17 Sep 2013 | Egypt, News and features, Politics and Society, Religion and Culture
(Photo: Melody Patry / Index on Censorship)
Sexual harassment has been widespread in Egypt for decades but since the January 2011 uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak, the problem has taken on epic proportions becoming what rights activists now describe as “an epidemic”. Not only has there been a dramatic increase in the number of harassment cases reported , but the level of violence too, is unprecedented with mob sexual assaults becoming rampant during street protests.
No fewer than 91 girls and women were reportedly gang raped and sexually assaulted in just four days during mass protests demanding the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last July. Rights activists say the number of assault cases could be even higher as there is the possibility that some cases had gone unreported. Most of the attacks occurred in or near Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo where hundreds of thousands of opposition protesters had gathered to demonstrate against the Muslim Brotherhood president and later, to celebrate his downfall. Vicious mobs used metal chains, sticks , blades and knives to attack female protesters despite the presence of volunteer vigilante groups keeping an eye out for harassers.
In response to the surge in harassment, several civil society organisations have sprung up in recent months with the aim of curbing sexual assaults and protecting victims of harassment. One such organisation is the Anti-Sexual Harassment Campaign , an outreach movement set up in November 2012 to keep track of harassment cases and send teams of volunteers to protest sites to intervene in mob assaults. The organisation is just one of several movements monitoring protest sites and offering ‘safety advice’ to women. The emergence of such movements is evidence of the growing unwillingness to tolerate street harassment as public awareness about the problem increases .
Police in Egypt have meanwhile, formed a special unit of female police officers to combat street harassment in particular, and violence against women in general. While the unit is still small in size –consisting only of ten women—rights campaigners believe it is “a step in the right direction.”
“Often women victims of harassment are too ashamed to report incidents of harassment and sexual assault. In some cases , they are afraid of getting blamed”, Azza Kamel , founder and director of women’s rights organisation Appropriate Communication Techniques (ACT), said in an interview. “They may feel more at ease talking to another woman about the issue,” she added. Her organisation has run a hotline for eyewitnesses and women victims to report sexual harassment or assault cases which are known to increase and get more violent during public holidays and religious festivals.
Fatma Khafagy, chairperson of the National Women’s Council ‘s Ombudsman Office meanwhile, lamented that male security officers do not take sexual harassment seriously enough and at times, themselves harass women who come forward to report such incidents.
With a background in psychology, the women police officers have undergone training in communicating, listening and helping to rehabilitate victims of harassment and assault. “We encourage women to speak up and report harassment. They should not blame themselves for causing the harassment and must not hesitate in seeking justice”, said Colonel Manar Mokhtar, one of the officers at the new police unit for combating violence against women. “We also urge them to seek professional counselling that can help them recover from their traumatic experience.”
Victims of harassment often complain of a “culture of impunity” at the state level, saying that perpetrators often go unpunished for their crime. “But that is slowly changing with the growing awareness about the problem,” Khafagy noted.
She acknowledged the pressing and urgent need for legislation to counter the problem, given the surge in violence against women in Egypt, post revolution. A study conducted in April by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights revealed that 99.3 percent of Egyptian women have experienced some form of sexual harassment.
“In the absence of laws against sexual violence, we can only expect street harassment and sexual assaults to continue unchecked”, argued Khafagy.
A bill on violence against women that was recently drafted by the National Council for Women and was under discussion in the now-disbanded Shura Council, the upper house of parliament has been shelved due to the political instability.
Khafagy and other rights activists however, believe that legislation won’t be enough to tackle what they described as “a social scourge.”
“The answer lies in changing people’s attitudes. Educating women about their rights and getting men to realize the extent of the harm they inflict on the women is the only way that we can change existing behavioural patterns,” insisted Kamel. “But change cannot happen overnight; it takes time.”
For Egypt’s women victims of harassment, it cannot happen fast enough.
This article was originally posted on 17 Sept, 2013
18 Jun 2013 | Egypt, Middle East and North Africa, News and features
Photo: Shutterstock
A proposed bill in Egypt outlawing violence against women has now been proposed by the country’s National Council for Women. But is it a step forward in tackling the silence around sexual harassment in the country? Shahira Amin reports
Egypt’s National Council for Women (NCW) has submitted a draft law addressing all forms of violence against women to the Shura or Consultative Council, the country’s lower house of parliament.
The proposed law would criminalise violence against women, including forced marriage, trafficking, female genital mutilation, and sexual harassment in its many forms. The law also includes provisions encouraging victims to report incidents of harassment and assault, while ensuring their protection.
The draft came at the request of Prime Minister Hisham Qandeel, after a rise in the number and intensity of sexual assaults at protests. The violence peaked earlier this year, when 25 female protesters were the victims of mob violence and sexual assault during protests in Tahrir Square on the second anniversary of the 2011 mass uprising.
Sexual harassment is a daily reality for the majority of Egyptian women: a UN report released April 2013 estimated that 99 per cent of Egyptian women have been subjected to some form of harassment.
If passed, the law will be a step towards addressing Egypt’s crippling culture of self-censorship around violence against women.
Social stigma around sexual assault and rape has been a barrier in speaking out in Egypt’s conservative society, but this taboo has been actively challenged since the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak more than two years ago.
“Because a girl’s chastity is linked to family honour, women were either too ashamed to report the incidents to the police for fear of being stigmatised or they blamed themselves for causing the harassment or assault believing it may have happened because they were not dressed modestly enough or were out at a late hour,” explained Nehad Abou Komsan, head of the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights.
“With the fear barrier gone and in the freer post-revolution environment however, more women are coming forward to report assault or rape incidents. That is the positive change that the revolution has brought: the silence has been broken,” she told Index. The provision guaranteeing protection for witnesses to assault incidents will also encourage them to come forward with their testimonies instead of turning a blind eye to such incidents, she added.
Egypt has seen a surge in violence against women post-revolution, sparking a more emboldened movement against sexual harassment, which some have alleged to be politically motivated. Movements like Tahrir Bodyguard and Harassmap have formed in order to address and speak out against sexual harassment. Women have been more vocal in speaking out in the media, and giving graphic accounts of their experiences.
NGO Nazra for Feminist Studies has explained the surge in violence against women post-revolution as “a continuation of the ousted regime’s policies and part of attempts by the various security agencies and the remnants of the former regime to keep women away from the public sphere.”
While rights campaigners hail the draft law on violence against women as “a major step in the right direction”, they say legislation alone will not end violence.
Fatma Khafagy, NCW ombudsman said that “what is needed is a change in the mindset of both women and men. Men have to learn to respect women as equal partners in society, while women have to realise that they should not tolerate violence in any form”, said Khafagy. Changing attitudes will take time, she noted, adding that “what is important is that the process has started .”
While rights advocates hail the bill as “timely”, they fear that the Islamist-dominated Shura Council may block the bill on the grounds that it may be seen as violating Sharia or Islamic law.
In March this year, the Muslim Brotherhood issued a controversial statement during this year’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) rejecting the document drafted on eliminating violence against women, saying that it included articles that “contradict the principles of Islam and destroy its ethics”.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s stance was quickly condemned by the NCW.
15 May 2013 | Middle East and North Africa, News and features
Circle of Hell was painted to raise awareness of sexual harassment and assault in Egypt. Photo: Melody Patry / Index on Censorship
Since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak two years ago, artists have been active in breaking Egypt’s age-old taboos around sexual violence, especially since sexual harassment has been on the rise. In the period after the revolution, artists — including women — have covered the country’s walls with murals and slogans, using them to amplify calls for change. Melody Patry reports.
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25 Mar 2013 | Tunisia
A 19-year-old Tunisian women’s rights activist, known only as Amina, has come under fire for posting a topless photograph of herself online. Amina is a member of FEMEN, a Ukranian radical feminist group notorious for their topless protests. Weeks ago, Amina uploaded a picture of herself to a website she started for the group in Tunisia, with ”My Body is My Own and Not the Source of Anyone’s Honor” written across her bare chest.
Late last week, the Paris-based head of the group, Inna Shevchenko, claimed that Amina had been committed to a psychiatric ward by her family members. Shevchenko told the Atlantic that she last heard from Amina on 18 March. Her disappearance came after a 16 March appearance on Tunisian talkshow Labes to talk about her controversial photographs. However, her lawyer Bouchra Bel Haj Hmida, told Tunisia live that she is not missing, and denied allegations that Amina has been sent to a psychiatric facility.
While no legal charges have been brought against Amina, Salafi preacher Adel Almi said days before her disappearance that she should be punished with 80-100 lashes, and called for her to be stoned to death. According to Bel Haj Hmida, Amina could face up to six months of jail-time if charged with public indecency.
Women from across the globe have posted photographs of themselves topless online, with messages of support for Amina scrawled across their bodies. A petition for her release has now garnered over 84,000 signatures.
Secular activist Maryam Namazie has called for 4 April to be declared International Day to Defend Amina, in order to “remind the Islamists and the world that the real epidemic and disaster that must be challenged is misogyny — Islamic or otherwise.”
Sara Yasin is an Editorial Assistant at Index. She tweets from @missyasin
