The Global Status Report on Preventing Violence Against Children and reports of the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 2020 indicate that more than half the world’s children report having experienced some sort of physical, psychological, or sexual violence, highlighting the need for different countries to draw up strategies geared towards denouncing violence against children. The founding principles and values of international children rights remain pointless unless reformulated within national strategies that are consistent with the capabilities of each country.
As such, in February 2018, Egypt issued the National Plan of Action on Ending Violence against Children. Additionally, the third focus area of the National Human Rights Strategy launched in September 2021 covered children’s rights, including primarily protecting them from violence. Last year, the Parliament discussed a draft law on the protection of children from domestic violence, let alone other measures taken by the state to proactively raise awareness of the need to renounce domestic, institutional, or societal violence against children.
Upbringing and Promoting Values
Cultural and social norms are the first factors to introduce violence to children. Expectations of rules of behavior derived from the value system of the society affect the formation of the concept of violence among children. A 2015 study by the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) in cooperation with UNICEF revealed that geographical environments have a differential impact on shaping the concept of violence among children (see figure 1).
For instance, social norms in the countryside promote using severity, roughness, and perhaps psychological and physical violence as a tool for upbringing and correcting behavior. These norms are less popular in urban environments. Figure 1 shows the divergent views of parents from Cairo and Asyut governorates on the use of physical violence against children.
Figure 1: Views of parents from Cairo and Asyut governorates on the use of physical violence against children
Source: NCCM, available at: http://www.nccm.gov.eg/UploadedFiles/PDFLibrary/8/PDFs/arabic.pdf
Relatedly, causes and consequences of awareness of non-violence as a behavioral norm through family or formal education in schools or foster care facilities overlap heavily. Overall, awareness of non-violence is inversely proportional to school enrolment ratios and correlates positively with child labor. Education is an important factor in raising awareness of the need to renounce violence. Towards that, in 2019, the Ministry of Education introduced a new curriculum to teach values and attitudes to primary school students, with the aim of promoting positive behavior education through storytelling, contributing to building a value system that promotes acceptance of others and renunciation of violence.
Legislation and Promotion of Rights
Egyptian legislation promotes the protection of children’s rights. For instance, the Constitution that provides for the education and health care rights, the provision of free vaccinations for child immunization and social care programs for homeless children. Also, several laws have been enacted to protect children against all forms of violence, abuse, or exploitation through a judicial system that covers children issues, let alone efforts by the NCCM concerned with child protection affairs, the launch of the Strategic Framework for Childhood and Motherhood, the National Plan from 2018 to 2030 by the NCCM, Law 189 of 2020 that include articles criminalizing bullying, the national campaign to fight bullying against children, and the national campaign to protect children’s online privacy.
In the same vein, a unit was established at the Judicial Inspection Department in the Attorney General’s Office in 2020, concerned with protecting children, supervising child prosecution offices, and following up on cases brought against children. In April 2021, the government also launched the 2021-2030 National Strategy for Alternative Care, targeting providing nurturing and integrated care to improve the quality of life of Egyptian children, with the support of alternative families, amounting to about 11,000.
For purposes of denouncing violence, the NCCM initiated a toll-free child helpline, aimed at monitoring incidents of violence against children, following up on punishment of the offender, providing treatment and rehabilitation to children victims of violence, providing educational support on female genital mutilation (FGM) issues, and raising awareness on sound parenting, in cooperation with protection committees at the local levels and different service sectors, including education, health, and social solidarity. These committees will be responsible for protecting children in all governorates from being exposed to any of the risks included under Article 96 of the Children’s Act, which stipulates that:
“The child shall be considered at risk if he is exposed to a situation threatening the sound upbringing that should be made available to his/her, or in any of the following cases:
1 – If the child’s safety, morals, health, or life is at risk.
2 – If the conditions surrounding the child’s upbringing in the family, or at school, or in care institutions, or others, places his/her at risk, or if the child is exposed to neglect, abuse, violence, exploitation, or vagrancy.
3 – If the child is unduly deprived of his/her rights, even partially, in terms of custody or in visiting either parent or whoever is rightfully entitled to visitation rights.
4 – If those responsible for covering the child’s expenses abandon him/her, or if the child loses his/her parents, or one of them, or if the child’s parents or his/her guardian abandon all responsibility towards his/her.
5 – If the child is deprived of basic education or if his/her educational future is at risk.
6 – If the child is exposed in the family, school, care institutions, or other to violence, or to acts contrary to public morals, or pornographic material, or to commercial exploitation of children, or to harassment or sexual exploitation, or to the illegal use of alcohol or narcotic substances affecting the mental state.
7. If the child is found begging. Acts of begging include offering for sale trivial goods and services, or performing acrobatic shows and other activities not considered an appropriate source of living.
8 – If the child collects cigarette butts, or any other kinds of trash or waste.
9 – If the child has no permanent residence, or generally sleeps in the streets or in other unfit places for residence or accommodation.
10 – If the child mingles with deviants or suspected deviants, or with those known for their bad reputation.
11 – If the child behaves badly or revolts against his/her father’s authority or guardian or custodian or caregiver, or is against his/her mother’s authority in the case of the death, absence, or legal incapacity of his/her guardian. In this case, no measures shall be taken concerning the child, even if it is investigation procedures, unless there is a complaint from his/her father, guardian, custodian, mother or caregiver according to the circumstances.
12 – If the child has no legitimate means of supporting himself/ herself or does not have a trustworthy provider.
13 – If the child is physically, mentally or psychologically sick or mentally disabled, in a manner affecting his/her ability to perceive or choose, and where such illness or weakness would endanger his/her safety or that of others.
14 – If the child is under seven (7) years of age and committed a felony or a misdemeanor.”
Concluding Remarks
In view of the above procedures aimed at awareness-raising and the proactive protection towards a violence-free childhood, the following points could be highlighted:
- Childcare and Safety Nets: Childcare networks vary significantly. In addition to “family” in its traditional sense, there are the alternative families and care homes for orphans and homeless children, let alone homeless children who have no shelter. These diverse childcare settings give rise to varying degrees of awareness of violence among children. Therefore, there is a need to develop non-violence awareness programs that meet the needs of children under different care networks.
- Non-Unification of Childhood Age: While the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child specified the childhood age at less than (18) years, Egyptian laws pertaining to children rights in Egypt differ among themselves as to the childhood age. Recently, a Cabinet resolution in July 2022 lowered the age requirement for obtaining a national identification card to be at 15 years old rather than 16. This will inevitably entail amendments in the criminal and penal laws, which set the minimum age of criminal responsibility at 18 years. On the other hand, the Personal Status Act sets the age of custody at 15. In effect, children can access most services, e.g. air or sea transportation and hotel and entertainment services at the age of 12. Non-unification of the childhood age at the civil and judicial levels poses a problem with social repercussions that affect concepts related to violence.
- Source Social Phenomena: There are several social phenomena that expose children to violence at an early age, including FGM, child labor, and school dropout. According to data from CAPMAS, in 2019, 90 percent of females have undergone some form of FGM while the child labor rate amounted to about 9 percent, i.e. one child out of every 10. If any indicator, these figures reflect the need to intensify efforts to eradicate these phenomena, towards drying up of the sources of violence against children.
In short, Egypt is making great strides towards ensuring a violence-free childhood for all Egyptian children. The National Plan of Action on Ending Violence against Children, the National Human Rights Strategy, the National Strategy for Alternative Care, and the Strategic Framework for Childhood and Motherhood could be considered a major leap forward. Hopefully, these strategies will be capitalized on to improve the cultural and social norms, enabling denouncing domestic and institutional violence and enhancing parenting patterns that contribute to a happy family life. Raising awareness of non-violence through the media and producing drama that discuss violence from the social and cultural dimensions could help in protecting children from violence.
