Cairo: 23 September 2019
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) released today a position paper on Youth Conferences that are being held by the Egyptian government on the pretext of building direct dialogue and discussions with youth. Eight youth conferences have taken place in Egypt throughout three years, during which millions of pounds have been spent without results, as monitored by ANHRI.
In this paper, ANHRI kept track of the so-called Youth Conferences starting from the first conference convened in October 2016 till the last one took place in middle of this month (September), leading to one conclusion or result and a lot of questions that require serious answers.
The conclusion was that the main stated objective of Youth Conferences has turned into a one-way communication, represented in the messages sent not by the state in general but by the president in particular. Youth Conferences, in their present form and status, are nothing more than a costly platform used by the president to convey- himself- his own messages. This unilateral and one-sided discourse has no longer been reinforced or chanted by multiple voices as is the case in the media, rather by one voice. So it is a one-sided discourse and one voice too.
Additionally, there are numerous questions that have been raised regarding the sources of funding for these cost-intensive conferences, even if the funds are from outside the state budget, they should be undertaken with full transparency. The paper also addresses the selection criteria for youth participants, wondering why these conferences don’t see a plurality of opinions, voices and viewpoints.
The paper concludes that Youth Conferences didn’t achieve their stated goal of opening a free communication channel with the Egyptian youth. However, given their progression and fixed pattern, and if possible, to judge, it seems logical to say that these conferences are achieving an undeclared goal, albeit not hidden at all. This goal is: opening a channel for the President that would allow him to deliver his speeches and convey his messages in an informal way and without being restricted by the limits of official discourse, yet in a context of predetermined outlines. A clear manifestation of such hidden aim of Youth Conferences is the recent/latest conference, which has been unexpectedly and expeditiously arranged and convened and lasted for only one day, unlike normal conferences. This hastily organized conference was a reflection of the president’s urgent need to promptly send specific messages in response to some recent accusations that went viral on social media over the last few days.
You can check the report through the following link:
