Census collectors beaten, threatened by wary citizens

CAIRO - 9 March 2017: Agents carrying out fieldwork for Egypt’s 2017 census have faced threats and violence from citizens wary of data collection, the general supervisor of the census, Dr. Hussein Abdel Aziz,

told Youm7

Thursday.

Some citizens have refused to cooperate with those carrying out the census, in some cases even resorting to violence. He said some employees have been beaten, kicked out of the homes of those they are surveying and threatened should they come back again. Some have also been robbed of the tablet devices they need to collect data, he said, adding that people are afraid to give out their personal information and wary that their information could be used for a purpose other than research.

The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) announced the start of the initial phase of the general census of population - household demographics and establishments - in mid-February and said it would end by March 10,

Daily News Egypt reported

on Feb.16.

Abel Aziz said the completion of the first phase will take a bit longer than scheduled due to the difficulties faced by CAPMAS employees, and the fact that some governorates are still being surveyed.