Women’s group: Four cases of child abuse every day in Egypt

Hoda Badran, head of the General Federation of Egyptian Women, yesterday warned against the repeated incidents of harassment and rape in schools, saying that there are three to four cases of child harassment and rape every day.

In a press conference that was held on Sunday at the Supreme Council of Culture, that the repeated cases of harassment and rape in schools recently sounded alarm bells about the great imbalance in the education process.

She said that the number of cases of abuse and rape of children monitored by legal entities has ranged from three to four cases a day and affected both boys and girls.

She noted that the latest statistics, conducted by the governmental National Council for Motherhood and Childhood, reported 1,000 cases of rape suffered by children in the period from January to October 2014.

According to a statement distributed by the union on the sidelines of the conference, a number of parents in the Damietta province complained that two school employees for “sexually abusing their children”.

The same statement said: “A school in the Sharkya province witnessed a rape against a boy enrolled in the year two in primary school, while a fourth grade female student was raped by a teacher.”

Badran demanded that all those who are involved in the educational process in Egypt go through psychological and social tests before being given a job.

She blamed what she called “extremist religious edicts” for the recurrence of such crimes, arguing that the torrent of Fatwas that only speak of women as a tool to entertain men encouraged violations against women no matter what their age.

She explained that “a large part of the solution to the problem lies in the purification of religious discourse in Egypt, and its redirection.”

Adding that a campaign called “Do not be Scared” was launched to help mothers deal with children who have fallen victim of secual abuse. It aims to transfer the sense of fear of scandal and shame from the victim to the perpetrator, as a necessary social method to meet the growing phenomenon of sexual harassment and rape.

The campaign has been launched in partnership with the Egyptian Coalition for the Rights of the Child which targets girls who are subjected to harassment or rape, and urges mothers to contain them and encourage them to talk about what they have experienced without fear.

No immediate comment could be obtained from the Egyptian authorities.

Egypt ranks second place in the list of countries where harassment prevails, as 64 per cent of Egyptian females are subjected to harassment on the streets, whether verbal or physical, according to a recent study by the Egyptian National Centre for Human Rights. There are other studies that list the percentage as being higher.