Egypt is today home to 262,333 residents who are divided between 237,117 refugees, and 25,194 asylum seekers, according to the UNHCR latest statistics. Given the grave crises which force refugees out of their homes, one would assume security rests on top of the living conditions they seek. Instead, sexual violence is one of many ways refugees have been greeted in Egypt, filling them up with shame, fear and loss to say the least. It comes to no surprise that cases of sexual violence, which constitute a large portion of problems faced by refugees in Egypt, are largely unknown to Egyptians. Rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, sexual exploitation, FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) and early enforced marriage are mere examples of the horrors refugees suffer. Asmaa*, a sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) case officer in a Downtown-based NGO, stipulates that sexual violence against refugees amounts to 70 percent of the troubles refugees encounter. She adds that refugees are more prone to sexual and gender-based violence than Egyptians because, being refugees, they are often seen as an easy prey. “The Egyptian society is what it is; phallocentric. But it is much harder…
