Necessary Reform to Egyptian Law & Procedure

The unfortunate reality is that Egypt currently does not have a law that addresses sexual harassment specifically. Engy Ghozlan, cofounder of HarassMap, says “The laws we have are insufficient. They do not criminalize sexual harassment of women and in the end it all depends on which judge you get “Currently sexual harassment can be tried under three articles of criminal law which are humiliation, inappropriate behavior, and rape.

While we have largely focused on the opinions and statements of non-state actors, it is interestingly to look at a statement from a formal prosecution official. According to the Egypt Independent Abdallah al-Mahdy, the head of Agouza (a Cairo District) prosecution services, states “”There are no loop holes in the judicial system, but the process is relatively long especially since a doctor’s opinion is needed in the case of rape for instance,”

However, Magda Boutros of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal rights disagrees by stating:
“Legal revisions and amendments are what is needed for the sexual harassment issue in Egypt,” she says.  “The law of indecent exposure of a female is only for public incidents – what about the cases that happen in private, at work, in schools and at a hospital? These are all loopholes that exist in our judicial system.”

The reality is that the Egyptian legal process in regards to sexual harassment needs to be completely overhauled.  There was fierce debate and pressure from activists to introduce a bill dealing strictly with harassment during the Mubarak era.  However, this initiative appears to have taken a backseat after the Egyptian revolution result in security and economic crisis engulfing the nation.

Leverage politics must be utilized to achieve this long due reform to the justice code.  It is an issue of human rights.  One must not ignore that Egypt is the second largest recipient of American aid after Israel. Ideally, there would material leverage over the issuing of this aid until the law was overhauled.  However, this will not be the policy of the any administration since Egypt’s role is providing stability within the region is far more pressing.  A strong and organized campaign can however put severe pressure under Egyptian legislators to overhaul the law.  The current majority of the Egyptian Parliament is Islamic led.  Ideally, they would address this issue since it is strictly against Islamic teachings.  While certain factions may believe in strict segregation of sexes and complete veiling of women, they must face the reality that VEILED women are harassed equally as unveiled women.  As a result, it is a national epidemic which does not differentiate victims in traditional terms of religion, dress, and nationality.

Unfortunately it appears that they do not share this sentiment, MP Azza El-Garf also known as “The Michele Bachmann of Cairo” of the Freedom and Justice Party. Garf, who is one of the very few female parliamentarians in the Islamist-dominated People’s Assembly, has called for the cancellation of the anti-harassment law. She justified her claims by stating that the indecent attire of women is what invites sexual harassment, hence harassers are not to be blamed.

Through accountability politics, the previous government had yielded to pressure by activists and acknowledged the problem.  While the current situation in Egypt may prolong the necessary changes to the law, there must be persistent activism to keep the issue alive.

While some may believe that harsher penalties are the answer, there are extreme difficulties in reporting the actual incident. Boutros sates that “Some victims were abused at police stations while reporting a harassment incident,”

One must also realize the taboo nature associated with such reports by discouraging victims to report the incident due to the shame that society associates with harassment.

Boutros proposes a simple yet important requirement which is here has to be a private room for harassment cases with a female police officer to make it less embarrassing for the victim,” .

Furthermore, “There have to be legal measures to protect the victim from the assaulter or his family during prosecution and trial.”  The current system provides little confidentiality to victims filing reports.  The Egyptian Independent cites the case of Catherine, an American woman living here, was sexually harassed in Heliopolis and decided to take the offender to the police station to report the incident.  Catherine stated “The police released all of my personal information (phone number, address, passport number etc.) to the guy and his family,” explains Catherine. “I know this because the next day I received a phone call from the guy’s fiance wanting to meet me.”

While the new draft law criminalizing such attacks currently is being discussed, many still view the harassment law as being hard to enforce in the absence of a completely competent security apparatus in the country.

http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/sexual-harassment-file-legal-dilemma
http://www.egyptindependent.com/opinion/we-mold-collective-memory-sexual-assault

Lebanese Nasawiya, “The Adventures of Salwa” & Delete Article 522

Throughout this blog, we have examined sexual harassment within the context of Egypt, Yemen, and Tunisia.  However, it is vital to take a look at the activism involving this issue in Lebanon.  Lebanon, like various Middle-Eastern countries, is experiencing increasing rates of sexual harassment.

Lebanese activist have undertaken the difficult battle to combat sexual harassment in Lebanon’s streets and in all realms of Lebanese society.  They strongly believe that  “Public space and private space is OUR space, and we have a right to exist without harassment on the basis of our sex, race, gender, or any other criteria.”

Nasawiya, a feminist collective in Lebanon, is attempting to carry out these ambitious goals through several initiatives which include anti-harassment campaign the Adventures of Salwa and Delete Article 522.

Who is Nasawiya?

According to Nawaiya’s website, they describe the organization as :

“Nasawiya is a group of young feminists who are working together to recreate a world free from sexism, and all other forms of exploitations and discriminations that collaborate with it: classism, heterosexism, racism, capitalism, etc. We see all these problems as interrelated and equally oppressive, yet we insist on addressing them from a progressive grassroots feminist perspective.

We are aware that our mission may sound too ideal, and that the issues we are addressing may seem controversial, some even taboo. Yet we believe it is time we went to the root causes of our problems; it is time we embraced the people that have long been silenced, by our society and then by many of the human rights groups in it. We strive to not only be a movement of educated and privileged women, but a movement by and for the single mothers, the refugees, the disabled, the sex workers, the migrant workers, the people of non-conforming gender identities and non-conforming sexualities, etc. We understand that we have been taught to believe that we do not have much in common, but having been united in marginalization, we can make an effort to unite in seeking a change in ourselves and in our society.

This change in ourselves and in our communities is first and foremost one of healing, of openly talking about the multiple sources of our pain—our personal and collective histories, in non-judgmental, women-friendly environments, and then working together to eliminate these problems.”

Nasaiywa’s Work Strategy:

“The Adventures of Salwa”

Nasawiya has taken a very innovative approach to the  epidemic of sexual harassment by launching The Adventures of Salwa is a campaign that raises awareness on sexual harassment through a series of videos and illustrations depicting the daily life of young Salwa.

According to The Adventures of Salwa website, “Salwa is an ordinary Lebanese girl that has been selected to be the spokeswoman for the campaign launched by a group of young feminists to combat sexual harassment.

Salwa and her sisters felt that the physical sexual harassment and the verbal abuse have reached a certain point that can no longer be tolerated in all the streams of the Lebanese society, being in the streets, transportation, workplace, schools and homes.

Therefore, they decided to launch this campaign to say to women who have been subjected to harassment, that the first step to combat it, is to break the taboo and start talking about it”

In my opinion, this campaign largely utilizes the notion of symbolic politics since Salwa can be interpreted by viewers as being a sister, mother, wife, or daughter.    Through this symbolic interpretation Nasawiya hopes to create awareness and increase their supporters.  While the issue may initially appear distant to various members of Lebanese society, Salwa really brings the issue closer to home by portraying herself as an ordinary Lebanese girl which effects almost every Lebanese family.

Delete Article 522

This campaign was recently launched on April 2, 2012 targeting the elimination of Article 522 from the Lebanese Penal Code, and drawing attention to outrageous loopholes within the law.  Amazingly, Article 522 allows a rapist to be exonerated of crimes if he marries his victim.  However, this legal loophole is not limited to rape but also in rape of a minor or disabled person, child molestation, and kidnapping.  It is incomprehensible that the Lebanese legal system would allow for the equivalent of a “get out jail free card” for these vicious crimes.

The official Delete 522 explanations for their motives of getting this law annulled are as follows:

1. “It does not only apply to rape, but to all articles in the section (503 – 521) that include including rape of a minor, rape of a person with a mental or physical disability, sex with a minor, molestation of children, sexual harassment of children, exploitation of someone in a weaker position and forcing someone into sexual acts, kidnapping of women or girls (with or without intention of marriage). In all of these cases, Article 522 exonerates the criminal of his crime if he marries the victim. And yes, in all Lebanese confessional laws, women can get married under 18 (ages vary by sect).
2. While it is clearly outrageous to us that a survivor of rape or sexual violence would want to marry her rapist, many families still view this as an “honorable” escape of the shame of rape and could force their daughter to accept it.
3. The mere fact of having such an article in our Panel Code offers the rapist / child molester / kidnapper an escape clause which enforces the general mentality that sex criminals can get away with their crimes. And it encourages convicted rapists of seeking marriage with their victims.
4. Because of this article, criminals who can prove intentions to marry their victims can gain the sympathy of the judges and receive a reduced sentence for their crimes even if they don’t end up with a marriage.”

In my opinion, this campaign utilizes leverage politics specifically moral leverage.  By bringing this issue to the public spotlight, domestic and international, they are putting increased pressure on legislators. This can also be referred to as “mobilization of shame” since the assumption is that governments value the good opinion of others.  Through campaign, the credibility of the Lebanese government can face serious harm.  If this initiative is able to gain the support of strong institutions such as the U.N. or powerful NGOs, this seemingly fragile coalition of activists can gain influence which far surpasses their ability to influence state practice directly.

http://www.delete522.com/about-campaign-522-rape-lebanon/

http://www.nasawiya.org/web/initiatives/

http://www.adventuresofsalwa.com/

Phone Stalking —I can vouch for this first hand!

While sexual harassment in Egypt has been addressed on this blog largely within the context of pshyical and verbal attacks, it is important to note that phone stalking is another form of abusive that has increased largely as a byproduct of this epidemic.  Furthermore, the large increase of mobile phone usage in Egypt has only added to the issue which presents itself within the form of phone calls and texts.

According to the BBC, “Most of the harassment – calls and texts – are from young men who ring numbers at random” At the youth magazine Teenstuff, the girls we interviewed said they’d all experienced some form of phone stalking.

“I was once stalked by someone I know,” said 16-year-old Safeya Zeitoun. “He would call every hour.”

“I give the phone to my brother and he shouts at them,” said another 16-year-old, Marwa Makhlouf .

“I had a guy who kept calling me at 0400,” said Mona Bassell, 17. “He said: ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ as if he was a friend. I told him to stop calling but he said: ‘No, I want to get to know you.’

Nihad Qomsan, from the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights, states “We know of some cases where it has turned nasty,” “We have had cases where the caller tells her, ‘I know you, I know your address’ or ‘I know where you work or where you study’. And he keeps calling – then the language becomes more threatening or insulting. By then it is too late.”

I personally have frequently holidayed in Egypt, and I can verify that phone harassment is very prevalent.  I have seen this occur with the majority of females in Egypt that I have interacted with.  While I don’t possess a legitimate statistical figure, I guarantee the readers of this blog that it is rampant!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8314091.stm

Taking the Online momentum of HarassMap Offline–[crowdsourcing] To the streets! To the People!

While HarassMap may have made a strong impact online empowering victims of sexual harassment in Egypt to voice their grievances, it is only a natural part of this initiative’s evolution to have get deeply engaged with Egyptian society on the ground.  In essence, the soul behind HarassMap is the notion of crowdsourcing which implies organizing many people to participate in a joint project, often in small ways.  The online aspect of HarassMap is built around crowdsourcing by building up a database through reports of individual incidents of sexual harassment in Egypt.  However, there is a limit to the successes that can be achieved strictly through online activism.

Based on the data gathered on the website which displays places where harassment is widespread, the goal is to encourage shopkeepers to offer their premises as “safe spaces” where women can come if they feel threatened. Rebecca Chiao, cofounder of HarassMap states,  “But the website is only 5% of what we do,” continued. “We spend all of our time organizing in the streets.” Each month, mixed-gender outreach teams go out in their own neighborhoods to talk to café owners, gas station employees, local policemen, and other people who are on the street on a regular basis – to raise awareness about the issue of sexual harassment, and recruit local neighborhood “guardians.” The aim is to change the environment in the Egyptian streets so that harassers are no longer tolerated and encourage bystanders to speak up and defend victims of sexual harassment – whenever it happens.

While engaging the public can be achieved through online channels, Egypt is a situation where there is only 24% internet penetration nationwide.  HarassMap realizes this reality, and I believe it is the basis of its long term strategy.   Personal participation is essential relationship building and conversing with people allow organizations to engage individuals, correct misunderstandings, education, and help spread the intended message.

Photo Source: HarassMap Facebook Page

Chiao has also stated “Our main target group is bystanders. Our main goal is to change the environment in the streets that tolerates harassment behavior So we don’t target the harassers themselves directly. We target them indirectly by trying to build a community that makes it more uncomfortable for harassers to act like they do now. The way that we approach them is not so much as NGO people, or outsiders in any way. We don’t tell people what they should be doing, what they shouldn’t be doing. We talk to them as neighbors. We do our community outreach in the neighborhoods of our volunteers themselves. So we train community captains to assemble community outreach groups in their own neighborhoods, and we equip them with “lessons learned”, or ways that we’ve found successful from our other volunteers, to raise this issue in their neighborhoods. 

And the first thing our volunteers do is they go to the people in their own streets. They introduce themselves, and discuss with them as neighbors about this problem, that isn’t a recent problem. It’s not an Egyptian tradition, it’s not in line with Egyptian values it’s not in line with either religion here. It’s something that’s recent and completely out of step with the traditions and values.

That’s the first thing they bring up. They talk about the days when our streets used to be free from harassment as it is now. When neighbors, people in the areas, used to witness harassment, the people in the street would stand up and defend the victim, and would speak out against it and tell the harasser not to do it. Even to the extent they would chase down the harassers and shave their heads as a mark of shame. And everyone knows the ones with shaved heads were caught harassing. This is the tradition.

So when we approach people in the community outreach, first we’re approaching our own neighbors. Second, we don’t tell them, “You shouldn’t do this”. We tell them “remember the days when it wasn’t like this. Weren’t things better then? Wouldn’t it be great if we could together make this happen again and be proud of our streets and be proud of the dignity and culture of our society?”

I believe that HarassMap’s strategy will be successful in the long run, because it takes into account the difficulties that are an inherent part of engaging the public on subjects that have long been considered taboo.  It’s much easier to engage fellow members of your own community since there is an understanding for the ultimate goal of communal benefit.  I believe this approach also considers that there will be critic among the target audience.  It is inevitable that organization will engage people who may have legitimate concerns.  One should not avoid criticism since it may prove to be an opportunity to understand and build relationships with the critics.  While it may not be initially success in certain cases, one msut realize that building relationships takes consistency and practice.  Within the context of sexual harassment, it is almost certain that even the extreme critics do not wish their wives, mothers, daughters, or sisters to be victimized in this brutal manner.

Idealistically, the long term goal of the HarassMap team would even extend to connecting their system to the police network to allow the forces of law and order to react quickly and catch offenders.  However, this integration does not appear likely considering the vast array of issues and instability currently facing post Mubarak Egypt.

 

 

http://philly.ihollaback.org/2012/01/18/interview-12182011-rebecca-chiao-of-harassmap-in-cairo-egypt/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/21/egypt-sexual-harassment

“Bikya Masr” Timeline of Sexual Harassment in Egypt

Independent News website, Bikya Masr, had a great timeline on its website basically outlining the dates of major incidents and issues regarding sexual harassment in Egypt.  To give a quick overview, I thought this would be a great addition to share with you guys on this blog! Thank you Bikya Masr!

TIMELINE:

October 2006

Shocking sexual attacks during Muslim feast of Eid

National and international public awareness about sexual attacks in Egypt more or less started October 24, 2006, during the Muslim feast of Eid, when online activists posted videos of gangs of men rampaged through downtown Cairo, assaulting any woman who came near them, whether veiled or not.

Since this accident, Egypt is deploying additional police to a number of locations every year in order to combat any possible outbreaks of mass sexual attacks during these holidays.

http://bikyamasr.com/3346/egypt-prepares-for-eid-combating-sexual-harassment/

NOTE: Every Eid holiday since the October 2006 incident has seen a massive number of attacks against women, in 2007 and beyond.

June 2008

Noha Rushdi’s successful story of breaking the silence

Noha Rushdi, a 27-year-old filmmaker, has been sexually assaulted, by 28-year-old van driver Sharif Gomaa as he drove alongside her, grapping her breasts so forcefully she had to fell. Instead of keeping silence, Noha gave a great interview with the weekly Egyptian independent Al-Yom Al-Saba’a and managed to drag him into the police station.

The man was sentenced to three years in prison under the current sexual harassment laws and fined nearly $900.

http://bikyamasr.com/tag/noha-rushdi/  

June 2009

Video: Sexual harassment in Egypt

Women News Network published portions of videos, aiming to emphasize the horrific situation facing many women on Egypt’s busy streets:

http://bikyamasr.com/816/bm-video-sexual-harassment-in-egypt/ 

July 2009

Egyptian gets 45 years in prison for assaulting women

The “butcher” of Maadi – an upscale Cairo suburb – was sentenced to 45 years in prison on Tuesday in a rare display of punishment over crimes against women in Egypt. According to reports, Mohamed El Sayyed received the sentence after prosecutors argued successfully that he had sexually assaulted at least 9 women in the area, which earned him the nickname in the Maadi area where a majority of his attacks took place.

http://bikyamasr.com/1096/bm-women-egyptian-gets-45-years-in-prison-for-assaulting-women/

August 2009

Egyptian women’s group launches “game booklet” to fight harassment against children

The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) has launched a new campaign as part of their “Making Our Streets Safer for Everyone” that uses a games booklet to fight sexual harassment against children. The new campaign, titled “Very Important” aims to combat rising sexual harassment toward children in the country.

http://bikyamasr.com/2091/bm-news-egyptian-womens-group-launches-game-booklet-to-fight-harassment-against-children/

October 2009

Sexual harassment campaign for Egypt’s streets

When women walk the streets of Cairo, the near constant verbal and physical attacks take its toll. For Mona Hanafi el-Siofi it was simply too much, so she gathered some friends and decided they needed to take some action. She decided that one way of bringing attention to this growing problem in the country was to hand out pamphlets to perpetrators that listed a series of statements and questions.

http://bikyamasr.com/5036/sexual-harassment-campaign-for-egypts-streets/

Challenging Sexual Harassment on Cairo’s Streets

A new project aimed at combating sexual harassment on the streets of Cairo will soon be launched. The project, called HarassMap, aims to create a map of the ‘hotspots’ of harassment in Cairo – that is, the places where harassment most frequently occurs.

http://bikyamasr.com/19548/challenging-sexual-harassment-on-cairos-streets/

November 2009

Salma Hayek tells of being sexual harassed in Egypt

Salma Hayek told a symposium in Cairo that she was sexually harassed in Egypt when she was visiting the country when she was only 17-years-old. Her comments are likely to strike home for the millions of Egyptian women who complain daily of their poor treatment on Egyptian streets.

http://bikyamasr.com/5738/salma-hayek-tells-of-being-sexual-harassed-in-egypt/

December 2009

Egypt: Demands for sexual harassment law

Egyptian human rights and legal activists for women’s rights called on the Egyptian government to issue severe penalties and the criminalization of sexual harassment of women in the street and in the workplace.

They demanded that the labor and penal codes should include more “visible and deterrent penalties to whomever harasses a woman,” expressing their dissatisfaction with the continued worsening of the phenomenon of sexual harassment of girls and women in public parks and streets during holidays.

http://bikyamasr.com/6325/egypt-demands-for-sexual-harassment-law/

February 2010

Egypt: Efforts to combat sexual harassment look promising

Egyptian member of Parliament Georgette Kellini of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), submitted a proposal of a draft law to address sexual harassment through the amendment of the Penal Code to the Egyptian Parliament last week.

The move is being welcomed by Egyptian women’s activists, who have long called on the government to take a more proactive stance on the rising problem of sexual harassment in the country.

http://bikyamasr.com/8593/egypt-efforts-to-combat-sexual-harassment-look-promising/

May 2010

Interview: Police turned me away after sexual assault

Reem is a 21-year-old Egyptian woman who recently graduated from university and is looking forward to the future. Like the vast majority of women in Egypt, she was the victim of a sexual assault that took place in Egypt’s many public spaces: on the bus.

She told Bikya Masr the story of the incident, and more shockingly, what the police did – rather did not do – in response.

http://bikyamasr.com/8593/egypt-efforts-to-combat-sexual-harassment-look-promising/

November 2010

Egypt reports massive sexual harassment during holiday

Egyptian police stations reported at least 600 incidents of sexual harassment during the first day of the Eid al-Adha holiday last week.

http://bikyamasr.com/21372/egypt-reports-massive-sexual-harassment-during-holiday/

December 2010

Safe Cities … Making Cairo safe for all

ECWR launched a public campaign with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), in cooperation with Cairo University and a number of partners of research centers, civil society organizations and governmental and UN institutions to develop and enhance women’s status in Egypt through a world free of violence.

http://bikyamasr.com/23308/safe-cities-making-cairo-safe-for-all/

January 2011

4 girls assaulted with acid in Egypt’s delta region

Two masked men threw acid on five female 11th graders after the girls left their school on Tuesday, in Bahareya Governate in the Nile Delta region.

http://bikyamasr.com/24428/4-girls-assaulted-with-acid-in-egypts-delta-region/

February 2011

Sexual assault of US reporter Lara Logan

CBS US correspondent Lara Logan was sexually assaultet last Friday in Egypt’s Tahrir Square in the midst of celebrations at the ousting of Hosni Mubarak. It had happened before, during the same revolution. The only difference was Ms. Logan was a foreigner.

http://bikyamasr.com/27402/the-problem-of-sexual-violence-in-egypt/

March 2011

Sexual violence returns to Egypt’s spotlight

The sexual assaults against CBS US correspondent Lara Logan sheds light again on the problem of sexual violence and the denial of the problem in Egyptian society, being discussed in the following articles.

http://bikyamasr.com/29269/egypt-sexual-violence-and-denials-of-problem/

http://bikyamasr.com/27336/sexual-violence-returns-to-egypt-spotlight/

http://bikyamasr.com/27402/the-problem-of-sexual-violence-in-egypt/

June 2011

Stories of harassment on Egypt’s streets

Bikya Masr has compiled some horrifying experiences from women in Egypt and what they face on a daily basis on the streets in order to publicize this growing problem in Egyptian society.

http://bikyamasr.com/34703/stories-of-harassment-on-egypts-streets/

July 2011

Egypt teenager attempts to kill herself after being harassed

A 15-year-old girl jumped out of her second floor apartment in Marsa Matroh on Egypt’s northwest coast after she was sexually harassed by the son of the building’s owner.

http://bikyamasr.com/35511/egypt-teenager-attempts-to-kill-herself-after-being-harassed/

August 2011

Egyptian women continue to struggle with the daily sexual violence against them

In a new indication that sexual violence is not restricted to how one dresses in Egypt, a fully-veiled woman was kidnapped and gang-raped for an entire day in Giza. Police arrested five men and have charged them with kidnapping, rape and robbery.

http://bikyamasr.com/39219/veiled-egyptian-woman-kidnapped-gang-raped/

Egypt women launch a new facebook anti-harassment-campaign

An anti-sexual harassment page on Facebook launched an invitation to Egyptian women to go out during Eid, the holiday that follows the month of Ramadan, without worry of being harassed as this is the time of year where sexual harassment intensifies.

http://bikyamasr.com/40263/egypt-women-launch-new-facebook-anti-harassment-campaign/

November 2011

Two new iPhone apps launched to combat sexual assault

November 2011, two new iPhone apps were lauched to combat violence and sexual abuse.

http://bikyamasr.com/47749/two-new-iphone-apps-launched-to-combat-sexual-assault/

Harassmap launches new sms aid for reporting sexual harassment

In the same month, Harassmap, a Cairo-based website that monitors and archives all acts of sexual harassment in the greater Cairo area, launched a new SMS short code system aid for reporting sexual harassment.  

http://bikyamasr.com/47052/harassmap-launches-new-sms-aid-for-reporting-sexual-harassment/

Egypt man killed after sexually harassing girls

An Egyptian teenager was killed in the city of Mansoura, in the Nile Delta region, on Wednesday after sexually harassing two girls in a public park. The victim, a 16 year-old student, had harrassed two young girls while they were on a walk in a public park, using an electric tazer, which made the girls scream in horror.

http://bikyamasr.com/48045/egypt-man-killed-after-sexually-harassing-girls/

Writer Mona el-Tahawy details horrific sexual assault by Egypt police

Award-winning Egyptian columnist Mona el-Tahawy has recounted on her personal Twitter account the sexual assault at the hands of the Egyptian police after she was detained for nearly 12 hours on Thursday morning in Cairo.

http://bikyamasr.com/49384/writer-mona-el-tahawy-details-horrific-sexual-assault-by-egypt-police/

French journalist’s assault puts female reporting in Egypt in perspective

After Caroline Sinz, a French reporter for public TV station France 3, became the third women sexual assaulted while reporting from Egypt’s Tahrir Square on Thursday, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) advised the media on Thursday night that “there is no other solution” but to hold off on sending female journalists to

http://bikyamasr.com/49528/french-journalists-assault-puts-female-reporting-in-egypt-in-perspective/

January 25, 2012

Women attacked, assaulted in Tahrir on uprising anniversary

At least four women are reportedly attacked by mobs of men in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, having their clothes ripped from them and assaulted in horrific fashion. One Arab-American woman spoke out to Bikyamasr.com on the attack.

Activists on Twitter condemned the attacks, demanding the demonstrators take action to end assaults against women.

http://bikyamasr.com/55004/exclusive-woman-tells-of-having-pants-ripped-off-assaulted-and-prodded-in-egypts-tahrir-square/

Source:http://bikyamasr.com/55207/timeline-of-sexual-violence-in-egypt-action-to-fight-against/

 

Culture of Gender Violence Instilled by the Regime [virginity tests, “blue bra girl”] — Past & Present

The reality is that one cannot discuss the topic of gender violence in Egypt without realizing the role government has played in nurturing the culture of terror.  When I speak of the government, I imply the former regime of Hosni Mubarak and the current military junta led by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.  The unfortunate truth is that under the Mubarak regime women faced violent sexual oppression and harassment which has not decreased since the fall of the regime.

During the initial months of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, the military forced female protestors to undergo “virginity tests”.  The perverse irony of the situation is that these tests were basically forms of sexualized violence yet they justified under the premise of verifying that no other forms of sexual violence had occurred.  An unnamed military general had stated that ““We didn’t want them to say we had sexually assaulted or raped them, so we wanted to prove that they weren’t virgins in the first place,” he said. “The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine. These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found in the tents Molotov cocktails and [drugs].”

One can argue that there is so much wrong with this statement, but the reality is that one could expect no less from the mentality of individuals that supported the rape of a nation for over 30 years.  Mozn Hassan, director of Nazra for Feminist Studies, a Cairo-based research organization, told CNN: “For years, Mubarak’s regime was torturing women, harassing women, detaining mothers and daughters and wives of prisoners to put pressure on them. For sure it’s the culture of the SCAF.”

Human Rights Watch reported that several women were arrested in November and December 2011 due to peacefully protesting.  Furthermore, they were the victims of both verbal and physical assault. These protesters were threatened with rape in detention, and stripped in the street “to deter them from protesting.” This type of brutal enforcement may surprise some, but the reality is that it is a systematic policy.  However, it does not receive the attention it deserves.  To put this brutal culture in a in a recent context, one cite the case of “blue bra girl”  According to Kainaz Amaria of NPR,  this was “A veiled young woman is dragged and beaten by Egyptian military during a protest in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Her face is covered. Her torso is bare, except for her bright-blue bra; she’s a millisecond away from being kicked by a solider.”

The image rapidly transformed into a visual symbol of abuse of power by the Egyptian military.

Within the context of sexual harassment, there are three indictors of a systematic culture of violence which are: public cases of violence such as “blue bra girl”, a history of inaction by “Egyptian government and police forces have done little to nothing to try to prevent sexual assaults or to prosecute those who have committed such acts”, and the brutal virginity tests by the military.

Moreover, Nazra for Feminist Studies has documented various cases since the revolution that have included “arbitrary detention, beatings, attempted chokings, and sexual assault and harassment, including attempts to strip women, threats of rape, insults of a sexual nature, and other kinds of degrading and inhumane treatment.”

This culture of sexualized violence serves three main purposes which are to humiliate, instill fear among the protestors, and to intimidate and silence the media.  In reference to humiliation one can elaborate by stating “Women who were part of the protests were reportedly called “dogs” and “whores” by the security forces, and the “virginity tests” were used to degrade female protesters through physical invasion and insult.”.  Under the second purpose of stilling fear, Magda Adli from the Cairo-based nonprofit El Nedeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence stated to the Daily News Egypt the message that the military wants to get across is ““Stay at home,” and “This is what will happen to you when you go out”.  Furthermore, she emphasizes such methods have been employed for the past 60 years.  Finally, this brutal strategy is aimed at silencing the media specifically stances where there are female journalists reporting on the ground.  It is a strategy based on silencing the messengers but has backfired in two specific cases of journalists like Egyptian American journalist Mona Eltahawy, American journalist Lara Logan, French journalist Caroline Sinz.  Ironically, it brought greater attention to the issue.

http://www.womenundersiegeproject.org/conflicts/profile/egypt

Sexual Harassment in Yemen

While Yemen is thought of as a very traditional country where conservative values are highly emphasized and Tribal loyalty takes dominance over state law, Yemen has not been able to escape the epidemic of sexual harassment of women.  The 12^th annual Association of Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) 2012 forum provided an ideal platform for an organic exchange of thoughts and initiative about gender issues and equality.

During this venue, Ghaida al Absi, a young Yemeni woman from the Kefiaia Initiative (“enough” in English) discussed the safe-streets campaign she helped organize and lead.  This was ground breaking since it was the first time that sexual harassment had ever been discussed openly or documented in the country.  Interestingly, a survey conducted prior to the campaign launch established that a whopping 98 percent of girls and women in Yemen had experienced some type of sexual harassment.

Absi stated “Society accepts it and women expect that they will be touched and talked to. We were trying to change this perspective and turn it into an abnormality rather than a normality,” The Kefiaia campaign incorporated the launch of an open source map to track incidents of harassment. Kefiaia also joined the Development House media organization in introducing an e-campaign that utilized articles and videos on Facebook and Twitter to call for volunteer work. It is important to note that The Development House is the first media organization in Yemen to concentrate in online social networking.

A separate initiative, during International Anti-Street Harassment Week which was held from March 18-20 under the name of “‘Aad Shi Akhlaq” (‘Are There Still Any Manners?’ was held.  There were several   symposiums on harassment were held in Sana’a which included a seminar and debate concerning the psychological effects of harassment on victims and a symposium headed by lawyer Ahmed al-Wadi’ee on relevant legal questions.  According to the Yemen Times,  “Aad Shi Akhlaq” is a national initiative that was started in December 2011 by five young women: Amani Abdul Qader, Shahba’a Al-Kibsi, Luna Al-Wadi’ee, Ghufran Jamal and Arbeil Nasr. These five women started the initiative as a direct response to unpleasant, personal encounters with on-campus harassment at Sana’a University. In a recent speech at an event by Shahba’a Al-Kibsi, she expresses her opinion and optimistic drive by stating “I hope that we can join hands in curbing this phenomenon before it spins out of control. Harassment is a crime that is punishable by law in many countries because it has negative psychological effects on the harassed. Therefore, it is everybody’s obligation to put a stop to this behavior, something which has become a daily practice in our Yemen, a civilized country with manners and values.”

While overall, one of the main strategies to combat sexual harassment is education and law enforcement, Yemen may benefit from a different approach.  Considering that the majority of Yemen’s population are conservative Muslims, it may prove to beneficial to approach the topic of sexual harassment by Islamic teachings.  This approach may have stronger effect on individuals who value religious teaching over state law.  In the context of Islam, sexual harassment is strictly frowned upon.

There have been similar attempts to implement this type religious outreach.  Interestingly, one such case is Egypt in 2009.  Egypt’s Ministry of Endowments, the government division responsible for the administration of mosques, distributed an informational booklet, Sexual Harassment: Causes and Solutions, in mosques  to 50,000 imams nationwide in Egypt.  The booklet lists five causes of harassment such as “weak religious awareness and mental and cultural emptiness.”  Furthermore, it proposes ways to tackle the problem. “When the imams realize that sexual harassment is a social hazard, and they understand the reasons behind it, then they start spreading the message,” says Salem Geleil, Egypt’s Deputy Minister of Endowments and the booklet’s editor.  While Yemen is not Egypt, both are Muslim majority nations.  This message from a well respected figure such as an Imam during weekly Friday prayers, may have a surprisingly positive outcome in Yemen.

 

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/04/20/dispatches-from-awid-2012-arab-spring-becomes-chill-women

http://www.yementimes.com/en/1560/report/658/Anti-Street-Harassment-Week.htm

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1909361,00.html

Sexual Harassment in Tunisia

While I have been focusing mostly on Sexual Harassment in Egypt, I would not be a true blogger if I didn’t discuss other countries in the region that face this epidemic.  While Tunisia was the starting point of the Arab Spring, it still faces many obstacles and sexual harassment is one of them.   Interestingly, some regard Tunisia as being the Arab world’s most progressive country within the context of women’s rights.  Unfortunately, sexual harassment in Tunisia faces the very tough initial obstacle which is societal acknowledgment that a problem exists.

According to Tunisia Live, “A recent survey conducted by the Tunisian National Office of Population and Family (ONFP) found that physical violence against women was most commonplace, followed by psychological violence, sexual violence and last, economic violence. While the survey found that violence against women was most common in the private sphere, it also revealed that violence against women in the public sphere is sexual in 21.3% of cases, psychological in 14.8%, and physical in 9.8%.”

Carolyn Lamboley, of Tunisia Live, presents an in-depth personal account of sexual harassment in Tunisia from Meriem Manar (whose name has been changed to protect her identity), a student of business and English in Tunis, sexual harassment is a daily reality. “You cannot avoid it. Men are in the street with you, and you have to go to school, you have to go to work. Because it is in our daily life, because it is our everyday experience, we end up accepting it. You leave your house mentally prepared. You just deal with it,” she said.

But this comes at a certain price to her liberty. “There are places that I cannot go alone, like parks…because I know I might be not just sexually harassed, but even raped…If you walk on Avenue Habib Bourguiba at night, you will not find a single female on the street. If you are alone at night and walking in the street, and somebody sees you, they will have the idea that you are going to a nightclub, or that you are meeting your boyfriend…that you are doing something your family would not be proud of.”

For Meriem, relying on public transportation daily can often become intolerable. The reality everyday hassle of public transport transforms into a nightmare for women in Tunis – regardless of their age, and their dress. “The veil would never protect anybody from getting harassed, not even niqab. As long as they [men] know that under that niqab or under that veil, there is a woman, they will sexually harass you,” says Manar. While no statistics exist for Tunisia, a study conducted by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights, in conjunction with the United Nations Population Fund and the European Commission, found that in Egypt, 72.5% of surveyed victims of sexual harassment were veiled.

Meriem desires for a car reserved for women, similar to the Cairo metro. Yet according to Rebecca Chiao co-founder of HarassMap, segregation is not the answer. “I ride in the women’s car. But I think that as a policy or a solution, it establishes very bad norms. It promotes this idea that if a woman is riding in the men’s car, then she is looking for harassment, or that she brought it unto herself.”

I tend to agree greatly with Chiao’s assessment.  This method simply puts harassment on hold until a more suitable venue is found.  The main goal is to change the mentality of people in the reigion.

There has been some progress made on the issue stemming back to 2004 where a law was passed punishing offenders of sexual harassment against women by one year in prison and a fine of 3,000 dinars.  However, Halima Jouini, a founding-member of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD) and a volunteer at the Center for Listening and Orientation of Women Victims of Violence, qualified this law as “limited” and “incriminating” for women.  While there was an initial recognition of sexual harassment, the overall sentiment is that the law does not protect women.

Jouini cites the rape case of a woman that she is defending. This woman was a housekeeper, who had been raped and sodomized repeatedly by her male employer. “Upon confessing this to his wife, the housekeeper agreed to film the crime as evidence to take the man to court. But once this evidence was obtained, the wife pressed charges against both her husband and the housekeeper for adultery. The man, who possessed a Canadian passport, fled the country, leaving the housekeeper in prison – where she had been held for a month as of late March.” While this might hard to imagine in western society, the legal issues that can arise may appear to be unpredictable at times.

Furthermore, According to Jouini, the 2004 law’s definition of sexual harassment is limited in scope since it delimits sexual harassment as strictly a repeated action. It is currently defined as “persistence in the harassment of the other by repetition of actions, words or gestures.”  This main issue with this approach is that it may hard to collect evidence, and some women may simply avoid the situation at the first occurrence such as a place of employment.  Consequently, the law further provides virtually no protection to the plaintiff or witnesses.  Actually, the law openly states if a case is confirmed nolle prosequi, or if the defendant is acquitted, then the defendant is entitled to ask for reparation, and eventually sue the plaintiff for defamation.

The ATFD has a concrete and clear objective in mind.  They call for a comprehensive law on sexual harassment.  This new law would not be limited to the Penal Code, but it would include in the Tunisian Labor Code.  Moreover, The ATFD is lobbying to include an article out lawing discrimination and violence in the new Constitution.

On a final note, Manar states has her hope is in educating and re-educating society.  She states “In Tunisia we have this masculine society, where the male is the dominator of everything, and men are allowed to do anything. Even women are convinced that they are inferior, and they raised their children the same way. If woman has a daughter and a son, she will raise her son as a superior to her daughter. So we end up with a society that thinks that the men are a superior creature, and that’s why (…) they dare to do anything.”

I would agree with her 100%.  I would even extend this situation assessment to very accurate of the Arab World as a whole.

http://www.tunisia-live.net/2012/04/14/talk-is-cheap-sexual-harassment-in-tunisia/

One step forward, possibly 2 steps back?

Considering that the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party has won the majority of Parliamentary seats in Egypt’s first election since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak, there must an understanding of gender rights from their perspective.  I specifically cite, Azza al- Garf, who has infamously been named the “Michelle Bachmann of Cairo” by foreign media for her conservative views on women.

Since Garf is only one out of nine women in Egypt’s Parliament of 498, one might assume that she would be a proponent of women’s rights.  However, you might be unpleasantly surprised when you hear her view points on many keystone topics that greatly impact Egyptian women.  First, Garf wants tighter divorce laws.  To be clearer, she wants tights divorce laws in respect to women filing divorce from their respective husbands.  She claims she has no issue with the notion of women divorcing their husbands, but her only quarrel is the way that the laws are currently written.  In her opinion, this is contradictory to Islam. She states “The principle itself — ‘a woman can divorce her husband’ — is not what I disagree with. In the time of the Prophet, women could get divorced, but I don’t want 7 million divorced women on the street,” She goes on to later say “No man’s dignity allows him to have a wife who wants to be separated to him.”  In respect to the second statement, I may be wrong yet it appears that this statement might be biased.

The second issue is female circumcision; she feels that the ban really isn’t necessary.  According to Sarah Topol of Foreign Policy, Garf states “We have enough problems more pressing than this,” she says quickly. “I think it’s mainly been magnified to something unnecessary. Even when it comes to religion it’s highly debatable. People are entitled to do what suits them. We have much more pressing problems that don’t give us the luxury of dealing with this.” Topol comments in reply “And like a true politician she skirts the question, but her answer is obvious: There is no need for the ban, and individuals should choose, even though the procedure is usually performed on underage girls, not adult women.”

For the purpose of this blog, the third suggestion by Garf is that sexual harassment does not really exist in Egypt.  According to CNN,  Azza El Garf has been hit with bad press after a few colorful comments that she says were taken out of context. She said that all women should take cooking classes and that no sexual harassment exists in Egypt. (She stands by the latter remark, saying she’s often walked home at 2 a.m., and has never once been assaulted.)

I’d love to know which part of Egypt Azza al-Garf lives in where women can come home freely at 2am without being harassed.  Sounds like a bit of utopia, even by Western standards.

It is interesting to note that back in 2008 Hisham Al Qadi ,member of the parliamentary bloc of the Muslim Brotherhood, filed a  request to former Prime Minister, Ahmed Nazif,  and former Interior Minister, Habib el-Adli , on the reappearance of the phenomenon of sexual harassment in the Egyptian street recently, and how it could threaten the security of citizens.  According to the Muslim Brotherhood’s website, “Al Qadi revealed that this phenomenon is not consistent with the values and principles of Egyptian society at all; pointing out that it is unprecedented phenomenon in Egyptian society, which has a full respect for women.” He further states, “”Where is the role of the security men in such phenomena that threaten the Egyptian society? Where is the role of the government in dealing with this problem in all its aspects? What are the actions taken to prevent the recurrence of this phenomenon?”

This seems contradictory to Mrs. Garf’s position.  I wonder if she got the memo.

Since 90% of Egypt’s population are Muslim, it is important to note that under Islam any form sexual harassment is forbidden.  Finally, what makes Garf’s comments infuriating and backwards, is that she refuses to acknowledge the existence of the problem.  Furthermore, comments like this are dangerous due to her political position and societal influence.   In respect to sexual harassment in the Middle-East, acknowledgement is one of the major obstacles faced by activists.  Without acknowledgement, little can be done.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/04/23/Feminism_Brotherhood_Style?page=0,2

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/03/world/analysis-muslim-brotherhood/?hpt=hp_bn2

http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=18821

678 Film, A very accurate depication.

 

Why is “678” relevant?

For the longest time, sexual harassment has been a very taboo topic in Egypt.  The battle to simply acknowledge that there is an issue has been one of the hardest parts.  Acknowledgement of problem, this is what makes “678” ground breaking.  Director, Mohamed Diab, states “”My film is about breaking the silence, and there’s a new attitude that people don’t want to shut up anymore. Everyone wants to stand up for their rights now.”

“687”, simply refers to the Cairo bus line that the female protagonist rides to work every day.  Noha El-Hennaway of the “Egypt Independent” newspaper summarized the movie best by stating “With bitterness and finesse, the movie explores the psyche of a harassed woman, emphasizing the level of emotional harm inflicted on her when the privacy of her own body is violated by cold-blooded strangers. A plethora of negative emotions are explored. Torn by frustration, self-hatred and a resilient revenge impulse, she remains disoriented about how to react to such an affront in a society that still blames the victim for “failing to protect her body”.

“678″ tells the story of three fictional women from different backgrounds as they search for justice from daily sexual harassment.One of the protagonists, “Seba Sami”, is sexually harassed by a group of men after a soccer match, while another main protagonist, “Nelly Roushdy”, insists on taking her harasser to court regardless of pressure to drop her case and the third protagonist, “Fayza Abdel Maksoud”, finally reaches breaking point by stabbing harassers in the groin with the pin from her head scarf.

El-Hennaway further vividly describes the main characters in detail:

“Fayza Abdel Maksoud is a middle-class civil clerk married to a security guard. Everyday, she rides overcrowded public buses. While stuck on her long journey to work, she has to deal with men who push their bodies against her or even unzip their pants to rub their genitals against her.

Unable to mention it to her husband, Abdel Maksoud finds refuge in a weekly class given by a bourgeois feminist on how to defend oneself against sexual harassment. The instructor, Seba Sami, is no less psychologically devastated than her student.

Sami is an upper-class artist, living with her handsome husband, Sherif, in an opulent mansion in Cairo. Sherif is a fervent football fan and decides to take his wife to a match. Amazed by the Egypt’s victory, the couple walks out of the stadium with the crowd whistling and raising Egypt’s flags.

But this jovial moment turns into one of the most dramatic junctures in Sami’s life when she suddenly gets trapped in an all-male crowd without her husband. In a dimly-lit slow-motion scene, trapped Sami shouts her husband’s name as the men grope her body.

Shocked by the scene, Sherif abandons his traumatized wife and, in her disappointment at his reaction, Sami asks for a divorce. In the meantime, her parents dissuade her from filing a complaint, fearing the social stigma if their daughter goes public. To console her, Sami’s mother reminds her that at least she was not raped.

Meanwhile, another victim decides to break the spiral of silence. Nelly Roushdy is a talented young woman working at the call center of a private company. Frustrated by the continuous verbal harassment she gets from customers, Roushdy finds a good retreat in performing stand-up comedy with her fiancé.

One morning, as she is walking to her house, a truck driver grabs her breast before running away. Outraged by the affront, the brave Roushdy runs after the car and throws herself on the windshield, forcing the driver to stop. She takes him to a police station, but the policeman refuses to register the complaint.”

In my opinion, one of the important depictions made in the film is that sexual harassment is not limited to a certain financial status, social class, or even veiled versus western dressed women.

While the characters in “678” are fictional, their stories are based on the harsh reality of the Egypt’s streets.  One must remember that the goal of this film, a form of media, is to raise awareness by reaching a broader audience which makes it an important resource to information politics.  I believe that this movie has been received as credible by winning best actor/actress awards for two of its leads at the Dubai International Film Festival.

Finally, the symbolism behind this film cannot be ignored.  The women in the movie are not an unrealistic creation, but they are mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, and friends.  The symbolic interpretation plays an important role in creating awareness and influencing new support from a broader target audience.

678 Movie Poster, A very visually articulate depiction of the movie theme as well as the harsh reality faced by Egyptian women.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-14/egyptian-women-battle-sexual-abuse-after-decades-of-silence-movie-reveals.html

http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/678-sexual-harassment-movie

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-04-06/entertainment/Egypt.film.sexual.harassment_1_sexual-harassment-lara-logan-egyptian-film?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ