The Directorate of Social Affairs in Giza, Egypt has agreed to establish the Egyptian Association for the Defense of the Rights of Men and Children, the first association of its kind in the country to defend men’s rights in family law, local media has reported.
According to Ahmed Matar Rizk, lawyer and chairman of the association’s board of directors who spoke to Al-Sharqiya, the association’s goal is to preserve the entity of the Egyptian family while resisting the steady rise in divorce cases.
He also stated that the association intends to protect male legal rights, while resisting the current legal provisions on imprisonment, abuse and child custody where a wife initiates a divorce.
Historically, Egyptian family law has favored men’s social and economic status.
However, during the 2000s, a series of amendments to the law recognized women’s right to initiate divorce and retain custody of their children.