CAIRO: The Egyptian Center for Women's Rights released last week a booklet and animation film on sexual harassment of children in a step aimed at confronting the taboo issue. The package, which includes an animation film and a coloring book for kids aged 6-12, is part of the center's five-year awareness campaign against sexual harassment in general. "The booklet and accompanying animated movie help raise important questions about sexual harassment while encouraging creativity through simple and easy games such as painting and coloring, said an ECWR statement. The booklet aims to educate youngsters on how to identify sexual harassment behavior patterns and ways to react to different situations they may face. "We were encouraged to make the cartoon and to send it to schools for educational purposes. It focuses on protecting children by teaching them how to ask for help, to know what is going on around them, and how to say no, Nehad Abu El-Komsan, chairperson of ECWR, told Daily News Egypt. Some private schools agreed to include the booklet in their curriculum for the upcoming school year; and the center aims to distribute the booklets to all Egyptian schools, both private and public. The Ministry of Education has yet to approve or reject the booklet, Abu El-Komsan said. The center says for an issue that is rarely tackled, it is essential to educate children on how to identify - as well as not take part in - sexual harassment. "The education of boys in this regard is crucial and potentially the most effective way to deal with the phenomenon, Deena Khalil, Egyptian researcher and writer, told Daily News Egypt. "The problem lies in how we are told to react: walk quickly, ignore the harasser completely, don't talk back because if you anger him he might try to hurt you. We are hardly ever told to seek justice from the police, Khalil added. In mid-July, the Ministry of Endowments released a booklet on sexual harassment to be distributed to sheikhs and other religious leaders across the country. The 35-page booklet addresses the rise of sexual harassment in Egypt and gives religious leaders ideas on how to discuss harassment with their students. At first, the idea of distributing the ministry's booklet was welcomed by the public, mostly because the government has recently recognized the growing problem. That is, however, until the controversial content of the information booklet was made public. "Clothes are important for men.but they are more important for women because it protects them against molestation, the government booklet reads. It also says women should be fully covered and wear a headscarf so perpetrators would not be "tempted to approach them. An ECWR report released in the summer of 2007 found that 98 percent of foreign women and 60 percent of Egyptian women are harassed on a daily basis. The study was conducted on a sample of more than 2,000 women in a number of governorates. It also found that the vast majority of Egyptian women harassed were veiled.
