EGYPT: Violence against women and girls increasing under new regime, says new survey

Summary: Sexual violence against women in Egypt has increased in the post-revolutionary Islamist rule, according to official reports and rights activists.

[3 June 2013] - 

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality said in a report published on May 23 featured in a Alarabiya article on Sunday 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.

Additionally, more than 58 percent of men surveyed said harassment increased after the revolution.

The findings are based on the results of interviews with over 3000 women and men aged 10 to 35 in seven different districts, known as governorates, across Egypt.

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.

“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.”

FURTHER INFORMATION:

• Read more on children's rights in Egypt