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Mass sexual assault in Egypt

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Taharrush jamaʿi (Template:Lang-ar taḥarrush jamāʿī, Egyptian pronunciation taḥarrush gamāʿī, lit. "collective harassment") aka taharrush gamea is a type of sexual harassment and sexual assault of women by groups of men on the street that may involve rape, beating and name-calling, groping, sexual invitations and robbery. The assault usually happens under the protective cover provided by large gatherings or crowds, typically mass events, including protests, rallies, concerts, and public festivals.

The general term taharrusch and further combinations like Taḥarrush el-ginsy (Template:Lang-ar sexual harassment) have played a controversial role in Egypt since the political turmoils in the 2000s. Early on Egyptian security forces were blamed for using sexual harassment on female activists and participants of public demonstrations and rallies. The behavior then spread and was used by crowds of young men to harass women in public spaces. According to Farhana Mayer, senior researcher at the Quilliam Foundation, theology department, Taharrush is a symptom of misogynous ideology in which women are punished for being in public.

Terminology and background in Egypt

Before 2006 the term El taḥarrush mainly referred to the molestation of minors and young people. Already during the Egyptian constitutional referendum, 2005 female activists reported cases of being harrassed by police personnel and hired agents provocateurs during demonstrations and rallies. Taharrush then started to be used as a political means. On the Eid al-Fitr holiday in 2006, a crowd of young men harassing women and girls in the inner city after they had been denied access to a local cinema gained notoriety in Egyptian social media. A study provided by an Egyptian NGO (and partially funded by the EU) described various forms of taharrush and introduced the term Taḥarrush el-ginsy, sexual harassment including group-related incidents.

In 2008 a local movie maker, Noha Rushdie, was the first woman to win a court case against a molester. Movies have some importance as a medium, as they allow depiction of current events and topics as well for an illiterate audience in Egypt. Ihkî yâ Shahrâzâd (Les Filles du Caire, from Yusrî Nasr Allâh, in 2009) and 678 (Arabic: فيلم ٦٧٨ - feelm sitta seba' thamaniyya) in 2010 were among the first to show various forms of tarrush in Egypt in cinema. 678 (the number of a bus line) caused some controversies in Egypt but got an award at the 2010 Dubai International Film Festival and has been published in various countries (e.g. 2012 as Kairo 678 in Germany). It depicts three women of various backgrounds: the first uses a knife to defend herself against attacks, the second is being harassed in a group in the presence of her husband, who is not able to help her. Her marriage fails afterwards. The third one activates a group of people to help her against a single molester. While her filing of a report to the police is being blocked by officers, she is invited to appear on a TV show, as she was the first Egyptian woman to file a report for harassment.

The Egyptian Revolution of 2011 saw an enforcement of the use of sexual harassment as a means of denying women and female activists access to public spaces and rallies and as a well a larger counter-movement by NGOs and women's organizations. The counter strategies involved have been discussed in research papers. Some taharrush-related incidents made national news in Egypt and gained notoriety on social networks. After 9 March 2011, a day after International Women's Day, some feminist activists arrested during a rally on Tahrir Square were forced to have their virginity inspected. Mobile phone videos like the Blue Bra or Tahrir Girl, (Sit al Banat in Arab), an unknown person covered in an abaya and undressed in Cairo went viral. The phenomenon first came to the attention of Western media after an instance of an Egyptian taharrush jama'i attack hit headlines when a prominent female foreigner, CBS reporter Lara Logan, was assaulted by hundreds of men in Cairo's Tahrir Square during her reporting of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.

During the period of the Mohammed Mursi government, the incidents became even more violent. A gathering of women survivors of such treatment on the eve of the second anniversary of the Egyptian revolution (on 25 January 2013) met at Cafe Riche (Talaat Harb close to Tahrir square) concluded to start a larger political initiative. They gained support from a variety of NGOs and political parties against the use of sexual harassment by the police forces. Lamis El Hadidy, a TV anchorwoman and political analyst, used the topic in a TV transmission in February 2013. A first attempt to change the penal law, supported e.g. by Amr Hamzawy failed. The ruling party made women participating in public rallies personally responsible for such incidents. In March 2013, the Muslim Brotherhood provided a strongly worded statement against the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women as a danger for Egyptian cultural norms and society. The massive participation of women in the public rallies was one of the reasons for the controversies.

A working paper of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS, a research charity affiliated to the University of Sussex) describes the phenomenon, the legal situation and the answers in civil society. After a further incident in 2014 made news, when at the Cairo University College of Law a woman had been harassed by a large group of men and had to be escorted to safety by the police, the Egyptian penal law has been partially adjusted.

Occurrence

IDS calls to have a closer look on politically motivated sexual assaults in times of political changes and aims for further research and country studies in e.g. Libya, Tunisia and Yemen.

Some parallels have been drawn to Eve teasing and the mob of youngsters that harrassed women and couples in a year 2000 New York Parade (Puerto Rican Day Parade attacks).

Europe

Pointing out that European cultures lack a word for taharrush gamea, Josef Joffe defines it as: "a group-grope where young men encircle women to jeer, molest and rob them," and argues that the "acculturation (of immigrants) into the strict sex codes of the West takes years."

According the newspaper Die Welt, the Bundeskriminalamt, the German Federal Crime office mentioned Taharrush gamea in an internal paper laid out after an conference with executives from the various Länder police forces. The newspaper article on 10th of January made international news. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Beirut correspondent Stephan Erhardt reported about the weird career of the term Taharrush gamea: E.g. the German Misplaced Pages article started based on that announcement and used the slightly wrong (in German, Taharrusch dschame'a would be appropriate) transcription of the BKA.

A North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Justice report to the parliamentary comittee of the Interior described "taharrush gamea" as the Arabic term for a modus operandi that it described as a form of group sexual harassment that takes place in crowds. It compared as well the 2015 New Year's Eve Cologne incident to incidents that took place in Cairo's Tahrir Square during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Reports by the North Rhine-Westphalia interior ministry and the German Federal Criminal Police Office attributed the New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Germany to the practice. The perpetrators were said to have been "almost exclusively" of "North African and Arab" recently arrived migrant background. However there are some important differences - the main driver behind the (group related) phenomen in Egypt have been political interests and even governments themselves, which was not the case in Cologne.

Finnish migration authorities informed Helsinki police and made them aware of planned Taharrush attempts before New years eve 2015. Similar to Cologne, a large crowd of (about 20.000) people, including about 1.000 refugees gathered around the Helsinki Central station and the Senate square in Helsinki. The police was present with a massive force and arranged for a dozen of preliminary arrests in refugee's asylums. Compared to Cologne, the whole event went quite peaceful and without larger incidents, a further dozen of men has been arrested during the night but were set free the day after.

According to Russian author and pundit Yulia Latynina, "Taharrush is a new social phenomenon when visitors of Europe commit violence against European women in crowded places".

See also

References

  1. Kirollos, Mariam (July 16, 2013). "Sexual Violence in Egypt: Myths and Realities". Jadaliyya ezine. Arab Studies Institute.
  2. ^ Lutz, Martin (10 January 2016). "Das Phänomen "taharrush gamea" ist in Deutschland angekommen" [The phenomenon "taharrush gamea" has arrived in Germany]. Die Welt (in German). Axel Springer SE. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  3. "Why we need to worry about 'Taharrush gamea' - the Arabic gang-rape game". India TV News. India TV. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  4. "Игра "тахарруш": откуда могло прийти новогоднее насилие в Кельне" [The game of "taharrush": where New Year's Eve violence in Cologne could have come from]. medialeaks.ru (in Russian). Medialeaks. 12 January 2016.
  5. ^ Abdelmonem, Angie (Summer 2015a). "Reconceptualizing Sexual Harassment in Egypt: A Longitudinal Assessment of el-Taharrush el-Ginsy in Arabic Online Forums and Anti-Sexual Harassment Activism". Kohl: A Journal for Body and Gender Research. 1 (1). Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CBSR): 23–41. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help) Pdf.
  6. Mayer, Farhana (January 14, 2016). "The Sexual Attacks on Women in Europe Reflect a Misogynistic Mind-Set That Must Be Dismantled". International New York Times. The New York Times Company.
  7. Abdelmonem 2015a, see abstract: Data showed overwhelming public concern in the region about the molestation and rape of children until 2006
  8. Hassan, Rasha; Shoukry, Aliyaa; Nehad, Abul Komsan (1998), Clouds in Egypt’s Sky: Sexual Harassment: From Verbal Harassment to Rape (PDF), UNFPA Egypt (ECWR Report) Quoted at Abdelmonem 2015a
  9. Abdelmonem 2015a, p. 26, references to Amar 2011; Ilahi 2008
  10. ^ Mouline, Nabil (December 2013). "Un ticket pour la liberté" [Ticket to freedom: Egyptian cinema, from denunciation to protest (2001-2010)]. Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée (in French). 134. Editions Edisud: 131–144. doi:10.4000/remmm.8297.
  11. ^ Abdelmonem 2015a, p. 26
  12. Mohamed, Abul Soud (December 27, 2010). "Citing potential harm to men's 'sensitive spots,' activist urges film ban". Al-Masry Al-Youm. Al-Masry Al-Youm for Journalism and Publication. Archived from the original on February 9, 2011.
  13. Viktoria, Kleber (August 17, 2011). "Frauen in Ägypten: Mit Crowdsourcing gegen sexuelle Übergriffe" [Women in Egypt: With crowd-sourcing against sexual attacks]. Zeit Online (in German). Zeit-Verlag Gerd Bucerius. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  14. Langohr, Vickie (February 2015). "Women's Rights Movements during Political Transitions: Activism against Public Sexual Violence in Egypt". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 47 (1). Cambridge Journals: 131–135. doi:10.1017/S0020743814001482. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  15. Compare Anon (January 26, 2013). "Testimony from a Survival of Gang Rape on Tahrir Square Vicinity (blog post)". nazra.org. Nazra for Feminist Studies. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  16. Abdelmonem, Angie (10 November 2015b). "Reconsidering de-politicization: HarassMap's bystander approach and creating critical mass to combat sexual harassment in Egypt" [Reconsidérer la dépolitisation: l’approche du témoin de HarassMap et la création d’une masse critique pour lutter contre le harcèlement sexuel en Égypte]. Égypte/Monde Arab. 13. Centre d'études et de documentation économique, juridique et sociale. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  17. Tadros, Mariz (2014). Reclaiming the Streets for Women’s Dignity: Effective Initiatives in the Struggle Against Gender-Based Violence in Between Egypt’s Two Revolutions. Institute of Development Studies with the University of Sussex. IDS Evidence Report 48. quoted at Abdelmonem 2015b Pdf.
  18. Charlton, Corey (12 January 2016). "The Arabic gang-rape 'Taharrush' phenomenon which sees women surrounded by groups of men in crowds and sexually assaulted... and has now spread to Europe". Daily Mail. DMG Media.
  19. ^ Tadros, Mariz (2013). Politically Motivated Sexual Assault and the Law in Violent Transitions: A Case Study From Egypt. Institute of Development Studies with the University of Sussex. p. 26. IDS Evidence Report 8. Pdf.
  20. ^ Lekas Miller, Anna (August 8, 2013). "Exploiting Egypt's Rape Culture for Political Gain". The Nation. Katrina vanden Heuvel. Retrieved January 15, 2016. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  21. Nowaira, Amira (March 18, 2013). "The Muslim Brotherhood has shown its contempt for Egypt's women". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  22. Abdelmonem 2015a, p. 34, referring to Masr, Mada (March 18, 2014). "Victim Blamed After Sexual Assault at Cairo University". madamasr.com. Mada Masr.
  23. ^ Ehrhardt, Christoph (January 15, 2016). "Gewalt gegen Frauen in Ägypten: Wo sexuelle Belästigung Alltag ist". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Frankfurt General Newspaper) (in German). FAZIT-Stiftung. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  24. Joffe, Josef (18 January 2016). "Germany's Road to 'No We Can't' on Migrants". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  25. ^ Staff writer (11 January 2016). "Cologne attackers were of migrant origin - minister". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  26. Nuutinen, Anna (11 January 2016). "Naisten joukkoahdistelu "taharrush gamae" nousi otsikoihin Saksassa: "Yritettiin kokeilla, meneekö läpi tällainen"". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Sanoma. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  27. dpa (8 January 2016). "Sex-Übergriffe an Silvester auch in Finnland" [Sex-attacks on New Year's Eve in Finland, too]. Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine (in German). Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  28. Staff writer (13 January 2016). "Тахарруш по-российски" [Taharrush Russian-style]. Novaya Gazeta (in Russian). Mikhail Gorbachev and Alexander Lebedev.
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