Date of establishment of the center:
The Sawasya Center is a living embodiment of many people’s aspirations to deeply implant the intellectual and cultural roots of their forefathers in the education of our rich Arab Islamic civilization. The Center carries this out within a framework of striving to realize a better life for all mankind based on justice, freedom, virtue and peace without discrimination on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, language, opinion, social or economic status or any other pretext. Both rulers and the ruled should enjoy the same rights and duties.
Sawasya strives to establish a society based on respect for human rights because they are untouchable, and on freedoms because they are sacred and depended on by individuals who invoke them to protect themselves against arbitrary power and exceptional laws. They guarantee people’s right to participate in public life, to freedom of expression and belief and to freely choose their representatives.
The Center’s founders believed that this would only be possible through the spread and strengthening of a culture of human rights, its insertion and diffusion in society in an attempt to make it a fundamental element of the cultural and intellectual makeup of our society.
The Center also works to clarifying the ambiguity surrounding the application of the principles and understanding of human rights according to the definitions contained in international instruments in a manner which is consistent with Arab and Islamic traditions long established in the spirit of our eastern society.

For these reasons the establishment of the Center was announced in 15th June 2004. It began work on the 2nd July 2004.

The aims for which the Center works are the following:
1. Presenting the legal foundation and origins of human rights in order to demonstrate that they were not created in modern times.
2. Spread of a culture of political, social and cultural rights which the Center strives to steer on their correct path.
3. Fighting all forms of discrimination based on religion, creed, gender, political opinion and against children both in Egypt and abroad.
4. Canceling all legislation which infringe human rights (all exceptional laws and the reputation laws), and abolishment of all exceptional courts along with the amendment of laws and legislation in order to bring them in line with international instruments.
5. Improvement of the role of the student movement in the development and promotion of society and uncovering the obstacles faced by students during the fight for their rights.
6. Promotion of women’s rights and their rooting in all fields.
7. Fighting torture and all other forms of inhumane treatment.
8. Strengthening the independence of the judiciary and protecting it from any outside interference which threatens its probity or impartiality.
9. Putting in place of measures and guarantees to allow people to exercise their right to participate in public affairs in all its forms.
10. Strengthening the unity of, and cooperation between, human rights groups in order to strengthen human rights.