Azza El-Ashmawi (Photo: Al-Ahram)
Reports of sexual assault against children in Egypt have been on the rise since the 2011 uprising due to the country's security situation, officials said Thursday.
The National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) has documented 206 cases of “sexual harassment and rape" on children between 2011 and 2014, the council's secretary-general Azza El-Ashmawy said.
According to Al-Ashmawy's quotes carried on state news agency MENA, 138 of the incidents were carried out against girls, with the rest suffered by boys.
She said 370 children were subject to the assaults, as some incidents included more than one child. The reported figures do not include assaults inside juvenile care homes, whose statistics are difficult to obtain.
Children in the four to six age bracket were reported to suffer the most attacks.
In the largely conservative country, many victims of sexual violence – whether adults or parents of victims – are reluctant to come forward and report assault incidents.
The announced numbers come amid an uproar concerning reports that an eight-year child, Rahma, was allegedly raped while walking home in the northern Delta city of Kafr El-Sheikh.
Short link: