Young Christian women kidnapped in Egypt in order to marry Muslim men

2.7.2013

Question for written answer E-007792-13
to the Commission
Rule 117
Lorenzo Fontana (EFD)

According to a recent report by the Association of Victims of Abduction and Forced Disappearance (AVAFD), over 500 Egyptian Coptic Christian women have been abducted, forced to convert to Islam and to marry Muslim men.

Most of the abducted young women have only just reached puberty and are subjected to severe brutality to marry the men who take them away from their families. One young woman had a tattoo removed because it depicted a cross.

In a recent statement, the Salafist Front said it was unjust to return girls to their families because, as they had reached puberty, they were free to marry a Muslim and to accept the consequences of marriage.

Article 37(1) of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence lays down that ‘Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the intentional conduct of forcing an adult or a child to enter into a marriage is criminalised.’

— What figures does the Commission have on cases of conversion and forced marriage among young Egyptian Christian women?

— What line will it take with the Egyptian authorities to put a stop to the abductions?

OJ C 56 E, 27/02/2014