CAIRO: Egypt's liberal leaning Free Egyptians Party declared its support for the calls and demands by women's rights organizations and NGOs in the country, which have called for woman's rights. The party also said it stands against “the phenomenon of sexual harassment” and called for the passing of a law criminalizing the act. The party condemned in a statement on Sunday the “shameful stance of the female parliament members of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), who stand against a woman's right to defend herself and refuse to condemn the man who assaulted the woman and only blame the society and the woman, who is the victim.” Mina Mounir, a member of the party's Secretariat for Women, said that the party supports women in their fight against sexual harassment, “which became widespread in Egyptian society and must be combatted, through community outreach, and encouraging citizens to be positive and not allow harassment of girls in the street, or public transportation.” The Free Egyptians Party`s Secretariat for Women, also took part on Saturday in a protest organized by women's rights organizations and associations, before the High Court, in downtown Cairo, against the phenomenon of harassment. The protest was organized by the movement “Secularists,” civil society groups in Egypt, the Federation of Women, the Liberal Students Association, and the Bahiyya ya Masr movement. According to statistics published by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights in 2008, the only research on sexual harassment towards women in the country, some two-thirds of all Egyptian women experience sexual harassment on a daily basis. Legislation to boost penalties toward men who perpetrate harassment has largely stalled, before the January 25 uprising and after.
