Anderlecht encourages women to report, not ignore, sexual harassment

Anderlecht encourages women to report, not ignore, sexual harassment
The Anderlecht region of Brussels. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Following in the footsteps of the City of Brussels, the commune of Anderlecht has launched a campaign to fight sexism and street harassment by making women more aware that they are punishable offences.

Street harassment and sexism regularly occur in all Brussels communes and in various forms, but such incidents remain largely underreported. Anderlecht, therefore, wishes to make women aware that intimidating, disrespectful, humiliating and insulting behaviour is punishable by law.

“Greater awareness is needed,” the commune’s councillor for Equal Opportunities Jérémie Drouart, who worked on the initiative, told Belga News Agency.

"Women who have been victims of street harassment are often unaware that it is a penal offence and that they have the right to file a complaint,” Drouart added.

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“They think perhaps that it’s best to ignore it, walk faster, switch pavements or wear more ample clothing, or that it makes no sense to complain since the perpetrator will not be caught.” With this latest campaign, Anderlecht wants to encourage women who have been harassed to file a complaint immediately.

The campaign will be launched on various channels, including via news articles, adverts in the municipal newspaper and on social media, and a video. A huge poster campaign in the streets of Anderlecht will be also launched at the end of this year.

In the meantime, police in the commune are working on improving the way in which victims are received by officers at the local police station.


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