Tahrir square.

Two years after the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian citizens continue occasional protests in Tahrir square and elsewhere. A disturbing feature of recent protests has been the widespread sexual harassment and assault of women by large, and seemingly organised, groups of men. Activist groups, such as Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment, say this is on the rise.

Yosra Nagui Saad, an Egyptian national and second year Master in Development Studies student at the Institute, volunteered with Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment during the recent winter break to help protect women from being attacked at the protests. OpAntiSH, as the group is called in short, was founded in November 2012 and continues to grow. It has teams that intervene during attacks, offer assistance and shelter after assaults, and others that raise awareness and pass out emergency numbers during protests.

“Volunteering for this particular group appealed to me because men and women volunteer together to protect women from harassment,” Yosra said. “Other anti-harassment initiatives hire huge male body guards for protection and to me that is not empowering.”

The first time Yosra volunteered was on the second anniversary of the revolution in January. She and many other volunteers risked being harassed and assaulted themselves while trying rescue several attacked women. At subsequent protests more and more people volunteered and the organisers employed increasingly sophisticated tactics such as having escape cars waiting to take victims to safety.

“These attacks seem to be intended to scare off female protesters but also show a societal problem in Egypt,” said Yosra. “I think women have the same right to protest as men. I think this movement will help shake up the societal problem and I have also been impressed to see how people try to help others.”

Yosra Nagui Saad is preparing on a Master thesis on police security reform in Egypt and has been an intern in Geneva and Cairo with Human Rights Watch. She is also among the founders of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) initiative at the Graduate Institute.