Law absence … sexual harassment in feasts

Egyptian Security Services made laudable efforts to confront and control public sexual
harassment phenomenon in the feast; they are resulted in:

• Cairo Security Directorate monitored 87 cases of harassment in Bulaq Aboualala, Qaser El Nile and Giza. Within the continuous harassments that face girls during days of feasts, the prosecutor of Bulaq Aboualala received on Saturday (the 3rd day of Ead al feter) 40 reports that have been filed by the security patrols, then they have been transferred to the prosecutor that release them on parole of their residence places, these were in addition to 25 other guys in Qaser El Nile.
• Security directorates of Giza, Cairo, 6th of October and Helwan monitored also more than 300 cases of harassment during the 1st and 2nd days of Ead al feter.
• 84 cases of harassment in downtown in the 2nd day of Ead al feter; guys have been arrested in front of cinemas. When the defendants have been encountered with their crimes, they denied the accusations, and 64 defendants have been released on parole of their residence places.

These are considered positive steps and ECWR hopes that they are transferred into an action methodology to secure streets and to care for assurance of the right in physical safety and moving safely in all times and places. The right to be safe is one of the basic rights that have been guaranteed by Egyptian constitution and international conventions. Article 3 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates that “every individual has the right in life, freedom, and the private safety“; which support idea of the right of every individual to have a space of privacy and safety around him. Within our appreciation to ministry of interior as it made the social security one of its priorities, ECWR requests the follows:

First: on the Security level:

• The continued existence of mounted patrols in the Egyptian streets in order to maintain the public security. The existence of police men in the public and crowded places is so important, thus we need to activate their deterrent role towards aggressors and criminals.
• The necessity of intensifying the security forces existence in streets in order to protect the whole society.
• Allocating unit in each police station to receive complaints of women who are exposed to abuse or sexual harassment. Work of this unit should be featured by privacy during the whole process course beginning from receiving the complaint till issuing the ruling. This unit should have policewomen and women specialists to receive the reports of women in addition to organizing training courses for this.
• Putting kiosks at streets near the security kiosks to facilitate complaining the sexual harassment.

Second: on the legal and legislative level:

• Put the bill against sexual harassment on top of priorities of the legislative agenda for the next parliamentary elections.
• Seeking for the existence of an human rights civil.