Egypt has approved a new law to protect the identity of women who come forward to report sexual harassment or assault in a move that aimed to encourage women and girls to report cases of sexual violence.
The law, which will give victims the automatic right to anonymity comes as hundreds of women have started to speak up on social media about sexual assault in a #MeToo movement in Egypt where women have long felt disadvantaged.
Female parliamentarian Ghada Ghareeb said the law was a step “in a long road of issuing regulations that preserve women’s rights”.
“The government had noticed that there was a sharp decline in women being able to report cases of sexual assault they have been subjected to because they fear of social stigma,” Ghareeb told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Ghareeb expected the approval of the law would increase reporting of sexual assaults in the coming months in the nation.
The bill was approved by the cabinet early in July and submitted to parliament after being presented by the Ministry of Justice.
It followed a widely-published case in July of a university student from a wealthy background who was arrested and accused of raping and blackmailing multiple women. Investigations are continuing.
The case triggered a #MeToo wave in Egypt with the National Council for Women saying it received 400 complaints mainly about violence against women within five days of the case being made public and hundreds of women started to share stories online.
The debate escalated further after an Instagram page revealed a gang rape case in a Cairo hotel, with the six men involved believed to be from powerful, rich families.
The state-run National Council for Women said it stood beside every woman and girl who was exposed to any form of threat by providing the necessary support.
The council urged any women who had faced such attacks to come forward to both the council and the public prosecution, and to report the incident quickly through official reporting mechanisms.
A 2017 Thomson Reuters Foundation poll found Cairo to be the most dangerous megacity for women, and 99 percent of women in Egypt interviewed by the United Nations in 2013 reported sexual harassment.
An outcry over attacks on women near Tahrir Square during President Abdel Fattah el Sisi’s inauguration celebrations in 2014 prompted a new law punishing sexual harassment with at least six months jail but many activists saw this as too weak.
Source: www.trtworld.com
I don’t know if it’s just me or if everyone else encountering problems with your blog. It seems like some of the text on your posts are running off the screen. Can someone else please provide feedback and let me know if this is happening to them too? This might be a issue with my internet browser because I’ve had this happen previously. Thanks
If you wish for to increase your familiarity simply keep visiting this web site and be updated with the latest information posted here.
It’s in fact very difficult in this active life to listen news on Television, therefore I just use internet for that purpose, and take the latest news.
We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your web site provided us with valuable info to work on. You’ve done a formidable job and our whole community will be thankful to you.
naturally like your web-site but you have to take a look at the spelling on several of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling problems and I in finding it very bothersome to inform the truth however I’ll definitely come back again.
I do not even know the way I ended up right here, however I believed this submit was good. I do not understand who you are however certainly you’re going to a well-known blogger for those who are not already. Cheers!
Howdy this is somewhat of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding skills so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Hi, yeah this post is actually nice and I have learned lot of things from it concerning blogging. thanks.
You need to be a part of a contest for one of the best websites on the internet. I’m going to highly recommend this website!
Good day! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could find a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having difficulty finding one? Thanks a lot!
What’s up, its nice article concerning media print, we all be familiar with media is a enormous source of facts.
I relish, lead to I found exactly what I used to be taking a look for. You’ve ended my 4 day lengthy hunt! God Bless you man. Have a nice day. Bye