{"id":15620,"date":"2018-07-30T00:11:02","date_gmt":"2018-07-29T22:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/afteegypt.org\/?p=15620"},"modified":"2018-07-30T14:30:12","modified_gmt":"2018-07-30T12:30:12","slug":"festivals-approved-by-the-authority-legal-commentary-on-the-regulation-for-organizing-festivals-and-celebrations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afteegypt.org\/en\/advocacy-en\/position-papers-en\/2018\/07\/30\/15620-afteegypt.html","title":{"rendered":"Festivals approved by the authority Legal commentary on the regulation for organizing festivals and celebrations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Prepared by: Mahmoud Othman, AFTE lawyer<\/span><\/p>\n

Editor: Mohamed Abdel Salam, director, AFTE research unit<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

On July 11, 2018, the Official Gazette published a decision by the Prime Minister concerning the organization of festivals or celebrations. The decision referred to new restrictions on the freedom of creators to hold festivals and celebrations. Over the days following the publication of the resolution, questions have been raised among artists and people interested in the freedom of creativity about the process of organizing festivals and how to face the new restrictions created by the resolution.<\/p>\n

Through this legal commentary on the Prime Minister’s decision, AFTE tries to explain how the decision violates the freedom of creativity and to explain the new procedures that result from it. This decision cannot be understood in isolation from the ongoing onslaught on creativity, monitored AFTE\u2019s second quarterly report<\/a> on freedom of expression and the decision<\/a> to establish new branches of art control authorities in seven provinces. It seems that the current authority is working hard to constrain creativity, and put heavy administrative obstacles to creators.<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister’s decision prohibits the organization or establishment of any festivals or celebrations, except after their organizers receive a license from a committee headed by the Minister of Culture and member representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Finance, Tourism, Archeology, Civil Aviation, Youth and Sports and Local Development. The decision sets forth conditions relating to the content presented at the celebration or festival, as well as the requirements of the legal procedures governing the application for the license.<\/p>\n

A High Commission for festivals includes \u201cministry of interior\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Prime Minister’s decision establishes a permanent high committee to organize festivals or celebrations. The mandate of the committee reveals its role in the control of creativity. It is not an administrative committee that coordinates procedures only. Article 4 of the Prime Minister’s Decision clarifies its competencies, including the study of requests for organizing concerts and festivals, follow up of their implementation and evaluation, and preparation of periodic reports on each festival or festival.<\/p>\n

If the High Committee of Festivals decides that there is a violation of the standards set for the organization of festivals or celebrations, it is entitled to refuse the application for permission. The committee follows up these procedures in coordination with the governors. In accordance with article VIII, paragraph 5, of the resolution, the committee has the right to enter the venues of festivals or celebrations, and to review its records and accounts during the ceremony.<\/p>\n

The Committee is composed of at least 15 members, headed by the Minister of Culture, and includes representatives of various ministries and parties: Foreign Affairs, Interior, Finance, Tourism, Antiquities, Civil Aviation, Youth, Sports and Local Development, a representative of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, the Syndicate of Cinematic Professions, the syndicate of theatrical professions and the heads of the literary unions. The decision did not specify their number. According to the decision, there will be among the members “an appropriate number” of experts in the field of art, not working in the management of festivals, chosen by the Minister of Culture.<\/p>\n

The Committee establishes an annual agenda setting out the dates for the organization of festivals or celebrations throughout the year. Article 2 of Article 4 stipulates the: “Organization of an annual agenda setting out the dates and places of festivals and celebrations throughout the year according to a timetable that ensures that they do not conflict with one another while taking into consideration the cultural justice in distributing festivals and celebrations in the governorates of the Republic, and the non-repetition of more than one festival or celebration in a certain cultural or artistic field in the same governorate. “<\/p>\n

This means that the commission will only license one festival or celebration of the same artistic genre for each governorate. Thus, a jazz festival in Cairo governorate can only be organized once a year, and likewise in the field of Sufi singing. The text of the article enables concerned authorities to use it as such<\/p>\n

New regulations for the organization of a festival or a celebration<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The procedures for organizing celebrations, before the issuing of the said decree, were characterized by extreme bureaucracy, where the procedures required the approval of three parties: the Specialized Technical Union (the Syndicate of Music Professions) and the Central Administration for the Control of Audiovisual Works (Artistic Works) \u2013 responsible for the monitor of the wording of the songs- and the Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible for securing the celebration. It is noteworthy that these procedures, despite their complexity, remain smoother compared to the requirement of obtaining a license from the Supreme Committee for Festivals. The membership of the Committee includes representatives of several ministries and parties, whose work is governed by complex conditions, as follows:<\/p>\n