Egypt's Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said on Monday that violence against women is contrary to religion, international conventions and human rights.

Ibrahim's statement, given by Assistant Minister Abu Bakr Abdel-Karim at a joint workshop between the Ministry of Justice and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said citizens play a "large role" in the prevention of all forms of violence against women.

Political circumstances, Ibrahim said, resulted in factors that caused the increase of violence against women in Egypt. The minister didn't elaborate on the nature of the factors he mentioned.

Violence against women in Egypt has become endemic according to recent studies. A 2013 report by the UN claimed that 99.3 percent of women in Egypt had suffered from sexual harassment.

Activist groups formed prevention teams during the past year as cases of harassment and assault of women became common at protests at Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square.

Egypt's recently new draft constitution contains, for the first time in the country's history, an article specifically mentioning the issue.

Article 11 of the draft charter -- to be put to referendum in January – states: "the state is committed to the protection of women against all forms of violence."