Sabrina Illiano
Egyptian Foundation for the Advancement of the Childhood Condition (EFACC)
Cairo, Egypt
Hello! My name is Sabrina Illiano, and I’m a first-year student in Gallatin concentrating in human rights and its application in politics and law, with a regional focus on the Middle East. I’m also minoring in Arabic.
This summer, I will be living and working in Cairo, Egypt, while I intern with the Egyptian Foundation for the Advancement of the Childhood Condition (EFACC). This organization is dedicated to promoting children’s rights in the Middle East/North Africa region through a combination of legal and media advocacy, lobbying, and reporting. EFACC is concerned with holding Egyptian communities and the Egyptian government accountable for their commitments regarding children’s rights. I will be evaluating children’s justice in Egypt and will write a proposal for improving children’s situations on the state level and for creating new mechanisms to monitor and document violations of children’s rights.
The large presence of youth in recent Egyptian protests is reflective of the proportion of the population they comprise. Thus it is crucial that children’s rights in the country be taken seriously. Issues of primary concern for children in Egypt include access to appropriate judicial procedures, gender-based violence, child marriage, and alternative family care. The work that EFACC does is of particular importance because they don’t simply take a protectionist approach to these issues; they use human rights instruments such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child to empower children—when possible—to become active participants in demanding their rights, and to do so not as the property of their parents or the state but as autonomous individuals. In other words, EFACC works to create the legal framework necessary to help children make decisions that concern themselves and their well-being. And when it is not possible for children to do so, EFACC steps in as a third party representative to ensure that their voices are heard.
Throughout my time in Egypt, I hope to learn how children’s rights are engaged within the particular cultural context of Egypt. I would also like to gain a better understanding of how these rights can be ensured through distinctly Eurocentric human rights instruments, without contributing to cultural erasure. Furthermore, I look forward to learning about how EFACC works to maintain a unique and delicate balance between protectionism and empowerment for children.