Rights groups demand national strategy to fight sexual violence

A group of feminist and human rights organizations demanded a national strategy to combat sexual harassment and gender-based violence, with the collaboration of several state institutions.

In an official statement issued Monday, 14 rights organizations called for the National Council for Women’s Rights and the Ministries of Justice, Interior, Education and Health to work jointly on developing the strategy.

The groups also urged the state to update the penal code to include new legal definitions for sexual assault and sexual harassment, and widen the scope of definitions for rape. The statement also called on investigate all cases of systematic sexual violence that took place since the outbreak of January 25, 2011 revolution.

A fact-finding mission should be appointed to oversee the investigations, which would guarantee the safety of all individuals who would testify, the statement recommended.

Recent cases of sexual violence committed were highlighted in the statement. A British tourist was raped by a security guard on March 6 and another Russian was sexually assaulted by a police officer on March 14. A Cairo University student was also assaulted by a group of students who viewed her attire as "inappropriate.”

"The three violations come to prove the state's continued failure to protect women from sexual and physical violence, as well as preserving their right of physical safety and existence in the public domain. Violations of sexual assault cannot be looked at separately from the state of escalating social violence, which is a direct result of the current security vacuum and the state's lack of political will to deal with sexual violence," the statement said.

Social acceptance of sexual violence is endemic in Egypt, which results in the courts being unacceptably lenient when trying such cases, the groups claimed.

The different rights organizations also blamed political forces for failing to address gender-based violence, and failing to realize that sexually-driven violations prevent women from contributing to political life.