists, discuss their ideas, and dialogue with them through evidence and proof by specialists in all fields.

First: The concept of atheism…

In Arabic, atheism is defined as “abandonment and deviation from integrity.”

As for the concept of atheism as an idea and ideology, it means questioning or denying everything, including religions, beliefs, God, the holy books, and prophecies.

Second: the history of atheism…

There are some historical indicators that recorded the first atheism movements in the year 1000 BC in India, and they included doubt in one of the sacred manuscripts of the ancient Indian religions, which questioned the mechanism of the origin of the universe and the reality of the existence of God and His control over the universe, and about 500 years later, “ Buddhism, which did not provide a clear concept of the existence of a God and Creator of the universe; But it was more concerned with human suffering and desires and the way to get rid of this suffering, by reaching “nirvana” or non-attachment.

These civilizations followed; the emergence of Greek civilization, which laid the foundation for the idea of atheism in its various eras, which relied on the idea of “the eternity of matter.” This theory emphasizes the eternity of a specific material element such as air, water, or fire, and from this element all creatures and existing things branch out. These ideas were launched by philosophers in The pre-Socratic era, which included the Malatian school of “Thales, Anaximanders, Anaximenes”, and the idea was crystallized by the philosopher “Democritus” (460: 370 BC), who did not acknowledge the existence of gods at all.

This era also witnessed the spread of the ideas of the philosopher Epicurus, who emphasized that the world is ancient and eternal, and will remain as it is forever, and that the God whose existence some claim is unable to prevent evil. Therefore, he later adopted the idea of the existence of two gods. One is for good and the other is for evil, with no belief in the existence of life after death, but Aristotle provided rational proof of the existence of “God.” But at the same time, he did not deny the eternity of the world and the existence of matter, which he called “plasmism.”

But Greek ideas and philosophies quickly faded with the fall of Athens to Roman rule and the declaration of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. Thus, the idea of “God created the universe from nothing” became popular.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, and coinciding with the repercussions of the French Revolution, which took secularism as an intellectual framework and attacked the ideas of the Church and its control over human lives; Ideas have returned that see experimental science as a solution to all the problems facing humans, and that the world does not need a God to manage its affairs, as long as science is capable of that, with a return once again to the idea of the eternity and antiquity of matter.

Contemporary atheism: The events of September 11 are the first driver of the wave of contemporary atheism, which spread widely in Europe and then moved to the countries of the Middle East. Accusing the Taliban of being the perpetrator of these bombings sparked in thousands the feeling that religion and religiosity are the primary reason for the spread of extremism and the lack of acceptance and threat of others, and even killing them and threatening humanity in general. Currents have emerged calling for making atheism an alternative to religiosity to save people and preserve the scientific and human development .

Third: The causes of atheism…

There are many reasons for the spread of atheism:

1- Psychological reasons: A study titled “The Psychological Type of the Atheist,” which included 320 male people in America, revealed that more than half of the respondents had lost one of their parents before the age of twenty, and that these people had suffered from psychological and social problems in their lives. early; This was reflected not only in their rejection of the rules of family and society; And even rejecting the existence of God, and celebrating that, is what made the study recommend the necessity of studying the psychological reality of atheists in general.

2- Dependence on the West: One of the repercussions of the French Revolution was the West’s adoption of separating religion from politics and abandoning the Church’s control over all aspects of life. This trend was followed by the occurrence of Western and civilizational progress, which made some of the peoples of the world believe that abandoning religion is the primary reason for achieving sophistication and progress. Therefore, the same intellectual approach must be followed to achieve this civilizational achievement.

3-the rigidity of religious discourse and its inability to keep up with the requirements of the era and its accelerated developments, and the inability of a large number of preachers to respond to the suspicions and allegations of atheism.

4-the shortcomings in the DA’wah system and the inability of the religious current to embrace the practical spiritual youth, and often content with dry scientific lessons and sermons that lack renewal .

5-the desire to enjoy life without restrictions, in conjunction with the tremendous cultural development that opened up to the human soul various colors of temptations and pleasures, which religion stood in front of.

6-the emergence of terrorist groups that described themselves as” Islamic ” and committed massacres and barbaric acts in the name of religion, made many people alienate from the entire religious system, and choose atheism as a counter to faith.

Fourth: indicators of atheism locally and globally 

There is no doubt that it is difficult to put accurate figures and indicators for the numbers of atheists in the world, especially in the Arab and even Islamic countries specifically, as many atheists hide their identities for fear of social ostracism and victimization of them and their families; however, some indicators can be taken into account to clarify the extent of the spread of this phenomenon globally and locally:

1-Al Arabiya website stated that according to the campaign conducted by the “bioform forum for religion and public life” -an American Studies and Research Center specializing in religions and beliefs – that more than 84% of the world’s population are followers of the heavenly religions, or believers in a belief or something, and the rest do not believe in anything at all, as they classified themselves in a campaign that conducted more than 2,500 censuses in 230 countries and geographical regions of the world throughout 2010.

2-one of the results of this campaign was that atheism has become the third “religion” in number in the world after Christianity and Islam, and that Islam is the most spreadable, distributed between 87 and 90% of the Sunni sect, the rest are Shiites, while Judaism is the weakest religion, and slightly less than half of its followers reside in Israel.

3-Al Arabiya also published a map showing the number of atheists around the world as follows:

The map shows that the number of atheists in Europe reached 134,820,000, while in North America it reached 59,040,000, in Latin America 45,390,000, in Asia 858,580,000, in Africa 26,580,000, and in the Middle East and North Africa the number of atheists is 2,100,000.

The map-which shows the geographical distribution of those who classified themselves as non – religious; they do not believe in any belief, that is, “nihilists” without any connection with metaphysics-shows that the lowest percentage of them is found in the Middle East, where they are no more than 0.2% of the billion and 100 million “atheists” and their number, as shown by the map, is only two million and 100 thousand.

After them come the atheists of the black continent, with the exception of Egypt, Sudan and North African countries, with 2.4% of the total, followed by 4% in Latin America and the Caribbean, followed by 5.2% in the United States and Canada, then 12% in Europe, and the rest in Asia, with 76.2% representing more than 858 million, including 62.2% in China alone, which is approximately 586 million atheists.

4-according to the Al Arabiya website, statistics show that there are 58 million people, less than 1% of the world’s population, who can be considered “hayari” in any religion they belong, including Baha’is, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Magi and”Wicca”, a religion founded in Britain in the Fifties of the last century, as well as “Jains” whose beliefs are widespread in India in particular, as well as followers of “Taoism” spread in China and its neighbors, as well as similar followers of the tenrikyo belief.

5-in January 2014, the Egyptian Dar Al-Ifta issued a report on the number of atheists in the Arab world, where it said that the number of atheists in Egypt is 866, in Morocco 325, in Tunisia 320, in Iraq 242, in Saudi Arabia 178, while the number was 170 in Jordan, 70 in Sudan, 56 in Syria, 34 in Libya, and 32 in Yemen.. This is equal to 2,293 atheists among the then almost 400 million inhabitants of the Arab world. But this statistic has been described by some scholars as inaccurate, stressing that the number of atheists in the Arab world exceeds millions, because in 2012, the WIN Gallup Foundation conducted an opinion poll in which it proved that five percent of Saudi citizens – more than a million people then, according to their census – consider themselves “convinced atheists”, the same percentage in the United States, by the way, while 19 percent of Saudis – about six million people – consider themselves “non-religious”.

6 – according to the data of the world index of religions and atheism at the “Red Sea” Center, 32.4% of Egypt’s atheists are in the age group from 15 to 24 years and 36% in the age group (25-34 years), 73.8% of atheists are male and 26.2% are women.

7-the website of the Egyptian newspaper “Al-Wafd” stated that a survey conducted by the American University of Eastern Michigan revealed that the number of atheists in Egypt reached 3% of the population after the revolution of January 25, 2011, i.e. more than two million atheists, including 8 million abroad according to the population census at the time.

The American University survey also revealed that the largest governorates of Egypt in terms of the number of atheists are Cairo, followed by Alexandria (north), in addition to the presence of atheists in Ismailia (Northeast) and Sharqiya (Nile Delta, North), while Upper Egypt governorates are completely free of atheists, according to the same report

Fifth: Egyptian state’s efforts to confront the atheism

1- The Ministry of Endowments, in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, launched a national campaign to confront the spread of atheism among young people, with the assistance of a number of psychologists, sociologists, politicians, and psychiatrists.

2- Al-Azhar International Center for Monitoring and Electronic Fatwas launched the “Bayan” Unit in 2018, to correct concepts and confront waves of extremism and deviations of any kind, especially atheism and non-religious thought, and to confront systematic campaigns to question the concept of religion in general and Islam in particular.
3- The “Bayan” Unit has allocated the hotline “19906”, which is affiliated with the Al-Azhar International Center for Electronic Fatwas, to respond to intellectual and religious questions related to Sahih al-Din, and they are answered directly by specialists over the phone and recorded.

4- The “Bayan” Unit, through the “Thought and Religions” Department, allocated the phone number (0020225973500) to answer questions on suspected atheism from callers from inside and outside Egypt.

5- Al-Azhar Al-Sharif established an electronic follow-up department that monitors abnormal ideas, analyzes them, and draws up systematic plans to address and correct them and protect society from them.

6 – Al-Azhar was keen to prepare the Research and Publishing Department for a number of research and scientific papers to refute atheistic principles and the suspicions that they promote.

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In 2016, Egypt launched its national plan to achieve sustainable development, “Egypt Vision 2030”, which sets priorities for National Action and a roadmap towards a better future.

The Egyptian vision emphasizes the importance of improving the standard of living for all social groups by providing appropriate education and providing an adequate health system
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The health of Egyptian women( representing half of society and affecting it as a whole ) is of great importance in Egypt’s Vision 2030.

During a celebration honoring Egyptian women in 2019, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi called for launching an initiative to preserve women’s health, which included conducting a comprehensive medical screening campaign to detect breast cancer, raising the slogan “The Egyptian woman is the health of Egypt.”

In this context, the Strategic Forum for Public Policy and Development Studies “Draya” issues a research paper that sheds light on the details of the presidential initiative to support Egyptian women’s health and the achievements achieved in this regard, as well as the efforts of the Egyptian state to support women’s health

The most important findings and recommendations that can be used to support and develop the current state efforts in the field of improving the health status of Egyptian women :

– Launching a national media campaign in which traditional media and social media contribute to the importance of women’s health and its impact on her family and how to benefit from presidential campaigns, especially those concerned with the detection of cancerous tumors, communicable and chronic diseases and related to maternal and Child Health.

– Establishing a strong national database on the common maternal diseases among women and the extent of their prevalence in different governorates of Egypt and the age groups most susceptible to these diseases.

– Intensifying home visits for women, especially in rural and remote areas, and raising their awareness to detect the incidence of some diseases, especially breast cancer through self-examination.

-Dedicating the celebration in the month of October under the slogan “Pink October” to raise awareness among women about ways to combat cancer, especially breast cancer, and to spread more culture of prevention methods and raise awareness of the importance of early detection and methods of psychological rehabilitation for those infected during the treatment period.

– Increasing the number of mobile women’s health units, especially in remote areas and villages of Upper Egypt and its countryside.

– Follow-up of women who have a genetic history of cancer in the family and make sure to conduct periodic examinations for them.

– Intensifying awareness campaigns and organizing more seminars for women in order to spread awareness about cancer, especially in border governorates and remote areas.

– Expanding the establishment and equipping of health units that provide mammogram and sonar services in all governorates of the Republic, all villages, hamlets, border and remote areas.

– Activating and increasing the sending of text messages to remind women of the dates of their periodic visit to health units and survey their opinions.

– Developing an integrated program of psychological support, nutrition, education and physiotherapy services for patients with cancerous tumors with the rehabilitation of their families during the various stages of treatment and even after the completion of the recovery process.

The first axis: the presidential initiative to support the health of Egyptian women

In 2019, Egypt launched the initiative of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for the early detection of breast tumors in all governorates of the Republic for free. it targets treatment and full awareness of the causes of the disease and the mechanisms of self-examination of benefits, as well as the detection of noncommunicable diseases (diabetes, blood pressure, weight and height measurement, body mass index, the level of obesity or overweight), and attention to women’s reproductive health, which includes screening and providing awareness to women from the age of 18 for free, the total cost of the initiative is 278 million pounds.

* The first phase of the initiative includes governorates (Alexandria-Port Said– Beheira – Fayoum – Assiut – Qalyubia – Matrouh – South Sinai-Damietta).

* The second phase includes governorates (North Sinai-Red Sea-Cairo – Ismailia – Suez – Kafr el Sheikh – Menoufia – Beni Suef – Sohag – Luxor-Aswan).

* The third stage includes the governorates (New Valley – Giza – west – Dakahlia – East – Minya – Qana)

Implemented within the framework of the initiative:

– Preparing a list of targeted women in the neighborhood and governorate and following the system of systematic periodic screening according to the history of the disease in the family, age and genetic factors, and developing the necessary plan to implement the campaign.screening services were also provided to women on the initiative through 3,538 health units at the level of the governorates of the Republic, as well as 114 hospitals to provide medical service to women whose condition requires an Advanced examination.

– Providing knowledge of the places of examination through the official website of the initiative http://www.100millionseha.eg.

– Receiving inquiries about the initiative through the hotline of the 100 million health initiative 15335, 24 hours a day in Arabic and English, where 117 thousand and 486 calls were received.

– Sending about one million and 500 thousand text messages on women’s mobile phones to urge them to continue monitoring their health status within the initiative periodically.

– Developing direct means of communication between the citizen and the ministry, such as Facebook pages, the automatic response feature on the “WhatsApp” application, the ministry’s website and the Egypt health application.

– Providing the latest international treatment protocols for breast cancer treatment free of charge within the initiative, within the vision of the political leadership to pay attention to the public health of Egyptian citizens and women.

– Developing the infrastructure in health units and hospitals to work within the initiative, by increasing the number of devices used in diagnostics, which include sonar and mammogram devices, and pathology laboratories.

– Training of all medical teams working within the initiative, which amounted to 20 thousand and 89 medical teams, including each of them (doctors, nurses, radiology technicians), as well as training data entry and administrators, to ensure the provision of the best level of medical service

Achievements :

The initiative succeeded in achieving unprecedented achievements in the detection and treatment of women free of charge and at the expense of the state, and these achievements included the following:

– On June 17, 2023, the Ministry of Health and population announced the reception of 36 million and 464 thousand visits from women to receive examination and awareness services, within the framework of the president’s sustainable initiative to support Egyptian women’s health, since its launch in July 2019 .

– Visits are divided into 19 million, 658 thousand, 448 visits for the first time, 9 million, 247 and 592 periodic visits, 7 million, 557 thousand and 967 casual visits .

-548 thousand and 126 women visited hospitals to conduct Advanced examinations within the initiative.

– The initiative provides its free services for the examination of women through 3538 health units at the level of the governorates of the Republic, in addition to the participation of 102 hospitals, to provide medical service to women whose condition requires an Advanced examination, and inquiries can be received through the hotline of the initiative “100 million health” on the number 15335.

– 29,331 cases were presented and discussed through the multidisciplinary MDT committee in the field of oncology, within the initiative, in order to make a unified treatment decision, as the initiative follows the latest international protocols for the treatment of breast cancer, through 14 centers affiliated to the Ministry of Health and population, in addition to activating these protocols in 14 centers affiliated to the Supreme Council of University Hospitals and free of charge, and these centers are being equipped for Applied Research in order to reach advanced research centers in the treatment of oncology, within the vision of the political leadership to pay attention to the public health of citizens.

-19,674 cases of breast cancer have been detected, and 298,854 mammograms have been performed since the launch of the initiative, in addition to withdrawing 29,764 tumor samples for analysis, and providing free treatment for cases that have been confirmed .

– Follow-up treatment of injured women, whether subject to health insurance, or the treatment system at the expense of the state. As part of the keenness to raise the efficiency of service providers, 24,208 training programs were provided to medical teams, including (doctors, nurses and radiology technicians), in addition to providing training programs for data entry and administrators and returning those training programs to ensure the provision of the best level of medical service.

– The centers providing mammogram and sonar services have been expanded to 71 centers, compared to 13 centers in 2019, as well as 60 laboratories in microspecialties, in addition to the pathology laboratory of the Dar es Salaam Oncology Center (Hermel), which was accredited by the American College of pathologists.

– According to the statements of the minister of Health / Dr. Khalid Abdul Ghaffar, the initiative is based on a set of basic pillars, the most important of which are: (early detection, data management, training for medical teams, and modern scientific research), explaining that early detection and diagnosis work is carried out through 70 highly equipped laboratories and 71 radiology centers, stressing the importance of advertising campaigns and awareness and health education activities, through communication with women in their places of residence and work, pointing out that more than 36 million visits have been made, and providing health awareness to more than 20 million women from the age of 18. He also explained that the initiative has succeeded in achieving its goal of early detection of tumors according to innovative and effective treatment lines in line with global updates, announcing the arrival of high rates of detection of the disease in the first and second stages.

– The percentage of conservative surgeries increased to 34.25% by the end of 2022, compared to 31.5% by the end of 2021, and the percentage of conservative resection surgeries increased to 60%, pointing to the activation of protocols for surgical treatment of breast tumors, and the activation of a unified protocol for chemotherapy in accordance with international guidelines in this regard.

– The initiative’s services in 2022 included sending 9 million text messages to remind ladies of the dates of their periodic visits and polling their opinions.

The second axis: the efforts of the Egyptian state to support women’s health ..

Egypt has made enormous and unprecedented efforts to preserve and support women’s health and provide all health services to them:

1-the Presidential Initiative “Egyptian women are the health of Egypt”, which targeted (210,920), and included the themes of the campaign: early detection of tumors” breast cancer”, noncommunicable diseases (diabetes, pressure, obesity), heart disease and osteoporosis
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2-the state launched the presidential initiative to support Egyptian women’s Health, which has successfully examined 33.8 million women so far and 1.8 million through the maternal and fetal health care initiative so far, as well as 2 million women beneficiaries of the comprehensive health insurance system since its launch, by 49.3%

3-Bahia initiative: the National Council for women has adopted the launch of the ” Bahia initiative” to urge women to collect material donations for the treatment of breast cancer patients and early detection campaigns for free, and the council also conducts field visits to the hospital moral support for female patients:

– The number of beneficiaries of the Bahia initiative and the donation campaign led by the council reached {134,000} benefiting from early detection, free treatment and pre-treatment examinations.
– Equipping a room in the name of the National Council for women at the hospital.

– Conducting (5) field visits to Bahia hospital, and honoring (120) female veterans recovering from the disease in a ceremony held by the hospital.

– Launching the “ladies of Egypt ” initiative to alleviate the waiting lists and participate in providing material and in-kind support to the hospital, and the “Protect Your Family protect Egypt… Bahiya in your back ” initiative to facilitate the access of hormone therapy for patients with the outbreak of the corona epidemic.
– Participation in the foundation stone laying ceremony at Bahia Hospital, Sheikh Zayed branch.

– To stimulate the efforts of government, civil society and civil society to raise awareness of the importance of “early detection of breast cancer for Egyptian women ” and also the council coordinated between different entities to integrate individual roles.

– The council launched the “journey of hope with breast cancer” program, within the framework of the “100 million health” initiative, which is a free campaign to raise awareness and early screening for breast cancer, using the mammography device “mammogram”, to educate women about the method of self-detection.

5-launching the presidential initiative to support maternal and fetal health, in March 2020, at a cost of 55.5 million pounds, 1.48 million women out of 1.5 million targeted women have been examined

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The mechanisms of participation of the Syrian American doctors association in the efforts of providing medical and psychological and social support to refugees and vulnerable communities were discussed, and it was agreed on cooperation and joint coordination in order to advance support for Palestinian refugees in Egypt and improve their living conditions, health and psychological.

The Association of Syrian American doctors (SAMS) is a leading medical relief organization founded in 1998 in the United States, with the aim of providing educational and cultural services to medical professionals of Syrian origin. Since 2007, MSF has been providing medical and relief services in Syria and neighboring countries, including providing medical education, training and financial support to doctors and other healthcare workers, establishing field hospitals, intensive care units, dental clinics, primary care, maternity and neonatal care facilities, mobile medical units and dialysis centers.

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The Strategic Forum for Public Policy and Development Studies “Draya” issues a research paper on the crisis and its causes, consumption and production rates, energy sources in Egypt, the most important projects in this field, and finally the international outlook on the development of the electricity sector in Egypt.

The most important recommendations for getting out of the crisis :

– The need to accelerate diversification and dependence on new and renewable energy sources, especially solar-powered plants.

– Taking advantage of batteries that rely on solar energy generation by deploying them on the roofs of houses and factories and making use of them during power outages.

– Compensating for the shortage in gas production at the Zohr field as a result of reports that some of the field’s wells were out of operation due to the presence of a leak of sea water inside them, with the continuation of exploration and exploration for other gas fields.

– Take advantage of the current decline in gas prices by importing gas during the summer period.

– The importance of openness and disclosure to citizens and constant information about the government’s response to the crisis.

– Fair and regular distribution of electricity outages with no exceptions except for vital areas only .

– Reduce the hours of interruption in areas suffering from severe high temperatures in southern Egypt.

– Cooperation with international organizations and partners in order to fulfill their obligations to countries suffering from the effects of climate change and rising temperatures.

First: the crisis

Egypt has been hit by power outages before and their severity increased after 2011 amid the deterioration of electricity networks and their inefficiency amid the lack of investment in this sector, as well as the stagnation of production and the suspension of gas exploration contracts.

Indeed, confronting this crisis was a priority on the agenda of President Sisi, who, since coming to power in June 2014, has been keen to solve it and the state has launched an ambitious plan to confront the crisis by building a network of new plants: three gas-fired plants with a capacity of 4.8 gigawatts, namely Beni Suef and the new capital, burlus, operated by the German Siemens group, representing almost 40% of Egypt’s energy capacity and providing electricity to about 40 million Egyptians. In 2015, Egypt also began importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the first time in its history, docking two floating storage and re-conversion units (FSRU) in Ain Sokhna in the Gulf of Suez.

The Italian company Eni announced the discovery of a natural gas field in 2015 with reserves estimated at about 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, which is equivalent to 5.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent, and these reserves represent more than 135% of the current reserves of crude oil in Egypt, after which Egypt will become a net exporter of liquefied natural gas.

This discovery has strengthened Egypt’s position to become a regional energy center and a platform for trading gas, whether produced locally or imported from neighboring countries, and then re-exported after liquefying it.

These discoveries and this development contributed to Egypt playing an important role in meeting Europe’s natural gas needs after the Russian/ Ukrainian war, and in June 2022 the European Union signed a gas agreement with Egypt and Israel to increase gas supplies.

In 2023, Egypt exported 8.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas, ranking as the twelfth largest exporter in the world.

Second: the causes of the crisis

– The country is exposed to heat waves caused by climate change, amid increasing domestic consumption.

– The decline in natural gas production due to the presence of some errors causing cracks in one of the wells in the Zohr field, which led to the leakage of sea water inside it and stopped production completely .

– The Egyptian government stopped importing the fuel oil needed to operate the stations as a result of its high prices, it is noteworthy that the Electricity Holding Company had received more than 500 thousand tons of fuel oil and it was consumed to operate electricity production stations.

– The crisis of the shortage of foreign exchange necessary for the import of gasoline fuel mixed with gas for the operation of power plants in the country.

– Continue to support the electricity sector and sell it at less than its real price.

– Compliance with gas export contracts to Europe, which prompted the government to transfer part of domestic production to the European market .

– Israel’s decision after the events of the seventh of October and its war on the Gaza Strip to stop the eastern Mediterranean gas pipeline that connected Ashkelon in southern Israel to El Arish in Egypt, which negatively affected the duration of the interruption.

Third: consumption and production rates

Government data indicate that investments of up to 355 billion pounds (11.5 billion dollars) were made in the field of electricity production during the period from 2014 to the end of 2022, and the government invested about 85 billion pounds (2.75 billion dollars) in strengthening and modernizing the electricity transmission system.

– In 2022, Egypt exported about 8.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas to become the 12th largest exporter in the world, and about 60% of its natural gas production went to Europe.

Gas is still the largest source of electricity generation in Egypt at more than 79%, but it is lower than the previous year’s 82.9%. Electricity generated from natural gas decreased from 174 in 2021 to 159.3 TWh in 2022 by 8.5%.
In the same context, Egypt’s consumption of natural gas decreased over the past year to 60.7 billion cubic meters, compared to 62.2 billion cubic meters in 2021, an annual decline of 2.3%.

Gas exports jumped during the year 2022 to 8.4 billion dollars, compared to 3.5 billion dollars in 2021, and liquefied gas exports decreased to 2.9 million tons (3.9 billion cubic meters), compared to 3.9 million tons (5.3 billion cubic meters) in the comparative period of 2022.

Fourth: energy sources in Egypt

Egypt has a variety of sources of electricity generation between Steam and gas-fired plants based on fossil fuels, water plants based on the High Dam in southern Egypt and wind and solar-based plants such as the Zaafarana and Bannan project south of Aswan.

While solar plants operate only during the day, and wind turbines stop when the air movement stops, the greatest dependence remains on plants that combine steam and gas, which make up 52% of electricity stations in Egypt .

Egypt relies heavily on natural gas for electricity generation by 66%, so it has developed plans to diversify energy sources in the country by investing in the new and renewable energy sector, as it is one of the most developed countries in the Middle East and North Africa in terms of energy transformation projects, and ranks first in North Africa in terms of installed electric capacity (solar, wind and hydrogen energy).

The most important Egyptian projects in the field of electricity and energy:

-A report by the information and Decision Support Center of the Council of ministers indicated that “Egypt reached the fourth place in energy projects in the Middle East and North Africa during 2022-2026,” as confirmed by APICORP in its report, ” the value of energy projects in Egypt, both planned and projects under implementation during the period (2022-2026) reached about 100 billion dollars. The estimated value of the 10 largest gas projects in Egypt was set at about 14 billion dollars, compared to 12 billion dollars for the 10 largest oil projects in Egypt,”he said.

It pointed out that Egypt aims to generate 42% of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2035.

– Egypt has one of the largest power plants in the world, the Bannan solar energy complex with a capacity of up to 1.8 GW, and the complex is also the largest solar energy farm on the African continent( 200 thousand solar panels equivalent to 90% of the electricity generated by the High Dam, with a total investment cost of up to 4 billion dollars.)

– the Kureimat solar energy project, the installation of photovoltaic cells on the rooftops of 121 MW as well as hydropower projects in Nag Hammadi with a capacity of 64 MW, and Assiut bat.

-Dabaa Nuclear Station: One of the largest electrical energy production projects on the African continent. It includes four nuclear reactors with a total capacity of 4,800 megawatts, with 1,200 megawatts for each reactor. The first nuclear reactor is scheduled to begin operating in 2028, and the other reactors will then be operated successively.

Future projects

The green hydrogen strategy announced by Egypt at the COP27 climate change conference aims to:

-An increase in GDP from 10-18 billion dollars by 2025.

-Creating more than 100,000 new jobs.

-Contributing to reducing Egypt’s imports of petroleum products.

-Reducing carbon emissions

This strategy is being implemented in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Arab Union for Sustainable Development and Environment.

Within the framework of cooperation with Siemens, the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company will launch a green hydrogen pilot project in which the capacity of electrolyzers will range from 100-200 megawatts.
Signing a memorandum of understanding with the Norwegian company SCATEC, which aims to produce 1 million to 3 million tons annually of green ammonia.

-The Indian ACME Group’s production target is 2.2 million tons annually of green fuel
-The Saudi Al-Fanar Company aims to produce 500 thousand tons annually of green fuel.
-The German company H2 Industries (East Port Said Industrial Zone) established the first station to convert waste into green hydrogen with a production capacity of 300 thousand tons annually.

Egypt has sought to be a pivotal center for energy, through electrical interconnection with neighboring countries and its membership in various energy groupings at the continental level up to the international level, especially since the continents of Africa and Europe are among the least continents and regions of the world producing electricity around the world for the year 2021, (the percentage of electrical energy generated in… Africa represents 3.2% of the world’s total production, Europe’s production accounts for 14.2%, and Asia and the Pacific’s production of electrical energy accounts for 49.2%.

The figure shows the most prominent bilateral interconnection projects:

-The Egyptian/ Libyan electrical interconnection project with a target capacity of 2000 MW, the electrical interconnection project between Egypt and Sudan with a target capacity of 300 MW, the electrical interconnection project between Egypt and Saudi Arabia with a target capacity of 3000 MW, and between Egypt and Jordan with a target capacity of 2000 MW.

-Egypt / Cyprus / Greece electrical interconnection project: the project aims to make Egypt the Gateway of electrical interconnection between Africa and Europe through Cyprus to exchange electricity capacity up to 2000 MW.

-At the African level, the country is working to be a pivotal Center for energy and electricity trade by establishing an electricity trading market between countries that pool energy for East African countries EAPP.

Fifth: consequences of the crisis

Positive results:

– Registration of gas export revenues ranging from 100 to 150 million dollars per month, with an increase in the value of Egypt’s gas exports to reach 8 billion dollars by the end of June 2022.

– The reduction of domestic gas consumption by 10% brings returns of 300 million dollars per month.If it is reduced by 15%, it achieves returns of 450 million dollars per month.
Negative results:

Social effects related to:

– The temperature is increasingly rising, which affects citizens negatively, and social and political stability as a result of citizens ‘ discontent.

– The feeling of a state of inequality among citizens as a result of its non-interruption in all parts in an equal way, as well as the existence of exceptions for tourist areas, while these considerations were not taken into account in other tourist cities such as Luxor and Aswan.

Economic effects :

– Causing a decline in the rate of foreign investment in Egypt, especially as this will affect the business climate and attract investors.

– Ending the current crisis will require the government an additional 300 million dollars a month to import enough energy in addition to the value of state support for the sector of about 220 billion pounds (about 4.6 billion dollars), which will put pressure on the state budget, according to the minister of finance, especially since the state cannot pay from the foreign reserve of 46,125 billion dollars in May 2024.

– Fears of rising inflation rates, which have reached 35% on a monthly basis, especially in light of the government’s announcement of a trend to increase electricity prices, and adjusting the prices of consumer segments, as well as the rise in prices of cereals, fruits and vegetables as a result of crop damage due to high temperatures

Sixth: the international view of the development of the electricity sector in Egypt

Fitch expects:

– Strong growth in renewable energy sectors compared to 2021 (the growth rate of electricity generation from renewable energy sources (other than hydroelectric energy) will reach 13.9% in 2021, compared to 22.6% in 2022, and 23% in 2023)

Egypt will be one of the fastest growing non-hydroelectric renewable energy markets in the region over the next ten years

– Egypt is enhancing its competitiveness and becoming a very attractive destination for investors in renewable energy sources, thanks to strong support and natural solar and wind energy potential.

Egypt is also at the forefront of the Arab countries in the production capacity of solar and wind energy, with a capacity of 3,523 megawatts, and Fitch confirmed that electricity exports and green hydrogen projects will drive the long-term growth of the Egyptian energy sector, and the surplus energy supply in Egypt will remain high during the next ten years.

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In this context, this research paper addresses the definition of smart cities, reviews the most prominent pioneering models for them in Egypt, and presents a road map towards achieving more of them to improve the lives of citizens and contribute to achieving sustainable economic development, through the following axes:

First axis: definition of smart cities

The term “smart cities” first appeared in Europe in 1994 in reference to a city that employs advanced information and communication technologies to improve the quality of life of its residents and enhance the efficiency of urban processes.

A smart city is “services and infrastructure” that are supported through the use of information and communications technology to become more effective, fast, flexible and sustainable. Smart cities include green buildings, transportation systems, urban security services, flood and rain water drainage, street lighting, crisis preparedness, and an economy that supports small, medium, and large enterprises.

The concept of smart cities is related to ” sustainability ” as it adds new dimensions to it such as continuity, adaptability, equity, competitiveness, productivity increase and re-exploitation. All these dimensions contribute to ensuring the quality of life socially, economically and environmentally, and enhance the continuity of these cities for future generations.

 Second axis: features of smart cities

Smart cities depend on the integration of information and communications technology infrastructure. It includes technology that makes it capable of absorbing any development in the technical field to cover future services.
– Smart transportation: It is the management of the transport, communication and traffic system through a set of technologies that rely on information technology, to support smart sustainable infrastructure, through the shift towards sustainable green cities.

– Smart government: includes developing the government work system using electronic means to provide government services. The most important applications of e-government are: “providing information” meaning making all processes and information related to the city’s residents available, “communications” meaning the ability to exchange information and communicate between residents and the government, and “transactions Electronic” means providing services electronically.

– A central administrative body for the city that has an electronic control system under the supervision of trained human resources, while adhering to strict performance standards to achieve efficiency in performance.
– Relying on renewable energy sources, as smart cities are characterized by limited use of non-renewable energy sources to the lowest level, relying instead on renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, wind energy, and water energy.

– Smart economy and overall competitiveness of the city based on the innovative method of business, promoting research and development to increase employment and productivity.

– The smart citizen who represents the cornerstone of building the smart city system, as smart cities are a fertile environment for attracting and investing outstanding human capital.

According to the Smart Cities Index for 2023, issued by the International Institute for administrative development in Switzerland in cooperation with the Singapore University of technology and design, the number of smart cities around the world reached 141 smart cities in 2023, compared to 118 smart cities according to the same report for 2021.

The report reviewed the top 10 smart cities around the world according to the Smart Cities Index for 2023: Zurich in Switzerland leads the first place, Oslo, the capital of Norway, and Canberra, the capital of Australia, take the second and third places, respectively, then Copenhagen, Denmark, ranked fourth, Lausanne, Switzerland, ranked fifth, London, United Kingdom, ranked fifth and Stockholm, Sweden, ranked tenth.

The size of the Smart Cities market globally according to the “Global Smart Cities Strategic Report 2023” (Global Smart Cities Strategic Report 2023) reached about 998.7 billion dollars in 2022. The size of the Smart Cities market globally is expected to reach 5.2 trillion dollars by 2030, and according to research conducted by the American company “McKinsey management consulting”, which was published by the website (TechRepublic) in July 2018, the Smart Cities industry is expected to contribute about 60% of global GDP by 2025.

Third axis : the advantages of smart cities

Smart cities have many positive aspects that are reflected in various walks of life:

– Social sphere: scientific research has shown that the technologies enjoyed by Smart Cities help to improve the quality of urban life, and there are many positive effects on the social sphere such as :

A-smart city applications can help in combating crime and improving various aspects of public safety, such as reducing deaths resulting from homicide, traffic, fires, etc., as well as reducing assault, robbery and car theft incidents by a large percentage as a result of monitoring, tracking and early warning technologies.

B-safe rapid transportation: smart city technologies can make daily commutes faster, as well as reduce environmental pollution, and by 2025, smart cities are expected to have the ability to reduce commuting times by 15 :20% on average.

C- Improving the health status of citizens: Smart cities provide safer streets, green spaces, cleaner air, improved services for residents, and many economic opportunities, and all of this in turn contributes to improving the quality of life of residents. Indeed, the applications used in these cities can help in preventing and treating chronic conditions and monitor it.

D- Strengthening social cohesion: The use of social media and various applications may help in organizing and consolidating relationships between residents who feel connected to this smart community, while ensuring the exchange of information and contacting their local units, towards whom they also feel a sense of belonging and interconnectedness, in order to ensure the interest of these communities and their residents.

2-Positive impact on the economic field : smart cities are currently accelerating the pace of economic growth by investing in smart technologies and attracting investments due to the provision of better communication networks, strong infrastructure and services that are easy to use .Smart cities have obvious positive effects on the economic sphere :

A-providing job opportunities and more efficient markets: these cities provide smart solutions that can make local labor markets more efficient and reduce the cost of living, and e-employment centers can have a positive impact by creating more efficient mechanisms for employment.

B-rationalization of consumption: smart city applications allow the most efficient use of utilities and the health care system, as well as products such as home security systems, Personal Alarm devices and others ensure the follow-up of the consumer’s purchasing pattern and thus awareness of what he needs .

3- Positive impact on the environmental field: Smart cities benefit from digital solutions in order to enhance energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and improve environmental efficiency, as switching to an electric public transportation system, for example, reduces harmful fuel emissions, and the advantage of remote work reduces the number of Cars used in cities.

Beijing – one of the most important smart cities in the world – has succeeded in reducing deadly airborne pollutants by about 20% in less than a year by closely tracking pollution sources and regulating traffic and construction according to smart city applications.

4 – Positive impact on the military and security field: Smart technologies provide great advantages for military installations, especially in times of crises and emergencies. The data path also allows for easy collection of intelligence information and prosecution. For example, the army and navy forces in Georgia in the United States of America opened smart solar energy stations. This allows it to operate independently of the local power grid, a critical capability in emergency situations.

Fourth axis: Smart cities in Egypt

The Egyptian state has made great efforts to transition to a digital society and the smart city model, and to benefit from advanced technological developments to facilitate the provision of services to citizens.
The most important smart cities in Egypt:

The new administrative capital: through the new administrative capital project, the Egyptian state seeks to achieve Egypt’s Vision 2030, preserve current natural resources and get out of the narrow valley, and expand the built-up area at the expense of uninhabited desert areas, which ensures reducing the average current and future population density, and increasing the citizen’s share of land and services.

The capital is located 45 kilometers east of Cairo, and is being built on an area of 700 square kilometers, to be a new administrative, commercial and Cultural Center for Egypt. The location of the administrative capital was chosen to be close to promising new development areas. It is distinguished by its intelligent design, which takes into account the latest technologies and international standards, and focuses on achieving seven main goals:

1-green city: large green spaces up to 40% of the city area are allocated to create a healthy and sustainable environment.

2-a sustainable city: it relies on renewable energy sources, and applies energy and water efficiency technologies.
3-pedestrian city: its streets and facilities are designed to be pedestrian-friendly, with an emphasis on smart public transport.

4-a city for housing and Life: provides integrated residential communities that meet the needs of various groups of society.

5-connected city: it is provided with a developed digital infrastructure that provides high-speed internet access and various smart services.

6-smart city: it relies on artificial intelligence and IoT technologies to improve the efficiency of services and provide innovative solutions to challenges.

7-business city: it forms a regional and global business center, attracts foreign investments and stimulates entrepreneurship.

El Alamein new city: the location of the city was chosen on the Mediterranean coast east of El Alamein airport. It is planned that the city will be built on an area of about 48,917 thousand acres in order to enhance the process of population spread and various economic activities in the North Coast region, and also highlights its importance in supporting spatial and communication relations between the Burj Al Arab sector and the Marsa Matrouh and Sidi Barrani sectors, to facilitate the transfer of population and employment, and achieve population spread. That the strategic plan of the city is planned for a population of 3 million people.

Fifth axis:

A Roadmap towards Sustainable Smart Cities Serious steps must be taken to increase the number of smart cities. These steps include a set of measures that promote the development of these cities and achieve sustainable development, as these measures constitute a clear roadmap for the development of sustainable smart cities in Egypt.

The most important actions and recommendations are as follows:
1-spreading awareness and culture:

– Spreading the culture of smart cities and their benefits among community members.
– Raising awareness of decision-makers about the importance of the transition towards smart cities.

2-development of digital infrastructure:

– Investing in the modernization of digital infrastructure to provide high-speed communication technologies and network technology.

– Expanding the use of Internet of things technology.
(IoT) to improve the management of public resources and services

3-promoting innovation and partnerships:

– Support innovation, research and development in technology to improve the efficiency of urban services.
– Encouraging public-private partnerships to finance and implement smart city projects.

4-enact supportive legislation and policies:

– Developing legislation and policies that promote the development of smart cities and contribute to providing the appropriate environment for investment.
– Enact legislation that protects privacy and security in the context of smart cities.

5-improving environmental sustainability:

– Promote the use of renewable energy and improve waste management. – Integrate technology to improve water and energy efficiency.

6. Encourage sharing and transparency:

– Promoting community participation and inclusion of citizens in decision-making processes and city planning.
– Take advantage of Digital Government technologies to improve transparency and interaction with citizens.

7-Skills Development and education:

– Improve education in the field of technology and innovation to ensure the availability of qualified cadres for the application and management of smart technology.

8-take advantage of international finance:

– Seeking international funding to finance smart city projects and improve infrastructure.

The post Smart Cities: A More Efficient and Sustainable Future appeared first on المنتدي الاستراتيجي للسياسات العامة و دراسات التنمية.

High mortality rates due to suicide pose an obstacle to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Goal 3, which states “to reduce premature deaths from non-communicable diseases by one third through prevention, treatment and promotion of mental health and well-being by 2030.”

In this context, this research paper deals with the phenomenon of suicide in detail through a number of axes :

First: definition of suicide and its types
Second: Groups at risk of suicide and the methods used
Third: indicators and rates of suicide globally
Fourth: the phenomenon of suicide in Egypt
Fifth: the Egyptian state’s efforts to reduce suicides Sixth: recommendations

First: Definition of suicide and its types

Suicide can be defined as killing oneself (a person killing himself consciously or unconsciously, or the act that involves a person intentionally causing his own death, while the World Health Organization defines suicide as the act of killing oneself intentionally).

There are several classifications regarding the types of suicide of the French scientist ” Emile Durkheim” :

1-selfish suicide : It is caused by an individual’s feeling of separation from society, the presence of special problems such as separation from a loved one or the death of a loved one .

2-suicide to please others: Suicide of patients, widows, terrorists and others.

3-suicide due to lack of authority in society and the state Such as financial and economic crises and wars that cause a rift in the social system.

4-fatalistic suicide : Due to excessive repression and lack of hope for the future, such as the mass suicide of some tribes and groups.

Second: Groups at risk of suicide and the methods used

The World Health Organization confirms that there is a close connection between suicide and mental disorders, especially in countries with high incomes among alcoholics.

Some people also resort to suicide due to some financial and social crises such as divorce, pain, and chronic diseases

The international organization also explained that there is a strong link between conflicts, disasters, violence, abuse, or loss of loved ones, and feelings of isolation with suicidal behavior. Suicide rates are high among vulnerable groups who suffer from discrimination, such as refugees, migrants, indigenous peoples and prisoners.

It also confirmed that about 20% of global suicide cases are due to pesticide poisoning, most of which occur in rural agricultural areas in low- and middle-income countries, in addition to other common suicide methods such as hanging or firing gunshots.

Third: Global suicide indicators and rates

Although collecting accurate data on suicide rates worldwide faces many challenges, WHO provides figures that indicate the extent of the suicide problem worldwide, as rates vary between countries and regions, and also vary between males and females.

Some of the organization’s most notable statistics include:

1-the number of people who die annually due to suicide is estimated at 703 thousand people.

2-more than 79% of global suicides in 2019 occurred in low-and middle-income countries.

3-suicide ranked fourth among the leading causes of death in the category of young people between the ages of 15 to 29, after road accidents, tuberculosis and interpersonal violence.

4- Only 80 countries have good data on civil registration by which suicide rates can be estimated.

5-the number of males who die by suicide is more than twice as many as the number of females

(12.6 out of every 000-100 males compared to 5.4 out of every 000-100 females).

6. Suicide rates among men are generally higher in high-income countries (16.5 out of every 000 100)

7-for females, the highest suicide rates are recorded in the countries of the lower middle income segment

(7.1 out of every 0000 100).

8. Suicide rates in the OIC regions of Africa (11.2 per 000 100), Europe (10.5 per 000 100) and South-East Asia (10.2 per 000 100) were higher than the global average (9 per 000 100) in 2019, while the lowest suicide rate was recorded in the eastern Mediterranean region (6.4 per 000 100).

9-suicide rates recorded a decrease during the twenty years from 2000 to 2019, where the global rate decreased by 36% and the decline ranged from 17% in the eastern Mediterranean region to 47% in Europe and 49% in the western Pacific region, but suicide rates increased by 17% during the same period in the Americas region.

10-pesticide poisoning causes 20% of all suicides

11-for some countries of Southern Africa and Eastern Europe, the estimated suicide rates are high, with annual deaths exceeding 15 per 100 thousand people.

Meanwhile, for other countries of Europe, South America and Asia, the estimated suicide rates are lower, with annual deaths less than 10 per 100 thousand people.

12- The World Health Organization explained that the countries with the highest suicide rates in the world in 2019 were India, China, the United States of America, Pakistan, Nigeria, Brazil, Bangladesh, Russia, and Mexico.

13- Some major countries have recorded record numbers in suicide rates, such as the United States of America, Japan, Brazil, and South Korea, especially in the age group of 25-34 years.

14-according to the data of the International Organization, Jordan, Syria, Venezuela, Honduras and the Philippines are among the lowest countries in the number of suicides.

On the other hand, the indicators of the International Association for Suicide Prevention have shown the following :

1-more than half (58%) of all deaths due to suicide occur before the age of 50 years.

2. Suicides in all regions of the world, however, more than (77%) of global suicides in 2019occurred in low-and middle-income countries.

-3- (20%) of all suicides are the result of pesticide ingestion, especially in rural agricultural environments, and hanging and firearms are also common methods of suicide

4- suicide is still illegal in more than 20 countries, while people who engage in suicidal behavior may be punished in some countries, including legal penalties ranging from a small fine or a short prison sentence to life imprisonment.

Fourth: Suicide in Egypt

A study conducted by the National Center for social and criminal research showed that the causes of suicide in Egypt :

– Social reasons: include family disputes and pressures after divorce, ill-treatment from the family, infidelity of the husband, marital violence, refusal to divorce the wife and involvement in an illicit relationship, being raped and resulting in pregnancy, the presence of a romantic relationship and the family’s refusal to marry the girl.

– Acute psychopathological causes: including depression, feeling of loss after the death of the father, and severe sadness after the death of the mother.

– Educational difficulties: which cause individuals to feel a sense of failure and frustration and expose them to bullying .

– Economic reasons: include unemployment, financial hardship, accumulation of debt.

The study also pointed out that unofficial figures confirm the high suicide rates in Egypt over the past few years, while there are no official statistics on suicide in Egypt, which explains the limited registration of the percentage of suicides, as according to popular culture, the family of the suicide is stigmatized and the family always works to deny and disavow it.

– It should also be noted that according to the data of the central agency for mobilization and statistics, the number of suicides in 2018 amounted to 89 people, 66 males and 23 females, while the number of suicides decreased in 2019, as Egypt witnessed 75 confirmed suicides, 54 of them men, and 21 suicides of women, and the number of suicides jumped in 2020 to 101 suicides, of which 74 men decided to end his life, compared to the suicide of 27 women, while The data of the central agency for mobilization and statistics showed that over the past three years, the most suicidal age groups were young people, especially those in the second and third decades of their lives.

– Also, data from a study prepared by the secretariat of mental health and addiction treatment at the Ministry of Health showed that 29.2% of Secondary School students suffer from psychological problems, and 21.7% of them are thinking of suicide, while Egypt witnessed 2,584 suicides during 2021, according to a statistic issued by the Attorney General’s office

Fifth: the Egyptian state’s efforts to reduce suicides

1-Al-Azhar Al-Sharif launched the “you are precious to US ” initiative, which aims to provide self-support to young people and help them solve problems and face challenges that make them think about getting rid of their lives

2-the establishment of the first government clinic to be opened to face the problem of suicide.

3-launching a hotline to communicate with specialists to get help or advice in case of problems and challenges that lead to a person to get rid of his life.

4-the announcement of the psychological and emergency support hotline and psychological consultations of the general secretariat of mental health at the Ministry of Health and population to receive inquiries and psychological support and support those wishing to commit suicide, which is the number 08008880700 from any landline.

The National Council for mental health has launched a hotline to receive psychological inquiries, which is number 20818102 .

The Al-Azhar Center for e-fatwas has launched a number of awareness campaigns on its official pages via social networking sites to warn against the phenomenon of suicide, the development of religious awareness among young people, and the warning of electronic games that lead to suicide such as the Blue Whale and other destructive games.
Sixth: recommendations

Of course, more efforts can be made to confront the phenomenon of suicide in Egypt, which can be summarized as follows :

1-developing a national strategy at the level of the relevant state institutions to combat suicide.

2-launching a national campaign through the media and social media about the risk of suicide.

3-expanding the establishment of therapeutic institutions, especially those concerned with psychological and social intervention in order to improve mental health.

4-increasing the treatment programs for personality disorders and mental illnesses.

5-increasing awareness of the nature of mental illnesses and their danger to the health of individuals and the danger of social stigma, which may be an obstacle for the patient to seek help and treatment.

6-providing an accurate and detailed database on the number of suicides and their motives in order to develop the necessary measures to eliminate this phenomenon.

7-increasing the number of field and scientific researches dealing with the phenomenon of suicide and its motives to identify the causes of the phenomenon and its treatment.

8-spreading the culture of hope and optimism through dramatic works, and directing religious institutions to spread the culture of love of life and acceptance of the other while strengthening the religious consciousness among young people and raising awareness that suicide is one of the major sins.

9-raising awareness among parents of the importance of following the behavior of their children, which allows early detection of any of the signs or indications of the son’s resort to suicide

The post Suicide: Global Indicators and Confrontation Strategies appeared first on المنتدي الاستراتيجي للسياسات العامة و دراسات التنمية.

Digital currencies are one of the most controversial economic topics, especially since they have been associated by people and governments with money laundering, human trafficking, drugs and the financing of terrorist operations, but there are some opinions that the use of digital currencies is inevitably coming and that banking institutions in all countries of the world should prepare for this development and deal with it.

When considering the current reality that dominates the financial scene, the transformation of traditional currencies (paper and metal) into digital currencies commensurate with technological development has become possible, while maintaining its main fixed goals as a unit of account, a store of value, and a means of exchange, and for this transformation to gain public trust and acceptance

In this context, this research paper defines the concept of digital currencies, the pros and cons of dealing with them, and reviews the reality of the Egyptian state’s dealings with them and the attitudes of young people regarding them, with a presentation of the most important recommendations for safe trading in digital currencies. The paper addresses the reality of digital currencies through several axes, including the following:

First: Definition of digital currencies

Second: The pros and cons of digital currencies

Third: Global indicators on digital currency trading

Fourth: Digital currencies in Egypt

Fifth: Steps towards safe trading of digital currencies

First: the concept of digital currencies

Many economic writings have discussed the definition of digital or virtual currencies or cryptocurrencies, but the European Banking Authority defined its as “a digital representation of a value that is not issued by the central bank or by public authorities and is not necessarily related to paper currencies such as the dollar and the euro. Ordinary and legal persons accept its as a means of payment and can be transferred or exchanged ,” Store or circulate electronically.”

Digital currencies are also described as virtual fictitious currencies consisting of digital codes that can be stored on hard disks or the Internet, and their value is subject to supply and demand. It is also difficult to track the buying and selling operations that take place in them or even know the owners of these currencies.

The value of digital currencies is determined by the law of supply and demand, such as commodities such as gold and oil (the greater the demand for them, the higher their price), but their intrinsic value is non-existent, and their value is derived from individuals’ acceptance of them as a medium of exchange and payment, in addition to their lack of reliance on any central authority.

The Central Bank of Egypt law defines cryptocurrencies as “currencies stored electronically that are not denominated in any of the currencies issued by official monetary issuing authorities, and are traded over the Internet.”

Second : the pros and cons of digital currencies

A- Positives:

1- There are no intermediaries or third parties in transactions, which makes its easy and fast.

2- Digital currencies such as Bitcoin provide a much cheaper and faster alternative to cash transactions, especially for companies or consumers.

3- Transactions can be carried out easily by anyone who has a mobile phone or is connected to the Internet.

4- Transaction fees through cryptocurrencies are very low compared to credit card transaction fees.

B- Negatives:

1- Threat to economic security: Some recent studies believe that digital currencies pose a threat to central banks and the banking system in controlling the issuance of currency and official money.

2-the absence of regulatory regulations as a large number of countries have not regulated the digital currency market, if the investor is defrauded or swindled in this market, it is quite possible that the culprit will not be held accountable for this, there is no international law that recognizes digital currencies.

3- Limited commercial use of digital currencies.

4- Liquidity risk: It appears in the inability of the digital currency organization to provide sufficient liquidity for the requirements of customers, because it operates independently of the economic department.

5- An ideal environment to facilitate corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing operations. Once this money is purchased, its owners can transfer it anywhere in the world without monitoring or follow-up, so that it can be converted back into regular money in countries that allow this.

Third: Global indicators on digital currency trading

The World Bank and a number of economic studies issued a number of indicators about the spread of digital currencies in the world:

1- Increasing the spread of digital currencies:

Recent years have witnessed a significant increase in research and development activities for central bank digital currencies (15 currencies have been tested globally, while 15 others have reached an advanced research stage).

2- Development of digital currencies for central banks: Central banks are going through different stages of development to evaluate the advantages and risks of the digital currencies they issue and study the best ways to use them.

As of July 2022, there are approximately 100 central bank digital currencies in research or development, and two have been fully issued, namely the eNaira in Nigeria, which was issued in October 2021, and the sand dollar in the Bahamas, which debuted in October 2020. As the following figure shows:

3- The development of the use of digital currencies:

Bitcoin leads the digital currencies, followed by Binance Coin, then Ethereum, then Ripple, and this is increasing annually at the level of countries around the world.

4- On March 3, 2023, the Central Bank of the Emirates announced the start of implementing the Digital Dirham Strategy, a step through which it aimed to strengthen the payment infrastructure in the country by providing additional channels, enhancing financial inclusion, and addressing “weak points” related to local and cross-border payments. And moving towards a cashless society.

5-In 2022, China launched the digital yuan, also known as E-CNY, after its government, through its central bank (the People’s Bank of China), entered into a partnership with major commercial banks and technology companies such as “Alibaba” and “Tencent” in order to develop and test the digital yuan.

6- The total market value of the 10 largest virtual currencies in November 2020

It is noted from the previous figure that Bitcoin dominated the digital currency market with more than 254.75 billion US dollars, compared to 43.3 billion US dollars for Ethereum.

Fourth: Digital currencies in Egypt

A large number of young people in Egypt have become interested in digital currencies over the past few years as an easy way to get rich quickly. They have resorted to mining Bitcoin and speculating in its market, and unfortunately most of them have achieved huge losses. The Egyptian state has become aware of this danger and has criminalized dealing in digital currencies and taken all possible measures:

1-the central bank issued Law No. 194 of 2020, which imposes strict penalties on issuing, trading, promoting, creating or operating platforms for trading cryptocurrencies or electronic money, or carrying out activities related to its without obtaining a license.

Dar Al-Iftaa explained through a statement that “trading these currencies and dealing in buying and selling through them is forbidden according to Sharia law.” Because of its negative effects on the economy, its disruption of market balance and the concept of work, and the loss of those dealing in it with the required legal protection and financial control.

However, despite this, this article in the law allowed Egypt the possibility of entering into this field when it linked the practice of this activity to obtaining a permit from the Central Bank. Recently, the intention was announced to allow banks to offer the electronic pound on the condition that the bank maintains cash deposits whose value is not less than the units. Issued electronically.

Fifth: Steps towards safe trading of digital currencies

Recommendations can be made to make the trading of these currencies more stable and to protect national and banking security:
– Strengthening international coordination and cooperation at the legislative level, as countries must work together to establish legal frameworks to protect those dealing with digital currencies.

-Continuous updating of electronic systems to protect platforms and means of dealing with digital currencies to eliminate theft and piracy.

-Educating young people about the risks of using cryptocurrencies and how to trade them responsibly.

-Establishing strict controls on the trading of digital currencies and preventing their use to finance illegal activities, terrorist operations, money laundering, and drugs.

The post Trading Digital Currencies..Opportunity or Risk appeared first on المنتدي الاستراتيجي للسياسات العامة و دراسات التنمية.

The “New Republic” was strongly aware of the problem of informal housing and its dangerous repercussions, deriving from the revolution of June 30, 2013, considering it one of the urgent issues that needs a comprehensive confrontation to limit its spread and address its negative effects on the future of development in all its fields.

This paper addresses the issue of slums in Egypt, the extent of their impact on the national economy, and the role of the state in confronting it, through several axes.

First: the concept of slums

There are multiple definitions of “slums” around the world, but everyone agrees that slum areas are illegal and unplanned areas.

For example, the World Bank defines slums as “informal areas that suffer from some problems such as high population density and insufficient infrastructure and services.”

According to the United Nations, slums are “dilapidated and old areas located within the city or squatter colonies that occupy the outskirts of cities outside the urban plan.”

The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics defines slum areas as: “those areas that were established by self-effort on the lands of their owners or on state lands without official licenses, and lack basic services and facilities.”

Second: the development of slums in Egypt and the reasons for their appearance

The population of slums in Egypt is 22 million people living in 88 slums nationwide, and the total area of slums in the Republic is 160.8 thousand acres, representing 38.6% of the urban mass of the cities of the Republic (37.6% unplanned areas, 1% unsafe areas).

-The areas of the informal areas in the governorates of Sohag, Sharqiya, and Beni Suef represent the highest at the level of the governorates of the Republic with percentages of “71.1%, 5%, and 65.3%, respectively.
-The percentage of slums represents about 39% of the total urban mass of the Republic and is spread in 226 cities .
-There are only 8 cities free of slums, distributed as follows: “two cities in Suez governorate, and the same in Sharqiya, and 3 cities in Kafr el Sheikh, and one city in Giza governorate .

-Alexandria governorate occupies the first place in terms of the prevalence of slums, where the area of slums with 1 thousand acres amounted to 12.5% of the total area .

-Cairo governorate comes in second place with an area of 4 thousand acres by 12%, followed by Giza governorate with 15.5 thousand acres and 9.6% of the total area of informal areas .

-The percentage of the area of unsafe informal areas in Cairo and Ismailia governorates is 7% of the total area of unsafe areas at the level of the Republic .

-Unsafe informal areas with the second degree of danger come in first place, with 251 areas .

– The total area of unplanned informal areas reached 156.3 thousand acres representing 97.2% of the total total area.

-The area of unplanned informal areas in the three governorates (Alexandria – Cairo – Giza) is the highest at the governorate level, with a percentage of (12.8%، 11.8%، 9.8%) on the order of the total area of the unplanned regions of the Republic.

– The total number of unsafe informal areas in the governorates reached 351, occupying about 4.5 thousand acres, representing 2.8% of the total area of informal areas. As of 2014, Cairo governorate ranked first in the number of unsafe areas in Egypt with about 56 areas representing 15.4% of the total of those areas in all of Egypt.

– The total number of random markets in the Republic amounted to 1099 markets in 2015 containing 305.6.

The reasons for the emergence of slums in Egypt :-

– Rising prices for apartments

– Increasing childbearing and not keeping up with the pace of construction of new housing units for accelerated population growth .

-Leniency in the treatment of violators of State territory by officials and government agencies .
– Poor urban planning and lack of provision of basic services in some areas.

Third: The danger of slums

1-Social problems

– Low educational level and high illiteracy rate(29%), as well as low rates of middle and university education.
-43% in unsafe slums, and 37% in unplanned slums, suffer from deprivation of education, which has led to children dropping out of education and increasing the rate of child labor and their enrollment in inappropriate jobs.

– spread of “early marriage”(34%).

– spread of poverty and the rise in crime as a result of high unemployment rates.

-Slums in Cairo Governorate lack basic facilities such as electricity, water, and sanitation. All of these violations have led to an increase in crime rates.

2-Health problems

– Lack of availability of hospitals and medical centers.
– The spread of many diseases as a result of the lack of provision of clean water and sanitation.

3-Economic problems

– The agricultural area is shrinking due to the random urban encroachment on it.
– Increasing pressure on utility networks, infrastructure, roads and transportation.
– High unemployment rates in various forms.
– Building on agricultural land and converting it to residential land, which negatively affects the national income for agriculture.

Fourth: Slums and their economic challenges

Slum areas constitute a major obstacle to the economies of countries because they lack any proper urban planning, which causes massive chaos that impedes transportation and constitutes a huge burden on the city’s infrastructure, giving priority to slum dwellers for housing and shelter and not proximity to work.

The lack of adequate health and sanitation services, the spread of environmental pollution, high crime and corruption rates make slums a fertile environment for diseases, epidemics and social problems and increase the suffering of their residents, which contributes to increasing the burden on the state due to therapeutic and social costs.

Fifth: The state’s achievements in developing slums

The state has provided many successful models in developing slums. It has developed and created safe housing integrated with services and equipped for citizens who were living in inhumane areas that are not suitable for life.

Some of the state’s projects to eliminate slums are as follows:

State efforts to eliminate unsafe areas:
About 2 million citizens benefit from it, with a total of 246 thousand housing units, at a cost of 63 billion pounds, with 33 unsafe areas of the first class, 269 unsafe areas of the second class, 34 unsafe areas of the third class, and 21 unsafe areas of the fourth class. These areas include 54 districts in Cairo.

The state’s efforts in the development of unplanned areas:

The cost of upgrading the efficiency of infrastructure in unplanned areas reaches 318 billion pounds.56 unplanned areas have been developed with an area of 4,616 feddans, serving about 460 thousand families, while 79 areas are being developed with an area of 6,941 feddans, serving about 690 thousand families.

-Social Housing Project “Ahalena 1” in El-Salam 1 District, Cairo

The project was established on an area of 11 feddans and consists of 25 residential buildings, each building has 12 floors and each floor contains 4 residential units with an area of 90 meters with an electric elevator for each building. 32 housing units of them have been allocated for people with special needs. Ramps and wide doors were made specially for them. An electrical network and 1121 electricity meters for residential and administrative units, a water supply network, a 1,100 cubic meter tank to serve the project, two sewerage and rain networks were established. There is also a fire network for all residential, administrative and service buildings. 4 water wells to irrigate green areas were established as well. A shopping mall and 84 stores of various sizes were built so as to provide job opportunities for the residents of the region. A primary school with a total of 28 classrooms was fully finished and equipped. Moreover, the project includes an integrated medical center for health care services, a mosque that takes up to 500 persons and 18 workshops to provide job opportunities for women and men in this project.

Ahalena 2 in El-Salam 1 District, Cairo

The project cost 700 million pounds, and included 34 buildings, each building containing 12 floors, and each floor containing 4 units, for a total of 1,632 residential units. The project also includes 4 commercial malls, 176 commercial stores with an area of 45 square meters each, a basic education school with 33 classrooms, and a youth center on an area of 7,300 square meters.

2-Rawdat Al Sayeda, launched in 2016, was a very dangerous slum called Tal Al Aqareb (Arabic for the Hill of the Scorpions) encompassing huts and houses vulnerable to collapse.

The first phase consists of 16 five-storey buildings having a total of 816 residential units. The alternative-housing project is also earthquake-resistant, given it lies 11 meters above the surface of the rest of the area. The cost of the project is LE330 million, and it also houses 198 commercial units

The second phase is being implemented in the Fatimid architectural style. This project is located on an area of about 6 feddans, and it consists of 9 residential buildings, each building consisting of a ground floor and 5 floors.

Sixth: The vision of international institutions for the Egyptian state’s efforts to eliminate informal housing

The Human Development Report issued by the United Nations in 2021 pointed to the interest of the Egyptian leadership in the file of slum development as one of its most important priorities, in contrast to what was stated in its report in 2010, which indicated that slum areas lack the minimum standards of organization and security.
In 2023, the World Food Program confirmed that there is integration in sustainable development policies in Egypt, and the Decent Life initiative has proven the Egyptian integrated approach to development, as it included the rehabilitation of infrastructure, improving access to basic and health services to improve the quality of life in the poorest villages in marginalized rural areas

Egypt advanced in global indicators after the extent of its achievement in developing slums, according to the World Bank’s classification of Egypt in the “slum population as a proportion of urban population” index. It also jumped 13 places in the social risks index for the year 2021, including the real growth rate of the gross domestic product per capita, and the participation of… Labor force, trust in government, public social spending, political stability, and others.

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