By Amira El-Fekki and Nada Deyaa
(AFP PHOTO / MAHMUD KHALED)
Different reports on sexual harassment cases were presented by the Ministry of Interior, local NGOs and the state-affiliated National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) during the three day Eid Al-Fitr celebrations that began on Friday.
‘I Saw Harassment’, one of Cairo’s most active initiatives combating sexual violence against women in public places, traced a total of 90 physical and 131 verbal incidents of sexual harassment in the Downtown Cairo area.
The initiative’s numbers were based on field work between Friday and Sunday, reporting each day separately. In the report, it was observed that physical assaults decreased between the first and second day, but that verbal attacks doubled.
The Ministry of Interior’s department for fighting violence against women reported 84 cases of verbal harassment during the first two days of Eid, state-run newspaper Al-Ahram reported Sunday.
The state-affiliated National Council for Women (NCW) said Sunday that four cases of physical sexual harassment cases were reported at the Qasr El-Nil police station. A further 26 verbal assaults were dealt with, without police reports based on the victims’ wishes.
On Monday, the numbers increased to 136 reports of verbal attacks and five physical assaults. Azza Abdel Sattar, from the NCW’s media office, told Daily News Egypt that the council members also conducted field research across Cairo.
“Those areas included mostly Downtown Cairo, in addition to busy locations such as Giza Zoo, Al-Azhar Park, Cairo University, and Gameat Al-Dewwal Street,” she said. However, the council said there were no reports during those tours.
On the first day, the NCW claimed it did not receive any complaints of sexual harassment on hotlines specified for this purpose.
“Those reports come from the second and third day of Eid,” said Abdel Sattar.
‘I Saw Harassment’ founder and researcher Janet Abdul Alim told Daily News Egypt on Monday that she could not count on NCW’s reports and doubted their credibility. The reason for this is that, while even the Ministry of Interior was reporting on incidents, the NCW denied that any cases occurred during the first day.
“It seems like they have been embarrassed by the police, so they released some numbers, but to me it looks like sexual harassment suddenly appeared on the second day,” Abdul Alim said.
Moreover, she challenged the NCW’s claims to have been present on the streets, at least in Downtown Cairo.
“I know many of the members and I have not seen them on the ground, despite the fact that I saw female and male police officers,” Abdul Alim commented.
There were also reports on other governorates in Egypt. Al-Ahram said Monday that seven people were arrested in Gharbeya. Moreover, the NCW said their lawyer was following up with a reported case in Sharqeya.
Violent nature of sexual harassment by teenagers
In one incident, an ‘I Saw Harassment’ member interfered to rescue a girl from a harasser. “It became a fight between the two, and our colleague was injured on the mouth,” Abdul Alim said.
The ‘I Saw Harassment’ report said that not only has the reaction of young sexual harassers been violent, but that verbal harassment was also unprecedented “in numbers and types”, Abdul Alim said.
According to the group, the offences are “detailed descriptions of genital parts”.
“There were explicit and violent terms on sexual positions. The language I heard was too offensive even for men to use between them,” Abdul Alim commented.
Sexual harassers’ ages mostly varied between eight and 18 years of age, as many young boys were seen in large groups and in the majority compared to girls.
“All girls were accompanied by one man or more. This means that people do not feel safe enough or feel real protection on the streets, despite numerous promises of otherwise by the police,” Abdul Alim said.
Diaries of a victim
It was a normal day when Safaa was heading to her work walking down the street. The voices of guys whispering around her and calling her names, asking her to join them for a “fling”, did not stop her as it has become the norm she faces everyday of her life. But it was the moment that a guy came fast to hit her on her back that she decided she would not keep silent about it and would fight back.
Running after him and hitting him so hard was the first thing she did after she was harassed. “I translated all my feelings of pain, frustration and anger in strong punches I gave him,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “Yet, I still feel so down and depressed that I had to go through such an experience.”
Today, Safaa is the mother of a 9-month-old baby girl. When she first knew she was having a baby, the first thing she feared was that her daughter might face the experience she had to live with, even if it was not her fault. “I’m so afraid that my daughter will grow up to find herself stuck in a society that harasses her just because she’s a girl,” Safaa said.
Security and legal assistance to victims
Several departments at the Ministry of Interior were working with sexual harassment issues, including the Human Rights’ department, under which comes the unit for fighting violence against women, as well as the vice squad police.
There were several promises that security prevention of and response to sexual harassment crimes would be fierce.
“Despite that, the state announced rigorous measures to be undertaken during the Eid to counter sexual harassment, crimes of sexual violence against women were not prevented, mainly in Cairo’s downtown area,” ‘I Saw Harassment’ said, based on journalists’ photos and videos of incidents.
The NCW said it was working closely with the police in coordination with the Cairo security directorate, praising their efforts in countering sexual harassment with a strong presence in the streets and other busy locations, mainly in the capital’s downtown.
However, the ‘I Saw Harassment’ team distributed in the area according to a set plan said they saw weak a security presence on the Nile corniche, including around the Qasr El-Nil Bridge, commonly known for public assembly risks for women.
“The security forces presence was strong in the early hours of Friday morning, but decreased gradually throughout the day and closer to night time,” ISH said.
On another note, public controversy surrounded a recent video that circulated on social media showing a female police officer arresting a harasser in Downtown Cairo. The harasser was met not only with curses from witnesses and the crowds who were near the “Metro” cinema, but was also given electric shocks several times by the officer who appeared extremely angry to the extent of using violence with him.
In a certain shot, the harasser ‘begged’ for her to stop, claiming that he’s sick – only to be faced with the answer: “If you’re sick, why do you do such things to girls in the street!”
The video went viral on social media reaching more than 15,000 shares and various comments. Most of the feedback was positive, with girls expressing their happiness to find a female taking “their revenge” for all the forms of emotional abuse they have faced in the street their whole lives.
“This woman stands for 100 men” was the most frequent comment posted for the video.
On the other hand, people found that there was no excuse for violence and using electric shocks, as long as the perpetrator did not fight back or resist, as the video showed.
“There are laws for which specific institutions are responsible for applying. We cannot reinforce the law with our own hands in the streets,” Abdul Alim commented.
Helping women in following legal procedures against sexual offenders, the ‘I Saw Harassment’ campaign aimed at encouraging women to break their silence and report sexual harassment cases, breaking a social taboo.
They have asked the Ministry of Interior to facilitate in the filing of those reports on the spot, but a ministry official said such a thing would instead increase their social embarrassment.
Abdul Alim outlined a case where she went along with a victim to file a police report at the Qasr El-Nil police station.
“On our way, a police conscript kept telling her to be sure that the man she was reporting was indeed the harasser, or else he would face seven years in prison,” Abdul Alim said.
By law, a sexual harasser is subject to a minimum of six months imprisonment for verbal assaults, and the sentence can be extended to five years depending on its type. It also opens the harasser to fines ranging from EGP 3,000 to EGP 50,000
However, women are still given little encouragement to report the harasser.
“The police are actually scaring women off and pressuring them by appealing for their forgiveness,” Abdul Alim said, which explains why many do not proceed with police reports, let alone follow up on investigations with prosecution authorities or court cases.
“One was content with slapping him on the face. I saw a young man begging his victim that she beat him with a shoe but does not file a police report,” Abdul Alim said.
She concluded that there are still obstacles to fighting sexual harassment. Women and young girls are convinced that “no action would be taken”. Abdul Alim explained that Egypt’s complicated bureaucracy, which would require the victim to go for testimony several times in several locations, harm the case.
“In many instances, the girl receives requests from the harasser’s family to drop charges,” Abdul Alim added.
