Human trafficking in Egypt

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Egypt ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in March 2004. [1]

Contents

Egypt is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution.

The U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 2" in 2017, [2] meaning that its government does not fully meet the minimum standards described in the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), but is making significant efforts toward meeting those standards. [3] The country was placed on the Tier 2 Watch List in 2023. [4]

In 2023, the Organised Crime Index noted the prevalence of human trafficking and organ trafficking. [5]

Background in 2010

Some of Egypt's estimated two hundred thousand to one million street children - both boys and girls - were exploited in prostitution and forced begging. Local gangs were, at times, involved in this exploitation. Egyptian children were recruited for domestic and agricultural labor; some of these children faced conditions indicative of involuntary servitude, such as restrictions on movement, non-payment of wages, threats, and physical or sexual abuse. [6]

In addition, wealthy men from Persian Gulf region reportedly traveled to Egypt to purchase "temporary" or "summer marriages" with Egyptian females, including girls who are under the age of 18. These arrangements were often facilitated by the females' parents and marriage brokers and were a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. Child sex tourism occurs in Cairo, Alexandria, and Luxor. Egypt was a transit country for women trafficked from Uzbekistan, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, and other Eastern European countries to Israel for commercial sexual exploitation. Organized crime groups are involved in these movements. [6]

Men and women from South and Southeast Asia may have been subjected to forced labor in Egypt. Ethiopians, Eritreans, Sudanese, Indonesians, Filipino, and possible Sri Lankan females migrated willingly to Egypt but may have been subjected to forced domestic work. Some conditions they faced include no time off, sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, withholding of wages, and restrictions of movement. Employers may have used the domestic workers' illegal status and lack of employment contracts as a coercive tool. [6]

Some of the immigrants and refugees who engaged in prostitution may have been coerced to do so. Young female Sudanese refugees, including those under 18, may have been coerced into prostitution in Cairo's nightclubs by family or Sudanese gang members. NGO and media reports indicated some Egyptians were forced to work in Jordan and experienced the withholding of passports, forced overtime, non-payment of wages, and restrictions of movement. [6]

In 2010, the Egyptian government approved new legislation criminalizing trafficking in persons for labor and sexual exploitation. In 2009/2010, the government made its first two convictions under the 2008 anti-trafficking amendments to the Child Law and raised awareness on "summer marriages", which are often used to facilitate commercial sexual exploitation. According to the U.S. government, the Egyptian government's lack of formal victim identification procedures and protection services allowed unidentified victims of trafficking to be punished for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. [6]

Seasonal or temporary marriage

There is a phenomenon in Egypt known as "seasonal" or "temporary" marriages. This is when young women and girls - particularly from poor families - are married off to men from Arab states of the Persian Gulf to provide sexual services to non-Egyptian men. [7] Pursuant to a survey that was conducted by the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM), 67% of 2,000 of families selected from a sample in Al Hawamdia, Al Badrashein and Abu Almonros were personally aware of child marriages. The survey also showed that the purpose of these marriages is mainly economic. [8]

In some instances, Egyptian girls may return to the husbands home country and work as a maid. The girls that stay in Egypt are often shunned from society and struggle to remarry the orthodox way, especially in cases where the women has given birth to the husband's child. [9]

Egypt: Law No. 103 of 1976 also known as the New Tourism Marriage Law was enacted to deter and protect young girls from seasonal/temporary marriage. The law requires documentation of marriage contracts, requiring a foreign man to present a certificate from his country's embassy stating that there are no impediments to the effecting marriage, a deposit is also made in the girl's name, as security for her when the women is 25 years or more younger than him. [7]

The minimum age for marriage was also raised to 18. The special rapporteur Joy Ngozi Ezeilo states that in practice, this law is largely ineffective as an arbitrary number of seasonal/temporary marriages between Egyptian women and non-Egyptian men continue to take place. [10]

Institutional framework

The National Coordinating Committee directs all anti-trafficking efforts at the national level. The National Coordinating Committee is directed by the Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and is made up of relevant representatives of ministries, such as the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Manpower and Migration, the Ministry of Social Solidarity and the Ministry of Tourism. [11] The committee drafts legislation and a plan on fighting trafficking persons in Egypt, by combatting illegal migrants groups and identifying human trafficking activities. [11] There has also been legislation enacted to combat human trafficking and protect those illegal migrants by diminishing their suffering. [12]

The National Council of Women (NCW), was established in 2000 to monitor accomplishments and to strengthen women's role in society. In 2007, the Prime Minister launched a coordinating committee to combat trafficking in humans, namely women and children. This committee aims to review legislation and policies implemented to prevent trafficking. [13]

NCW also Implemented the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) This is a specialist unit which fights against trafficking and carries out follow up studies and reports on trafficking of girls and women. [13] In April 2009, NCW issued a report on violence against women in Egypt, which recognized "seasonal" or "temporary" marriage as a possible form of human trafficking and suggested that decision makers determine whether it should be considered as human trafficking. [10]

In 2016, the Government implemented a 2016-2021 plan to fight and prevent trafficking. This was approved by the prime minister however there were little means and resources allocated towards its implementation. In 2016 the national anti trafficking committee and the national committee merged aiming to prevent illegal migration, the government also launched 90 anti-trafficking campaigns. [14] In June 2016, the government ran conferences about migration, smuggling, and human trafficking issues affecting Africa and Europe. Surprise inspections were carried out by the Ministry of Manpower particularly at work sites for foreign workers, though the ministry did not report potential trafficking victims. [14]

Prosecution (2010)

Egypt's parliament has passed legislation criminalizing all forms of human trafficking and prescribing penalties from three to 15 years' imprisonment and up to life imprisonment if aggravating circumstances are present. Fines range from $9,000 to $36,000 for offenses. Amendments to the Child Law (No. 126 of 2008) include provisions prohibiting the trafficking of children for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. These amendments prescribe sentences of at least five years' imprisonment. [6]

Protection (2010)

According to the U.S. government, Egyptian officials did not employ formal procedures to identify victims of trafficking and refer them to providers of care; as a result, trafficking victims - including many street children and women arrested for prostitution - were often treated as criminals rather than victims. Some children may be sent to juvenile detention centers, which are usually in poor conditions. Others may be subject to incarceration with adults, despite the Child Law which prohibits this practice. [6]

Border security personnel in the Sinai continued efforts to interdict undocumented immigrants, occasionally killing some of them, while showing no evidence of efforts to identify possible trafficking victims among this vulnerable population. As of 2009, the Ministry of Social Solidarity operated 19 drop-in centers for street children, women, and the disabled that may have provided care to trafficking victims. [6]

The NCCM operates a 24-hour hotline to respond to complaints of child abuse. Specialized care for adults or foreign victims was not provided as of 2009. In prisons or detention centers, law enforcement officers may have further mistreated these victims through verbal, physical, and sexual abuse. Foreign victims are not offered legal alternatives to removal to countries in which they may face hardship or retribution. The government does not actively encourage victims to assist in investigations against their traffickers. [6]

Prevention (2010)

The government made progress in preventing "summer marriages" in the reporting period, but did not otherwise undertake efforts to prevent human trafficking. The government was mandated by the newly passed law to create an inter-ministerial committee to coordinate anti-trafficking enforcement activities, victim protection, and programs. The government did not institute any other public campaigns to raise awareness on trafficking, including any on involuntary domestic servitude. [6]

The government made no efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts or to raise awareness of sex tourism. The government has a well-developed birth registration and national identity card system. There were no reports of Egyptian government's efforts to provide anti-trafficking training for its troops before deploying them to international peacekeeping missions. [6]

See also

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In 2008, Syria was a destination and transit country for women and children trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. A significant number of women and children in the large and expanding Iraqi refugee community in Syria were reportedly forced into commercial sexual exploitation by Iraqi gangs or, in some cases, their families. Similarly, women from Somalia and Eastern Europe were trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation. Foreign women recruited for work in Syria as cabaret dancers were not permitted to leave their work premises without permission, and they had their passports withheld - indicators of involuntary servitude. Some of these women may also have been forced into prostitution. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Syria may have been a destination for sex tourism from other countries in the region. In addition, women from Indonesia, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone were recruited for work in Syria as domestic servants, but some face conditions of involuntary servitude, including long hours, non-payment of wages, withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, threats, and physical or sexual abuse. Syria may also have been a transit point for Iraqi women and girls trafficked to Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), and Lebanon for forced prostitution. The Government of Syria did not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and did not making significant efforts to do so. Syria again failed to report any law enforcement efforts to punish trafficking offenses over the last year. In addition, the government did not offer protection services to victims of trafficking and may have arrested, prosecuted, or deported some victims for prostitution or immigration violations.

In 2008 Vietnam was primarily a source country for women and children trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children were trafficked to the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C), Cambodia, Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Macau for sexual exploitation. Vietnamese women were trafficked to the P.R.C., Taiwan, and the Republic of Korea via fraudulent or misrepresented marriages for commercial exploitation or forced labor. Vietnam was also a source country for men and women who migrate willingly and legally for work in the construction, fishing, or manufacturing sectors in Malaysia, Taiwan, P.R.C., Thailand, and the Middle East but subsequently face conditions of forced labor or debt bondage. Vietnam was a destination country for Cambodian children trafficked to urban centers for forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. The country had an internal trafficking problem with women and children from rural areas trafficked to urban centers for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Vietnam was increasingly a destination for child sex tourism, with perpetrators from Japan, the Republic of Korea, the P.R.C., Taiwan, the UK, Australia, Europe, and the U.S. In 2007, an Australian non-governmental organization (NGO) uncovered 80 cases of commercial sexual exploitation of children by foreign tourists in the Sa Pa tourist area of Vietnam alone.

In 2019 Zimbabwe was a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Large scale migration of Zimbabweans to surrounding countries - as they fled a progressively more desperate situation at home - increased, and NGOs, international organizations, and governments in neighboring countries reported an upsurge in these Zimbabweans facing conditions of exploitation, including human trafficking. Rural Zimbabwean men, women, and children were trafficked internally to farms for agricultural labor and domestic servitude and to cities for domestic labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Women and children were trafficked for domestic labor and sexual exploitation, including in brothels, along both sides of the borders with Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zambia. Young men and boys were trafficked to South Africa for farm work, often laboring for months in South Africa without pay before "employers" have them arrested and deported as illegal immigrants. Young women and girls were lured to South Africa, the People's Republic of China, Egypt, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada with false employment offers that result in involuntary domestic servitude or commercial sexual exploitation. Men, women, and children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia were trafficked through Zimbabwe en route to South Africa. Small numbers of South African girls were trafficked to Zimbabwe for domestic servitude. The government’s efforts to address trafficking at home have increased with the introduction of the National Action Plan (NAP) as well as the 2014 Trafficking in Persons Act. In addition, the trafficking situation in the country is worsening as more of the population is made vulnerable by declining socio-economic conditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking</span> Trade of humans for exploitation

Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation.

In 2010, Human trafficking in India, although illegal under Indian law, remained a significant problem. People were frequently illegally trafficked through India for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced/bonded labour. Although no reliable study of forced and bonded labour was completed, NGOs estimated this problem affected 20 to 65 million Indians. Men, women and children were trafficked in India for diverse reasons. Women and girls were trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage, especially in those areas where the sex ratio is highly skewed in favour of men. Men and boys were trafficked for the purposes of labour, and may be sexually exploited by traffickers to serve as gigolos, massage experts, escorts, etc. A significant portion of children are subjected to forced labour as factory workers, domestic servants, beggars, and agriculture workers, and have been used as armed combatants by some terrorist and insurgent groups.

Indonesia is a source, transit, and destination country for women, children, and men trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. The greatest threat of trafficking facing Indonesian men and women is that posed by conditions of forced labor and debt bondage in more developed Asian countries and the Middle East.

Kenya ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in January 2005.

Afghanistan is one of the source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Trafficking within Afghanistan is more prevalent than transnational trafficking, and the majority of victims are children. In 2005 the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) reported 150 child trafficking cases to other states. Afghan boys and girls are trafficked within the country and into Iran, Pakistan and India as well as Persian gulf Arab states, where they live as slaves and are forced to prostitution and forced labor in brick kilns, carpet-making factories, and domestic service. In some cases the boys and girls were used for organ trafficking. Forced begging is a growing problem in Afghanistan; Mafia groups organize professional begging rings. Afghan boys are subjected to forced prostitution and forced labor in the drug smuggling industry in Pakistan and Iran. Afghan women and girls are subjected to forced prostitution, arranged and forced marriages—including those in which husbands force their wives into prostitution—and involuntary domestic servitude in Pakistan and Iran, and possibly India. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) report that over the past year, increasing numbers of boys were trafficked internally. Some families knowingly sell their children for forced prostitution, including for bacha bazi - a practice combining sexual slavery and child prostitution, through which wealthy men use harems of young boys for social and sexual entertainment. Other families send their children with brokers to gain employment. Many of these children end up in forced labor, particularly in Pakistani carpet factories. NGOs indicate that families sometimes make cost-benefit analyses regarding how much debt they can incur based on their tradable family members.

Belgium is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Victims originate in Eastern Europe, Africa, East Asia, as well as Brazil and India. Some victims are smuggled through Belgium to other European countries, where they are subjected to forced labor and forced prostitution. Male victims are subjected to forced labor and exploitation in restaurants, bars, sweatshops, horticulture sites, fruit farms, construction sites, and retail shops. There were reportedly seven Belgian women subjected to forced prostitution in Luxembourg in 2009. According to a 2009 ECPAT Report, the majority of girls and children subjected to forced prostitution in Belgium originate from Balkan and CIS countries, Eastern Europe, Asia and West Africa ; some young foreign boys are exploited in prostitution in major cities in the country. Local observers also report that a large portion of children trafficked in Belgium are unaccompanied, vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees. Criminal organizations from Thailand use Thai massage parlors in Belgium, which are run by Belgian managers, to sexually exploit young Thai women. These networks are involved in human smuggling and trafficking to exploit victims economically and sexually. Belgium is not only a destination country, but also a transit country for children to be transported to other European country destinations.

Botswana ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in August 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in Papua New Guinea</span>

In 2009, Papua New Guinea was a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution and forced labor. Women and children were subjected to commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary domestic servitude; trafficked men were forced to provide labor in logging and mining camps. Children, especially young girls from tribal areas, were most vulnerable to being pushed into commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor by members of their immediate family or tribe. Families traditionally sold girls into forced marriages to settle their debts, leaving them vulnerable to involuntary domestic servitude, and tribal leaders trade the exploitative labor and service of girls and women for guns and political advantage. Young girls sold into marriage were often forced into domestic servitude for the husband's extended family. In more urban areas, some children from poorer families were prostituted by their parents or sold to brothels. Migrant women and teenage girls from Malaysia, Thailand, China, and the Philippines were subjected to forced prostitution, and men from China were transported to the country for forced labor.

In 2009 Namibia was a country of origin, transit, and destination for foreign and Namibian women and children, and possibly for men subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and forced prostitution. Traffickers exploited Namibian children, as well as children from Angola and Zambia, through forced labor in agriculture, cattle herding, involuntary domestic servitude, charcoal production, and commercial sexual exploitation. In some cases, Namibian parents unwittingly sold their children to traffickers. Reports indicate that vulnerable Namibian children were recruited for forced prostitution in Angola and South Africa, typically by truck drivers. There was also some evidence that traffickers move Namibian women to South Africa and South African women to Namibia to be exploited in forced prostitution. Namibian women and children, including orphans, from rural areas were the most vulnerable to trafficking. Victims were lured by traffickers to urban centers and commercial farms with promises of legitimate work for good wages they may never receive. Some adults subjected children to whom they are distantly related to forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. Small business owners and farmers may also participated in trafficking crimes against women or children. Victims were forced to work long hours to carry out hazardous tasks, and may have been beaten or raped by traffickers or third parties.

In 2009, Niger was a source, transit, and destination country for children and women subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Caste-based slavery practices, rooted in ancestral master-slave relationships, continued primarily in the northern part of the country. Children are trafficked within Niger for forced begging by religious instructors known as marabouts; forced labor in gold mines, agriculture, and stone quarries; as well as for involuntary domestic servitude and forced prostitution. The ILO estimates at least 10,000 children work in gold mines in Niger, many of whom may have been forced to work. Nigerien children, primarily girls, were also subjected to commercial sexual exploitation along the border with Nigeria, particularly in the towns of Birni N'Konni and Zinder along the main highway, and boys are trafficked to Nigeria and Mali for forced begging and manual labor. There were reports Nigerien girls entered into "false marriages" with citizens of Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates: upon arrival in these countries, the girls are often forced into involuntary domestic servitude. Child marriage was a problem, especially in rural areas, and may have contributed to conditions of human trafficking. Niger is a transit country for women and children from Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, and Togo en route to Northern Africa and Western Europe; some may be subjected to forced labor in Niger as domestic servants, forced laborers in mines and on farms, and as mechanics and welders. To a lesser extent, Nigerien women and children were sometimes trafficked from Niger to North Africa the Middle East, and Europe for involuntary domestic servitude and forced commercial sexual exploitation."

Iraq ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in February 2009.

Malawi ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in September 2005.


Mali ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in April 2002.

Burundi ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in May 2012.

Djibouti is a transit and, to a lesser extent, a source and destination country for men, women, and children who are subjected to trafficking in people, specifically conditions of forced labor and forced prostitution. There is little verifiable data on the human trafficking situation in Djibouti. An estimated 150 000 voluntary economic migrants from Ethiopia and Somalia passed illegally through Djibouti en route to Yemen and other locations in the Middle East in 2022; among this group, a small number of women and girls may fall victim to involuntary domestic servitude or forced commercial sexual exploitation after reaching Djibouti City or the Ethiopia-Djibouti trucking corridor. An unknown number of migrants – men, women, and children – are subjected to conditions of forced labor and forced prostitution after reaching Yemen and other destinations in the Middle East. Djibouti's large refugee population – consisting of Somalis, Ethiopians, and Eritreans – as well as foreign street children remain vulnerable to various forms of exploitation within the country, including human trafficking. Older street children reportedly act, at times, as pimps for younger children. A small number of girls from impoverished Djiboutian families may engage in prostitution with the encouragement of family members or other people in prostitution. Members of foreign militaries stationed in Djibouti contribute to the demand for women and girls in prostitution, including trafficking victims.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in the Middle East</span>

The trafficking of persons is the fastest growing and most profitable criminal activity after drug and arms trafficking. According to the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, human trafficking is defined as follows: “Trafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.”

References

  1. ↑ United Nations Treaty Collection website, Chapter XVIII Penal Matters section, Section 12a, retrieved August 19, 2024
  2. ↑ "Trafficking in Persons Report 2017: Tier Placements". www.state.gov. Archived from the original on 28 June 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  3. ↑ Trafficking in Persons Report 2017, pp. 39, 162 (U.S. State Department, June 2016).
  4. ↑ US Government website, Trafficking in Persons Report 2023
  5. ↑ Organised Crime Index website, Egypt, retrieved August 31, 2024
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Egypt". Trafficking in Persons Report 2010. U.S. Department of State (June 14, 2010). PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  7. 1 2 "Does Egypt's Law Protect 'Short-Term Brides' Or Formalize Trafficking?".
  8. ↑ Ezeilo , J. N. (2011, April 15). "Report of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children"
  9. ↑ "Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery - Egypt". gvnet.com.
  10. 1 2 Team, ODS. "ODS HOME PAGE" (PDF). documents-dds-ny.un.org.
  11. 1 2 "Will the new law simply lead to less illegal migration? -". nccpim.gov.eg. Archived from the original on 15 October 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  12. ↑ "Regional Consultation on International Migration in the Arab Region In Preparation for the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration". United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.
  13. 1 2 Arab Republic of Egypt The National Council for Women (pp. 1-69 at 7, Rep.). (n.d.). The National Council of Women
  14. 1 2 Trafficking in persons Report 2017 (U.S State Department, 2017)
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