1. Mohannad Al Aulaqi M80002604
Sexual harassment in UAE and Arab regions
The reasons and the result for the phenomenon of sexual harassment
The subject of harassment is a very big issue that worries the Emiratis and rest of the Arab
families. Almost every Arab family has a young or elderly man who is trying to pressure and
suppresses women in his family after what he saw on the street or heard from a friend or
watched on television channels in the programs, which hosts the victims. The problem lies in
the harassment of the same person in the environment and not in the community or the state
itself or the region as a whole, if we talked on the Arab region, for example.
We often see there are comparisons between the Arabs and the West in this particular issue,
and we forget something very important, that in the West the community as a whole is
becoming less religious after the world wars era, they know that sex outside of marriage is
considered adultery and all religions have agreed to this because the consequent loss of rights
of the woman and her children. This is a very important point, that the Western girls do not
mind to exercise any act with her intimate Boy Friend, unlike the Arab girls because the Arab
values do not recognize these doings and won’t be accepted by community even if the Emirati
community was totally modernized according to western values; and of course not forgetting
that adultery is forbidden in the Islamic religion and is an outcast in the rest of religions. That is
why the harassment in the West is less than harassment among the Arabs, and at the same
time, the proportion of rape somewhat neutral in both regions. Going back to the harassment
in the Arab countries, there is one reason, which is that the man himself is "sexually aggressive"
If we talked about a number of reasons widespread, we will see that they are just "arguments",
and I will mention several examples about it. One of the most prevalent reasons is the issue of
poverty that prevents a teenager from "opening a house" meaning to be financially able to get
married and support his wife; and the great contrast is that a large proportion of managers are
Harassers, so the issue of poverty is not a strong argument to support harassers.

2. The last proportion of Accusations are on Women because of their dressing style, the seducing
way she walks, but why even the veiled woman who covers her whole body with a cloak if not a
black bag till being harassed? Is the woman still the reason here? Actually realized that the
issue is more complicated, and it will not disappear By avoiding it, it have been avoided for
years, but the phenomena still exist till this day. Answers diverged but the question remains, is
sexual harassment a part of human behavior which turned into a serious illness dominating the
Arab societies and threatens women's freedom and safety on the street? Who spread the
infection? Is it launched from Arab regions to the west considering that the highest proportion
of harassment recorded in the Arab nation is Egypt; or it’s delivered to us from the West and
we received it openly and embraced it? Especially after the recent incident that took place in
China Festival of water, which was a sexual harassment in which a number of women abuse to
the extent of being stripped from their dresses and left uncovered on streets.
Society’s perception on harassed woman
We are not in a Platonic society of angels where there is no error and any harms occurring, but
it is wrong to deny and say that our society is devoid of any negatives. The first point in the
development of the solutions is to recognize the problems and then be taken seriously and to
put an end to it.
Of issues that occur in our society is female harassment issues, relatively low, and everyone's
efforts to codify this problem or eliminate them from the root is recognized, and not everyone
understands the psychological effects that occur on the victim's condition when exposed to the
process of harassment, but the harassed women condition of such different situations must be
dealt with according to the circumstances and in proper way, to infuse a sense of reassurance
in the same victim and removing the psychological tragedy because of a sense of fear and
panic. Unfortunately, this does not happen in many families in our community which do not
deal with the victims of harassment as they should, but the wrong behaviors seem to be
inveterate to the causes of social heritages or the customs and traditions of the orientation of
the female is always the cause, as if she wishes to be a victim of harassment. The negative
behavior of parents in turn deepen the mental state of the victim, causing her depression and a

3. sense of guilt and scorn, this intense psychological pain of course will have a profound impact
on every aspect of her life in general, even for a period of time.
A student in public secondary school tells her story and pain she feels by the contempt her
family have, after she told them what happened when she was forced to return from school on
foot, where he she had been harassed at the hands of a bunch of young reckless students in the
days of final exams. When this girl turned to her mother and told her the story, she scolded as if
her daughter attracted those human wolves to molest and harass her. As well as when her
father knew, he also took the same position taken by her mother, instead of embracing the girl,
containing her and standing by her side, and transmits the safety and tranquility feelings into
her, and removing the feelings of fear and panic felt by the process of harassment after a
frightening and intimidating experience. How the girl can behave in such a situation? And in
what mental condition she will be in? Where she found no cooperation from her family or any
understanding of her situation; but found scorn and held accountable for the whole guilt.
The problem is not only harassment, Psychologist A.S. explained in my interview with her: that
the problem does not stop at just the process of harassment, but the way of dealing with the
victim's case, where we have to be more aware and understanding of the victim situation to
free it of the emotional effects. The psychiatrist working in Al Mushrif school says: ‘often what
encourages harassment or extortion is the lack of transparency among family members, she
believes the victim not to tell her parents what is happening to her, the offender or the
blackmailer then believes that he will not find a deterrent to the behavior, not the law nor the
victim, because of the fear of the victim to tell the family of her issue, making it continues to
conduct of harassment or extortion’. A.S. stressed that ‘to put the blame on the victimized girl
make her feel and roots in the unconscious and the subconscious mind that she is the source of
guilt and sin, and sin which makes her not thinking to express to her parents again of any
situation or problem facing that requires intervention, because she feel that she is always the
source of the fault as the family made her think indirectly. And when she tell them again as if to
say I made a mistake, place all the charges, blame and scorn on me’. This is a mistake that

4. parents fall in, and must be aware of the best way to deal with victims of abuse and
harassment.
A.S. encouraged the parents to receive their children transparency and honesty with them
gladly: ‘When children tell what problems they are exposed to with transparency and clarity of
the family then is leaping a large leap in eliminating the problem and contribute to its solution’.
The transparency is the key to the cohesion of the family, and save their members from falling
into the problems that escalates when the family stays silent in absence of transparency. She
criticized the families who are battling this transparency by the way of reacting with the
children and said ‘Maybe someday they will pay a high price due to fighting transparency with
their children’.
For her part, Ms. Hadia Al Ali through the means of social media acknowledged that the official
media have a role in this, where the media should contribute to spreading awareness, on how
to deal with various issues, including the victims of sexual harassment, transparency between
family members, and ‘we are not in an error-free community. And you get to have sexual
harassment issues, which of course parents do not deal with properly’.
Student Lama Fahd said through the social media that these behaviors get in the family purely
from social environments where family is affected by the values and customs of the community
where they live. She says ‘As we know that our society always put women in the center of
accusations, which results in the wrong behaviors in a way of dealing with the victim of
harassment, who will naturally will bear the guilt’. A number of citizens in social media websites
resent the dealing with a victim of harassment in this way and wrong behaviors, and stressed
that the negative effects on the victim, and consoled those causes of social heritages that put
the blame always on the female for being a female, where she is equivalent in their mindset as
source of sin and seduction.

5. Lawyer and writer Satm Algubain said: ‘that he who covers the mouths of the victims of
harassment and accuses them of the problem is a partner of the offender, he directs them lined
message to silence for everything that will happen to them later on’. He stressed the
importance descend to the level of the children, listening to them and to their problems and all
that irritates them; these things contribute to the peace of mind and psychological safety.
Abdullah bin Zayed supports the fight against sexual violence in UAE
HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister urged governments on the
importance of supporting the "United Nations initiative to combat sexual violence in conflict
situations", including the conviction of this crime, prosecute and punish them in accordance
with international criminal law. He reiterated in a statement before the meeting, "the
prevention of sexual violence in conflict situations initiative" on the sidelines of the 68th
session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, the UAE's commitment to working with
its partners from the international community to eliminate this kind of violence. Calling to
promote a sense of responsibility and confirm the criminal justice system in countries where
conflicts arise to reduce these crimes.
He commended the support provided by the United Arab Emirates, both for "UN-Women" to
strengthen international efforts to eradicate this phenomenon, or through partnership with the
United Kingdom in order to support the Somali government's efforts to combat sexual violence
during conflicts.
He said, "I am pleased to begin by thanking you very much to my colleague William Hague, the
UK Foreign Minister for his leadership of this initiative aimed at preventing sexual violence in all
its forms, you have made great efforts in order to unite the international community and
tighten its resolve to tackle this crime naked of all the meanings of humanity .. Out of faith
awfully this crime and the need for the whole world by refusing to clearly and not tolerated and
have agreed to be a "global champion" of this initiative. "

6. He added, "We live in a world of increasing conflicts and wars, such as those we see in Syria, for
example, nor is the crime of rape and other forms of sexual violence that occurred during these
conflicts, a new phenomenon has been repeated throughout history as a means to vilify
communities and humiliate opponents and destroy them. We were and we are still committed
with our partners from the international community to eliminate this barbarity as we are in the
twenty first century reaching non tolerance on the acceptance of this crime as an inevitable
result of the conflict situations, but we have referred to and clearly as a war crime, it is a crime
to cast a shadow on the millions of people most unspeakable ways and methods, as stated on a
Bosnian rape victims as saying "We have robbed me of my life without kill me," and nothing
worse than that. "
He continued his saying, "To address this issue, we start promoting a sense of responsibility
towards the reduction of these crimes by ensuring that criminal justice in countries where
conflicts erupt between various parties, the system has the capabilities and sufficient expertise
enabling them to deal effectively with these crimes, I know that Zainab Bangura actress for the
Secretary-General of the United Nations on the issue of sexual violence during conflicts has
made unremitting efforts with a number of governments to help strengthen the police, military
and judicial capacity they have, in a move to address these issues and allow me Madam
gracious that I encourage you to continue these good efforts and thank them, as we need to
make more efforts to enhance the role of women and girls in all aspects of life. "
He added, "I would like to emphasize that the UAE is a strong supporter of the United Nations
for women, which contributed for two million and a half million dollars for the organization in
2012 and has committed recently by providing a million and a half million dollars in partnership
with the United Kingdom in order to support the Somali government's efforts to combat sexual
violence during conflicts, We look forward because women play a major role under the
leadership of Mlambo Fumuzelj Njokoka. "
He continued, saying, "The strengthening of the role of women and their empowerment means
ensuring they receive proper education and give them the opportunity to invest their talents in
the labor market and participation in decision-making in the sectors of government and

7. business, quick reforms do not exist in this regard, but we must do what we can and United
Arab Emirates will continue its support for this important effort. Let me finish my speech by
urging all governments to stand together to support this initiative and to speak with one voice
to express our condemnation of this crime and the common determination to prosecute and
punish them by law. "