CAIRO — Women’s organizations in Egypt are fighting violence against women in the framework of the UN campaign “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.” The events kicked off on Nov. 25, coinciding with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and ended Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day.

The organizations include the New Woman Foundation, Nazra for Feminist Studies, the Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance, the Cairo Center for Development, the Women and Memory Forum, Al Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, the Tadwein Gender Research Center and the Egyptian Female Lawyers’ Initiative.

In a joint press conference in Cairo Dec. 3, the organizations announced the formation of a rights task force to push for a new bill to fight domestic violence.

Statistics show that 5.6 million Egyptian women are beaten by their husbands or fiances annually. According to the National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030 issued by the National Council for Women (NCW) in 2017, 1 million women per year leave their homes due to their husbands’ violence, 25% of married women have suffered physical violence at the hands of their husbands, 19% of women have been psychologically abused and 4% have been sexually abused by their husbands. Most victims of domestic violence did not seek protection from the authorities, and only 5% received medical care.