On March 6, 2008 the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights launched a “Million Signatures Campaign” in support of a new law to criminalize sexual harassment. Their volunteer-based Campaign Against Sexual Harassment, Making Our Streets Save for Everyone, began in 2005 in response to the many complaints that ECWR received from Egyptian and foreign women who experienced sexual harassment in the street.

The new Million Signatures Campaign has been well-received, and many private companies even contacted ECWR to declare their support of the petition and offer to collect signatures.

The Campaign has also attracted media attention, many television channels, newspapers and magazines covered it and ECWR's work against sexual harassment. Actor and television host Hussein el Imam announced in his program "Eh el Nizam" on el Mehwar channel his solidarity with the Campaign and dedicated one full episode to discussing sexual harassment and ECWR’s activities.     
Reports from the National Center for Criminal and Social Research in 2007 show that reports of rape cases rose to 20,000 last year. Sexual harassment is also widespread and discouraging women from feeling safe in the streets, decreasing their participation in public and political life. ECWR’s preliminary studies on a sample of 2,500 girls and women in six governorates show that there 1,049 reports that sexual harassment happens regularly in the street.

ECWR’s research and analysis of the legal situation regarding harassment, conducted with a team of lawyers and legal experts, found that the current penal code doesn't specify or mention sexual harassment directly, which results in lack of awareness, recognition of the problem and enforcement.

ECWR started the Million Signature Campaign to allow everyone in the society to demonstrate their support for an improvement to the law by signing the petition in solidarity with our campaign.

Download the campagin Potion