Egypt does not accept violence against women: UNFPA representative

CAIRO – 9 December 2020: Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Cairo, Germaine Haddad said that ‘all efforts of national partners prove that Egypt does not accept violence against women.’

Haddad added commenting of the inauguration of the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) medical response clinic as part of the emergency room at Ain Shams university hospital, that it will be working 24/7 free of charge. ‘I can’t be more proud’ Haddad said.

 

Haddad participated in inaugurating Ain Shams GBV clinic along with President of Egypt’s National Council for Women (NCW) Maya Morsy. She congratulated Ain Shams University on this step, noting that it is not the University’s first step to address violence.

Haddad explained that the university has established another unit five years ago to combat harassment.

In April 2016, UNFPA announced launching the first unit to combat sexual harassment phenomenon at Ain Shams University.

According to the statement released, The establishment of this unit came within the framework of the implementation of the cooperation protocol signed in 2015 between Ain Shams University and UNFPA and the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights with the support of the Swedish Agency for International Development Cooperation (SIDA) to implement new policies and procedures to combat sexual harassment at Ain Shams University.

A recent study on the economic cost of violence against women in Egypt indicated that about 7.88 million women suffer from violence annually and less than 1% of them report the incident or even reach for support, according to Haddad

She emphasized that health service providers, according to most of the tracer studies of victims of violence, have proven to be the line of meeting and the first resort to violence. The health service provider is the one to whom the victim resorts and whom the victim feels comfortable with and trusts to reveal the violence they are exposed to. In many cases, they saved a woman’s life, and better directed them to obtain other protection and recovery services.

She pointed out that Egypt is one of the first 10 countries around the world to adopt violence service package.

On November 25, NCW announced launching the 16-day campaign aiming to combat violence against women.

The campaign is launched annually during the period from November 25 to December 10.

 Maya Morsy, president of the Council, assured that violence against women is a global issue facing women all over the world, and poses a great threat to the security and stability of families. She affirmed that violence against women “needs a lot of effort represented in raising awareness, being decisive in addition to maintaining solidarity among everyone to find solutions.

She further stressed that the Egyptian state considers this issue a priority atop of its agenda

The campaign coincides with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which annually falls on November 25.