The LCHR has issued report no. 50 of the Economic & Social Rights series monitoring violent events against women in Egypt in the first half of 2006. This report presents what has been published in this regard in the Egyptian newspapers during the first six months of 2006. the report shows that in this period there were 245 accidents that women faced in Egypt, 35 of them were kidnapping and sexual abuse, 35 murder, 26 household violence, 60 marital arguments, 12 negligence in healthcare, 29 suicide, 3 official violence, 2 housemaids, and 43 other accidents.
These violent events were published in the Egyptian newspapers as follows: El Masry El Youm has published 59 articles, 44 articles in Nahdet Masr, 40 in El Ahrar, 37 in El Wafd, 11 in Rose El Yousif, 10 in El Ahram, 7 in El Masa'eya, 5 in each of El Naba'a and El Haqiqa, 4 in each of Saut El Omma and Geel El Ghad, 3 in each of El Gamaheer and Akhbar El Youm, 2 in each of El Fajr, El Seyasy El Masry, El Masa'a and El Khamees, and one in each of El Gomhureya, El Ommal, El Akhbar, El Tagamo'a and El Osboo'a.
These articles were published as follows: 47 articles in January, 41 in February, 17 in March, 38 in April, 39 in May, and 36 in June.
The report consists of several sections presented as follows:
The Preface Section covers the types of violence that women face. There is a clear and direct relation between poverty and violence, the more people face poverty, the more violent they become, which leads to increasing violence against women and children, being the most vulnerable groups in the society.
The First Section presents the forms of sexual abuse practiced against women, represented in 35 cases that have varied between revenge or desire. For example: Three policemen from central security forces went to a women's apartment in the middle of the night, and asked her husband to meet the officer waiting for him in the police car downstairs, who kept the husband till the policemen came down. After that, the husband found out that they have raped his wife, he immediately presented a communiqué, and the the policemen were arrested, they confessed to their crime and were transferred to the criminal court for trial.
The Second Section presents the cases of women murder, represented in 35 cases that have varied between revenge, robbery, finding out about an affair, refusal to have an affair, financial or family arguments, suspicion and distrust, rape, or to kidnap her baby. For example: Two men shot a woman while fighting with her when she came to them for admonition blaming the son of one of them for molesting and making passes on her daughter. The two men were arrested and transferred to the prosecution for investigation and questioning.
The Third Section presents household violence against women, represented in 26 cases that have varied between robbery, suspicion and distrust in behavior, financial or family arguments, having an affair, or interfering in the life of others. For example: A young man killed his grandmother to steal some money and jewelry because of his insolvency.
The Fourth Section presents the accidents of marital arguments that have led to death, injury or permanent disability, represented in 60 cases that have varied between financial and family arguments, suspicion and distrust in behavior, marrying more than one man, insulting the husband, when a groom finds out that his bride is not a virgin, asking for a divorce, or because of marrying another woman. For example: A worker strangled his wife after fighting about the household expenses. He was arrested and transferred to the prosecution for investigation and questioning.
The Fifth Section presents official violence against women, represented in 3 cases that have varied between arresting protesting women in solidarity with the trial of the counselors, or violating their right to vote in the elections. For example: A female journalist from El Dostour newspaper was kidnapped by security forces while she was heading to the judges club to cover the trial of the counselors and the solidarity protests, they insulted, humiliated and beat her, then they tore her clothes, raped her in the police station, and then threw her in the street.
The Sixth Section presents violence against housemaids, represented in 2 cases. For example: A maid stole a lot of jewelry from the house of the former secretary of the minister of the business sector. She was arrested.
The Seventh Section presents negligence in healthcare, represented in 12 cases that have varied between the irresponsibility of doctors while operating, corruption, mistaken anesthetization, prescribing wrong medicine, or refusal to accept patients. For example: A teacher went to a private hospital to give birth to her child, after the operation the doctors decided to extract or remove her uterus without an authorization from her family, she bled heavily, and the doctors were searching for blood bags for two hours, when they failed they transferred her to another hospital, and the doctors there also failed to provide her with enough blood, which have led to her death, leaving three children behind, one of them was the baby she just gave birth to.
The Eighth Section presents women suicide accidents, represented in 29 cases that have varied between despair to be cured from a disease, mental illness, marital, family or inheritance disputes, when a husband marries another woman, the family refused to let her marry the one she loves, or the family forcing her to marry someone. For example: A woman set herself on fire, when her husband denied her the right to see her children.
The Ninth Section presents various accidents women face, represented in 43 cases that have varied between dieing as a result of gas suffocation, explosions, falling of balconies and elevators, collapsing buildings, electrical shocks, poisoning or road accidents.
The Tenth Section presents some recommendations that may improve women's conditions, like:
· Take the necessary procedures to eliminate discrimination against women economically, socially, legally and politically by adopting new policies that guarantee women their rights to equal fees, treatment, social security and health insurance.
· Raising women's awareness about their rights, especially concerning early marriage and circumcision.
· Demanding equality between men and women in punishments and penalties.
· Guarantee free healthcare for women, especially in the countryside.
· Eliminate the effects of the free trade policies on working women in the private and unofficial sectors by creating new working opportunities for them, training them and including them in the development programs.
· Increase the sum of pension women receive to be suitable to the life needs and guarantee them a decent life.
· Provide the families of detainees with alternative pensions after studying their conditions, till the release of these detainees, especially when the detainee is the only supporter to his family.
· Issue a law that protects women against household violence.
· Specialize a page in the newspapers to present everything concerning women "issues, problems and accidents" and train journalists how to write about women impartially.
LCHR calls all CSOs to work together in implementing the report recommendations, in order to stop violence against Egyptian women and guarantee them to have a safe, free, fair and decent life.
The full report will be published on our website as soon as we finish the translation.