Egyptians campaign to fight forced marriage and domestic violence
Nisaa FM: - Four Egyptian women in their 20s have launched an online campaign in an effort to counter forced marriage in Egypt. The date for the launch - the Mategberneesh (Don’t Force Me) - was November 25, which is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
The four women launched their campaign as part of a personal initiative, and they did not receive any support from a governmental or nongovernmental organization.
Awareness campaign, live street events and a space for discussion
The campaign aims to raise awareness on social media as well as open up a space to discuss the controversial topic. In the future, the campaign plans to organize live street events to increase public interaction. Several victims of forced marriage have shared on social media their stories and the negative repercussions of this practice on their lives.
“The campaign idea came on the heels of combating violence against women, and forced marriage being one of those types of violence. We have seen positive interaction with the campaign. However, many women still fear talking about it and prefer to stay silent,” Asmaa Bassil, a co-founder of the campaign, tells. Bassil notes that customs and traditions are part of the problem. Many families in Egypt believe that marrying their daughters to men from the same family would preserve their properties and lands.
A 28-year-old woman from Qena governorate tells her story (on condition of anonymity), “I married my cousin because I couldn't have possibly rejected him. Otherwise my family would regard me as a criminal and disobedient. My life has turned into hell.” She adds, “I hate all men, and I feel like I’m in a big prison. I tried so many times [to avoid sexual relations] in order not to have children so as not to involve them in this miserable life, but even in this my opinions or decisions will not matter."
The religious and legal level
Forced marriage is a multidimensional problem, especially since religion prohibits the practice but without having an explicit legal provision punishing whoever commits it.
At the religious level, Islam is fully against forcing women to marry. Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed el-Tayeb confirmed this saying, “Marriage by force is an unethical matter similar to a death sentence against a whole life. Therefore, it is a kind of torture that is forbidden and criminalized under Sharia and ethics.”
At the legal level, forcing a girl or woman to marry is not punishable under any Egyptian law, according to Reda el-Danbouki, the director of the Women’s Center for Guidance and Legal Awareness. She says that no legal provision punishes a father for forcing his daughter to marry. The consequences are, according to Danbouki, that “We met several girls who have been forced to marry and they now want a 'khul,' which means a separation and return the dowry to the husband in return for getting a divorce." She wishes that the media would play a bigger role to spread awareness among citizens.
Concerning the role of the National Council for Women, a government body addressing women's issues, Rania Yahia, a member of the council’s Executive Committee, tells, “The council has finished drafting the bill on the protection of women against violence, which includes articles under which whoever forces a girl to marry is punished with a maximum sentence of detention. Soon the bill will be brought to the parliament to discuss it prior to its adoption.”
Yahia adds, “The council is carrying out a door-to-door campaign to spread awareness on all forms of violence among families and girls with a particular focus on villages and Upper Egypt, given the dramatic proliferation of forced marriage. This will only change with laws. That’s why defected customs and ideas should be changed, too.”
Source: www.al-monitor.com