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EGYPT: Sexual harassment laws weak, say activists

09 Nov 2006 14:07:46 GMT
Source: IRIN

CAIRO, 9 November (IRIN) - Women's rights activists in Egypt have criticised the country's authorities for tacitly accepting the sexual harassment of women. An incident on 24 October when a mob of men openly molested women in Cairo and were not stopped or arrested has brought the issue to the fore.

Downtown Cairo witnessed ugly scenes of violence and sexual harassment during the festive Eid el-Fitr holidays, which marked the end of Ramadan, the month-long fast for Muslims. After being refused entrance to a cinema, a horde of up to 50 young men reportedly began attacking property and molesting women in the area.

No official reports were made to the police, no prosecutions were made, and the response from official quarters has been one of denial. In the aftermath, women's rights activists have said that tacit acceptance of sexual harassment of women in Egypt must end.

"The first step is recognising victims as victims," said Abier el-Barbary, a psychologist and counsellor at the American University in Cairo. "We are stuck in a culture that is not even acknowledging [women] as victims. Abuse is not taken seriously, and it is time to change this. It is way overdue," she said.

Sexual harassment directed against women, ranging from lewd comments to physical groping, is perceived by many Egyptian women as being endemic in the country.

"It is everywhere," Hoda Shahed, a 28-year old postgraduate student who wears the Islamic veil, or hijab, told IRIN. "You are walking in the street and then suddenly you find someone's hand on your body."

In the days following the incident, news spread quickly through unofficial channels while the state media ignored it or snubbed it.

Rose el-Youssef magazine, which is regarded as being close to the government, launched a smear campaign against Wael Abbas, a blogger who witnessed the events and was among the first to publish a report on it. The magazine said that Abbas' allegations were merely his "sick fantasies".

The Ministry of Interior, which is responsible for policing in the capital, said in a statement that incidents of harassment could not have taken place because none had been reported to the police.

IRIN had asked the Ministry to give a statement detailing how it planned to tackle the problem of sexual harassment on the streets, but received no response.

Lack of trust of police

Activists say that such incidents are only rarely reported by women because of a lack of trust in the police.

"Women have no trust in the police," said Azza Suleiman, director of the Centre for Egyptian Women's Legal Assistance (CEWLA). "In fact, we can say that [the police] have initiated harassment rather than prevented it," she added, referring to the very public sexual harassment of a female journalist by police officers during a demonstration in May this year.

Egyptian law does, in fact, provide for the prosecution of sexual harassers, under Article 268 of the Penal Code. Penalties range from one to seven years' imprisonment, but prosecutions are extremely rare.

"The law is enough, but it is the lack of awareness and policing that causes this mess," said Tareq Ramadan, legal advisor at CEWLA.

Culture of denial

As the authorities tried to brush the Eid event under the carpet, commentators said that the issue of sexual harassment was rarely addressed in public because of social conservatism.

This, added to a cultural legacy that transfers the shame and responsibility of sex crimes against women to the victim rather than the perpetrator, compounds the difficulty of tackling sexual harassment in Egypt, commentators say.

"The problem is not the law, the problem is our society," said Suleiman. "For young men there is a lack of employment, education and hope. And when [harassment] happens, it is shameful for a girl to go to a police station and say, 'I have been attacked'."

Suleiman added that a current trend towards religious conservatism in Egypt has also been detrimental to the ability of women to claim due respect. "Some of these trends call for women to be covered from head to foot. But, as was the case during Eid, this hasn't protected them from being harassed," she said.

It was reported that a number of women who were wearing the conservative full body 'jilbab' covering were among those attacked by the mob.

However, Sulieman said a new generation of young women is taking a stance against the traditionally submissive role of women. "Women, especially in the younger generation, are becoming more liberal minded, and less submissive. They are beginning to be able to say 'I feel disrespected'."

According to Suleiman, the first step towards changing the culture of discrimination and harassment is "awareness, awareness, awareness. Women don't talk about this topic at present, and that is dangerous. We need to talk about it, openly."

jb/ar/ed

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Last updated:Thu Nov 9 14:08:48 2006