Egyptian Prime Minister today vowed to ban all kinds of violence against women with the help of a new and tougher law enforced in the country.
Ibrahim Mahlab said his government will strongly confront any attempt of violence against women with the help of law, during a conference of launching “national strategy plan against violence” held here.
Mahlab said, the Egyptian constitution stated that women and men are equal in all civilian, political, economical and social rights.
“It gives her the right to work in public jobs without any discrimination and it also provides her with protection,” he said.
“The government is committed to put a national strategic plan to ban all kinds of violence against women,” he added.
The conference organised with the supervision of the National Council for Women and headed by Ambassador Mervat Tallawy, is part of “the preparation of national strategy to combat violence against women” project in collaboration with the United Nations for gender equality and the empowerment of women, and the United Nations Fund for population.
Last May, Egypt issued a new law, which punishes sexual harassment with at least six months in jail or fines of at least 3,000 Egyptian pounds (USD 420).
On June 8, several sexual harassments took place in Tahrir Square during inaugural celebrations of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi as thousands of people were present.
Eight suspects were arrested after a horrific video was posted on YouTube at the same day showing a naked woman with injuries on her body being dragged through a large crowd towards an ambulance.
The scene drew a massive public outcry.