CAIRO: Sexual violence is on the rise in Egypt, with numerous report of attacks in Cairo's Tahrir Square this month sparking concern that the problem is growing to untenable levels. Women fear leaving their houses, walking on the street and demanding their rights. A recent article published by a foreign correspondent on her blog revealed a horrific incident where she was stripped, groped and “raped” by a mob of men near the iconic central Cairo square. Battling sexual harassment have become an almost everyday occurrence for those working in human rights here, but recently the definition of rape, assault and harassment have left many, especially foreigners, wondering how these terms are defined in the country. Last year, when I spoke with Nehad Abu Komsan, the head of the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights (ECWR) and now a top official in the newly resurrected National Council of Women (NCW), she talked of why assaults are being defined as “sexual harassment” in pushes to bolster legislation. “We have to do this because by creating a uniformed understanding of harassment, including assault, it makes it easier for lawmakers to pass more stringent laws to protect women,” she told Bikyamasr.com. This defining of sexual violence under the umbrella of “sexual harassment” may seem weak, even counterproductive, but when Egyptian women take attackers to police stations they are often turned away by the officers, who question what they were wearing, where they were going and point to the “difficulty” of using the courts in an effort to force women away from filing cases against harassers and attackers in the country. For Abu Komsan, an umbrella definition tends to enable better policing and hopefully, she says, will create “an understanding among police to combat the issues.” But now, when women have been stripped naked in the streets, hands grabbing and inserted into one's body, the concept of rape must be re-examined in Egypt to protect all women and increase the ability of female victims to protect themselves under the laws on the books. Unfortunately, there is no universal definition of rape in Egypt, making such assaults that we have witnessed and reported upon in recent weeks and months more difficult to assess. Spousal rape in the country is legal, giving credence and support to what some women's activists say is the pushing up of men who sexual violate women. But rape is soaring in the country, according to 2008 ministry of interior statistics, where approximately 20,000 women were raped, or 55 daily. Defining sexual violence in Egypt is problematic, and Abu Komsan and the NCW are working toward agreeing with the government on new definitions of sexual assault and harassment in the country, but with the current political situation tumultuous and a new president only now beginning to form his Cabinet and establish a presence, women's rights, and tackling this enduring problem, are likely to take a backseat once again. There are great people, Egyptian women and men, battling daily to fight against the societal and cultural understandings of what sexual violence is, attempting to define harassment, assault and rape in the country, but their efforts are largely falling on deaf ears by those in power. Egypt, in the end, needs to establish specific and clear definitions for harassment, assault and rape in order to protect and prosecute those who attack women in this country, whether it be on the street or in the home.
