Le molestie sessuali nelle strade per le donne sono endemiche in Egitto. Ultimamente alcune donne cominciano a ribellarsi e l'Egyptian Center for Women's Rights ha lanciato la Campagna "Make our streets Safer for All" 

According to a 2008 survey of 1,010 Egyptian and foreign women conducted by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights "83% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign women reported being sexually harassed, regardless of age, class, style of dress or appearance."

The study's conclusions emphasize that harassment, contrary to what is often believed, is not linked to the way a woman is dressed: 71.5 percent of women who reported sexual harassment were wearing veils and covering clothes(19.6% were in fact wearing full burkas).

The problem is tarnishing Egypt's reputation as a tourist destination to the point that the Tourism Ministry has released video clips warning men of the consequences of harassment.
The Egyptian Center for Women's Rights launched a nationwide campaign called "Making our Streets Safer for All", lobbying for a law which would crack down on harassers.

http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20090414-fighting-sexual-harrassment-egypt-women-rights

Di seguito riporto la ricerca "Clouds in Egypt's Sky"

http://ecwronline.org/images/pub/ssh/sexualHarassmentResearchResults2008English.pdf

 

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The High Court gave a landmark judgment today in the first application of its Sexual Harassment Guidelines pronounced on 14 May

One year ago, in May 2008, four women students at Jahangirnagar University made complaints of serial sexual harassment against their teacher and the Chairperson of the Drama Department, Sanowar Hossain Sunny. The University appointed three separate inquiry committees, which examined witnesses and issued reports with clear findings against the teacher. During this period, the students continued to face threats and harassment.

Today the High Court held that the decisions taken by the University to exonerate Sunny on the one hand, and to expel the students on the other, were both without lawful authority. It also directed the University to hold a fresh inquiry into the incident, with independent persons, on the basis of the new Guidelines on Sexual Harassment pronounced in BNWLA v Bangladesh . Citing judgments of the Supreme Courts of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, the Court held that corroboration was not always required to prove allegations of sexual violence, and further that the standard of ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ could not be applicable in cases of this nature, relating to disciplinary inquiries regarding allegations of sexual harassment. The Court also noted that Jahangirnagar University authorities had failed ‘for reasons best known to themselves’ to adopt their own guidelines on sexual harassment, and therefore in the absence of any applicable law, the High Court’s new guidelines should be applied to any fresh inquiry.

http://www.wluml.org/english/newsfulltxt.shtml?cmd[157]=x-157-564621

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Pakistani women's rights activists won a victory when the National Assembly passed a bill calling for harsher punishment for sexual harassment of women.

The bill, which will next be considered by the senate, expands the vague definition of harassment in current law to facilitate prosecution, Dawn newspaper reported Thursday.

The punishment under the new bill, which was approved unanimously by the assembly, will be three years in jail and a fine of up to 500,000 Pakistani rupees ($6,000). Under current law with the phrase "insult (to) the modesty of a woman," the maximum punishment is one year in prison and an unspecified fine.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/International/2009/11/04/Harsher-punishment-for-sexual-harassment/UPI-81461257394025/

Civil society groups advocating protection of women against all forms of violence dubbed the passage a "historic move.

"The bill is significant," said Khawar Mumtaz, chief executive officer of Shirkat Gah Women's Resource Center, a women’s rights group in Pakistan. "Firstly, it acknowledges the incidence of domestic violence. Secondly, it recognizes that it can no longer be ignored or remain invisible," Mumtaz told IPS.

For too long, "treating domestic violence as a private affair has given protection to perpetrators of violence and has led to victimization of women," she said. "The passage of the bill "is a measure of success of women's advocacy." 

The United Nation’s Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) said at least one out of three women around the world has been "beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime — with the abuser usually someone known to her. Violence against women and girls is a universal problem of epidemic proportions."

UNIFEM said only 89 countries have legislative provisions on domestic violence against women and only around 60 states have passed specific domestic violence laws, a significant rise from only 45 countries with such a law in 2003.

Pakistan could become the 61st country outlawing domestic violence should the Senate pass the bill.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48354

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What does it tell us that female soldiers deployed overseas stop drinking water after 7 p.m. to reduce the odds of being raped if they have to use the bathroom at night? Or that a soldier who was assaulted when she went out for a cigarette was afraid to report it for fear she would be demoted — for having gone out without her weapon? Or that, as Representative Jane Harman puts it, "a female soldier in Iraq is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire."

The problem is even worse than that. The Pentagon estimates that 80% to 90% of sexual assaults go unreported, and it's no wonder. Anonymity is all but impossible; a Government Accountability Office report concluded that most victims stay silent because of "the belief that nothing would be done; fear of ostracism, harassment, or ridicule; and concern that peers would gossip." More than half feared they would be labeled troublemakers

 Women are often denied claims for posttraumatic stress caused by the assault if they did not bring charges at the time. There are not nearly enough mental-health professionals in the system to help them. Female vets are four times more likely to be homeless than male vets are, according to the Service Women's Action Network, and of those, 40% report being victims of sexual assault.

But there are some signs that both Congress and the Pentagon are getting serious about this problem. It is now possible for victims to seek medical treatment without having to report the crime to police or their chain of command.

 The failure to provide a basic guarantee of safety to women, who now represent 15% of the armed forces, is not just a moral issue, or a morale issue. What does it say if the military can't or won't protect the people we ask to protect us?

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1968110,00.html

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Le dimanche 2 mai à 11h du matin, les militants du Mouvement Alternatif pour les Libertés Individuelles (Mali) se sont donné rendez-vous près de la fontaine aux pigeons, au centre-ville de Casablanca, pour faire un sit-in pacifique contre le harcèlement sexuel qui sévit dans les villes du royaume. La manifestation prévoyait des slogans humoristiques et s'adressait directement aux jeunes pour les sensibiliser au respect de la femme et à sa liberté d'occuper l'espace public.

A quelques mètres des lieux, les deux co-fondatrices du Mali, Ibtissame Lachgar et Zineb El Rhazoui, sont interpellées par des dizaines de policiers en civil. Elles étaient accompagnées par Pauline Beugnies, photographe de nationalité belge qui travaille pour le Monde magazine.

Sur place, elles ont été conduites dans le hall, empêchées de téléphoner. D'autres policiers les attendaient. Ils ont fouillé le sac de banderoles, vérifié les deux téléphones confisqués, l'appareil photo, et noté les slogans. Après avoir relevé leurs identités, les trois jeunes femmes ont été relâchées, et suivies par des voitures de police jusqu'au domicile de Zineb El Rhazoui. Le militant Rahime Mouktafi, ainsi que d'autres, présents à la fontaine aux pigeons, ont vu se dérouler la scène de loin.

http://www.prochoix.org/cgi/blog/index.php/2010/05/03/2280-sit-in-contre-le-harcelement-sexuel-repression-inacceptable-contre-les-militants-du-mali

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