UN Authority Figures

U.N. Commission for Social Development: Egypt

Prison sentence for Egyptian workers' rights activist: Kamal Abbas (photo), General Coordinator of the Center for Trade Unions and Workers Services (CTUWS) and his lawyer, Mohamed Helmy have been sentenced to one year imprisonment by an Egyptian court. Source: Libcom.org

Mission of the Commission for Social Development: "...the Commission has been the key UN body in charge of the follow-up and implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action....Each year since 1995, the Commission has taken up key social development themes as part of its follow-up to the outcome of the Copenhagen Summit. These themes are...Promoting full employment and decent work for all...Improving public sector effectiveness....National and international cooperation for social development...Integration of social and economic policy..." (Commission for Social Development web-site)

Egypt's Term of office: 2011-2015 (re-elected April 28, 2010)

Egypt's Record on Social Development:
"The country was a source, transit point, and destination for women and children trafficked primarily for the purposes of forced labor...The law prohibits strikes...[E]mployers abused, overworked, and generally endangered working children...There were reports of employer abuse of undocumented workers, especially domestic workers." (US State Department Country Report of Human Rights Practices in Egypt, 2009)