A male worker at Wadi Degla Club, located in the Fifth Settlement, has been accused of molesting a 5-year-old girl who was spending the day at the club with her parents. Allegedly the worker, recently hired, had taken the girl inside the toilet where he pulled down his pants and molested her.
According to her aunt, the girl told her mother, who was waiting for her outside the toilet, that she had been taken into the toilet by the man and after “making white toilet” he had run away. The girl’s father immediately reported the episode to the police. The alleged sex offender was taken into police custody pending investigation and was later identified by the girl.
The biggest tragedy in this incident is the fact that this man, accused of child molestation, will be sentenced to jail only if they find a physical trace of evidence on the girl. Otherwise, he will just be fired.
The current Egyptian legal code does not protect children against these crimes. This is unacceptable. It is our responsibility as Egyptian citizens and as human beings to create mainstream rage and raise public awareness about the dangers that Egyptian children face daily in public and private spaces.
Lawmakers must write clear protections for children into the constitution. They must include laws that will be implemented and one’s that will help put an end to the terrible risks that children face everyday. According to a study conducted by UNICEF, over 81% of Egyptian children have reported that they’ve been beaten at home and 92% said they’ve been beaten at school. Over 800,000 children between ages 5-14 years are involved in child labor. And up to 200,000 street children in Egyptian cities are subjected to abuse and exploitation.
If these crimes remain unpunished, we face a future that will increasingly condone violence against unprotected minorities and underrepresented populations, including women and children. Sex crimes against women and girls are rarely condemned and the proper implementation of punishment for the accused takes place only in very few cases.
WE SAID THIS: We hope that justice is served for the girl and her family. Sadly, many Egyptian children are not lucky enough to even have a chance at justice – read about the plight of street of street children in Egypt here.