Last Update: Sunday, 2 June 2013 KSA 12:57 - GMT 09:57
Women in Egypt suffer more sexual violence under Islamist rule
Sunday, 2 June 2013
Egyptian women are harassed in Cairo. (Photo courtesy: AP)
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Nadia Mayen, Al Arabiya
Sexual violence against women in Egypt has increased in the
post-revolutionary Islamist rule, according to official reports and
rights activists.
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality said in a report published on May
23 that 99.3 percent of Egyptian women have experienced some form of sexual
violence.
Nearly 50 percent of women reported more harassment after the revolution; 44
percent said the level of harassment remained the same before and after
the revolution. Meanwhile, more than 58 percent of men surveyed said
harassment increased after the revolution.
Egypt's general
directorate of moral police at the ministry of interior reported that
9,468 cases of harassment, 329 sexual assaults and 112 cases of rape
took place in 2012.
Activists say the figures released by the
government are smaller than the actual ones because many women do not
report cases of harassment against them to the police in fear of shame.
The U.N. study found that only 19 percent of women actually report sexual
violence against them to the police. It said 32.2 percent keep quiet and move
away from the scene, while 26.9 choose to insult or hit back the
assailant.
Frightening women away
(Photo courtesy: U.N.)
“What is different now [post-revolution], and why this has been
brought to public and international attention, is that we’re witnessing a
number of very violent assaults and rape,” Diana Eltahawy, a researcher at
Amnesty International Egypt, told Al Arabiya English.
Manal
Abdul Aziz Ali, a Cairo-based journalist said, “Today, neither a
foreigner nor an Egyptian can enjoy a sense of safety... because of the
noticeable rise in the rate of crime and harassment against women.”
The reported rise of sexual violence against women is often attributed to
security deterioration and the rise of radical Islamists who seek to
frighten women away from public places where anti-Islamist protests take place.
Salafist preacher Ahmad Mahmoud Abdullah said earlier
this year that women protesting in Tahrir Square are “no red line”
because they “have no shame and want to be raped,” a statement which was
perceived as a sanctioning of violence against women.
Egyptian
women now “have to think twice” before attending demonstrations, Abdul
Aziz Ali said, “not because [women] fear tear gas or even bullets, but
because of the harassment being practiced by some thugs and parties to
discourage revolutionaries from participating in such events.”
Various groups have been formed to defend decry sexual violence against women
in Egypt/ Operation Anti Sexual Harassment and Tahrir Bodyguard bring
together volunteers to stop attacks in Tahrir Square, where the police
are largely absent.
On Jan. 25 2013, as thousands of Egyptians
marked the second anniversary of their uprising, at least 19 women were
sexually assaulted, Operation Anti Sexual Harassment reported.
“These attacks aim to exclude women from public life and punish them for
participating in political activism and demonstrations. They are also an
attempt to ruin the image of Tahrir Square and demonstrators in
general,” the group said, according to AFP.
“This phenomenon
requires urgent attention and treatment, and is linked to the broader
social problem of endemic and daily sexual harassment and assault of
women.”
Lack of support
Despite civil-society groups
banding together to ensure that women are protected, there is a general
lack of legal and medical support available to victims, Dalia Abd
el-Hameed, gender and women’s rights officer at the Egyptian Initiative
for Personal Rights, told Al Arabiya English.
“Medically, there
are no protocols to deal with sexual violence. Rape survivors aren’t
being provided with emergency contraception. There’s no protocol on
conducting testing for sexually transmitted infections,” she added.
“Psychological support is also not widely available for these women.”
Added to the apparent lack of emotional support, the state’s apparatus
for upholding the law, the police, is also said to be failing victimized
women.
“When women go to police stations to report sexual
harassment, their claims are dismissed or police officers harass the
survivor,” Amnesty International’s Eltahawy said.
“On the legal
level, police officers aren’t well trained to receive women’s
complaints, and sometimes their questions further traumatize the
survivors,” women’s rights officer, el-Hameed added.
Many women are resorting to self-defense classes, which are organized for free
by Tahrir Bodyguards.
The aim is to combat “systematic political suppression against women,”
activist Jumana Shehata told Al Arabiya. “We’ll continue to take to the
streets of Tahrir, no matter the price.”
Mursi speaks !
On March 24, Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi announced a new initiative to
support and expand women’s rights.
“The initiative will put an end to any attempts to marginalize women,
diminish their rights, or suppress their freedom and dignity,” he
stated.
However, his announcement came “without consultation with
survivors or women’s rights organizations,” Eltahawy noted, questioning
the viability of such a scheme.
Dr. Omaima Kamel, a Freedom and
Justice Party's member and advisor to Egypt’s president, announced in
May that the government plans to prepare a law designed specifically to
protect women from violence and ensure perpetrators are punished, IKHWAN Web,
the Muslim Brotherhood’s official English website reported.
“Experts recommended that all state institutions, civil society and religious
institutions should pull together to confront the phenomenon of violence
against women, as well as confirmation of the importance of developing
short-term plans and long-term strategies to deal with the issue.”
Aza al-Garf, a female MP in the Brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom
and Justice Party, was contacted by Al Arabiya English but declined to
comment on the subject.
Non-governmental organizations and human
rights groups “haven’t been consulted in these initiatives, and we’re
still not sure about their efficacy,” Abd el-Hameed said.
The way forward, states Eltahawy, is to raise awareness on the issue.
“What is needed in Egypt is to acknowledge that this is happening, and to
bring perpetrators to justice to discourage other acts."
In order to make progress, there needs to be female police officers and
prosecutors who can address this issue, to help women feel more
comfortable about sharing their experiences, she added.
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