CAIRO Reuters - The year-old South Sudanese refugee finally managed to escape after three months as a prisoner in a Cairo apartment where she was repeatedly gang raped, only to realize that she had become pregnant by one of her attackers. She is one of a growing number of African migrant and refugee women in the Egyptian capital who report abuse, in what rights groups say has become an epidemic of sexual violence that has worsened in recent months.
Reuters met five women from Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia at a community center in Cairo, each of whom said she was a victim of violent sexual assault. The year old South Sudanese woman said she was snatched by strangers in a poor neighborhood and brought by a taxi to another area, where a man locked her up in an apartment for three months and repeatedly raped her with friends. She asked not to be identified but agreed to be filmed provided that her face was not visible.
A Sudanese woman who gave her name as Bakhtia said she was assaulted by a stranger on the street in what then became a gang attack. I tried to defend myself, but how can I defend myself? Three other women who spoke to Reuters said they were attacked while cleaning houses as domestic workers.
Two were raped and one sexually assaulted. They asked not to be filmed or quoted directly. The United Nations estimates around , migrants, half of them refugees, live in Egypt.
Many arrived aiming to reach Europe via Israel or by boat to Turkey, routes that have been largely closed by tougher security measures. Jobs are scarce. With austerity measures having driven up inflation since last year, many have found it more difficult to pay rent. Increasingly they have become homeless or are forced to share rooms with strangers, making them more vulnerable to sexual assault.
