Participants in a roundtable discussion organized by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) in cooperation with the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS) pledged to press ahead with efforts calling for the amendment of Law No. 73 of 2021, known as the law on termination of employment due to drug testing. They emphasized that the current law continues to violate constitutional rights, in addition to its adverse social and family repercussions, warning that this issue is urgent and tolerates neither delay nor procrastination.

The roundtable, held on 28 July, witnessed broad participation including members of the House of Representatives, legal and constitutional experts, trade union and labor leaders, alongside representatives of a number of affected workers and their families. They discussed ways to address the consequences of the law, especially in light of growing demands within the House of Representatives to amend it and review its executive procedures, and concurrently with the ongoing hearings before the Supreme Constitutional Court, which is currently reviewing the unconstitutionality of the law.

A number of affected individuals presented testimonies of their suffering under the law, including procedural errors and arbitrary implementation, deception and the non-application of the minimum guarantees granted to workers, and the impact on affected families in the form of social stigma and threats to family stability.

Speakers at the event included MP Atef Maghawry, head of the parliamentary bloc of the Tagammu Party; MP Ahmed Belal, who presented a draft law to amend the provisions of Law No. 73 of 2021 during the last legislative sitting; and MP Ihab Mansour, deputy chair of the Manpower Committee. All of them reaffirmed their support for the rights of the affected individuals and the continuation of their efforts to amend the law. 

Rahma Refaat, legal advisor to CTUWS, presented the draft law submitted by Belal, while Ishak Ibrahim, EIPR program officer for equality, addressed the role of civil society organizations in campaigning against the law, emphasizing continued support for the efforts of affected individuals and MPs until the law is amended.

Furthermore, Ahmed El-Zeiny and EIPR lawyers Aziza El-Tawil, members of the defense team in the SCC lawsuit, addressed the constitutional flaws of the law and the current course of the lawsuit.

Dr. Ihab El-Kharrat, Senior Consultant in Psychiatry, also participated in the roundtable, addressing false-positive drug tests and the impact of certain medications and painkillers on the reliability of testing results.