Amending the sexual harassment law sends a message to “reassure the world,” Tawfiq Kamal, the Head of Business Conducting Committee in Chamber of Tourism Establishments, told Youm7 Thursday.
He added that amending the mentioned law would ensure the safety of tourists in Egypt and regain the country’s reputation worldwide.
A British tourist was raped in the Sinai resort town of Sharm el Sheikh in March, and a hotel security guard was implicated in the crime.
Kamal also said that hotels took measures to face sexual harassment law including not hiring anyone in sector of tourism who was convicted with sexual harassment charges.
The amendments implemented by interim president Adly Mansour stipulated any person who sexually harasses a man or a woman would be imprisoned for at least six months, fined 3,000 to 5,000 EGP ($420-$700,) or both.
If the harasser is the superior of the victim professionally, educationally, or a relative and pressures the victim or if the crime is committed by more than one person, or has a weapon, the imprisonment will be from two to five years and the fine between 20,000 EGP and 50,000 EGP.
Head of Chamber of Tourism Establishments Committee said that the chamber is also organizing campaigns to raise awareness of all kinds of sexual harassments in different governorates.
The National Council for Women praised the presidential decision in a Thursday statement, adding the decision is “honoring Egyptian women and their rights.”
They added that changing the law achieves one of the most important requests of Egyptian women and considered as a start to restore the society values.
Margret Azer, member in the council, told Youm7 Thursday that increasing sexual harassment penalties “will fix problems in the society that increased after lack of security after 2011 revolution.”
A founder of the National Front of Women, Karima el-Hefnawy, told Youm7 that amending the law is a “great victory” for women.
A December poll published by Thomson Reuters in November 2013 ranked Egypt as the worst country in the Arab world to live in as a woman, citing high rates of sexual harassment, forced and underage marriage, and female genital mutilation.
In April 2013, The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women released a report stating that 99.3 percent of Egyptian women have faced some form of sexual harassment.
Additionally reporting by Mervat Rashad.