EXAMINING THE CHALLENGES OF EFFECTIVE PROSECUTION OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN EGYPT: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Abstract

Sexual violence has been a significant social and legal problem in Egypt for a decade. The increase in the number of sexual violence in Egypt occurring even in public is disturbing.This research examines the challenges against the effective prosecution of sexual violence in Egypt. The study was set out to find out the situation of sexual violence in Egypt and the challenges facing the effective prosecution of the menace in Egypt. The research found that sexual violence is a heinous crime that has eaten deep into Egypt as a nation. It is driven by many factors operating in a range of social, cultural, and economic contexts. It has a profound short or long-term impact on the physical and mental health of affected victims.The research also showed that sexual violence in Egypt is being recognized under the Criminal Code of 1937 as misdemeanour offenses and felonies. It categorizes sexual harassment under misdemeanour offenses, and rape, sexual assault, female genital mutilation, kidnapping a female, under felony offenses. It was also shown that sexual violence against women in Egypt is being recognized under municipal and international legal instruments. The two major legislative frameworks protecting women from the crime of sexual violence in Egypt are the Egyptian Constitution of 2014 and the Criminal Code of 1937 and its amendment. The study further discovered that the prosecution of sexual violence has been at low levels. Thus, inadequate DNA infrastructure, poor investigation and report mechanism, and effective post-rape care have militated against the effective prosecution of perpetrators of sexual violence against women. The study, therefore, recommends that there is a need to pass a new law criminalizing female sexual harassment, stipulating deterrent penalties for the harasser and at the same time facilitating the procedures for arresting the harasser through evidence garnered from the site of the harassment to eliminate this phenomenon from the Egyptian society. Mechanisms for easy reporting, DNA infrastructure, and post-rape care must be carried out to prosecute sexual violence in the country.

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urn:uuid:0021cd7c-6ff7-48c7-a7c5-b82f867bb4f7