Cablegate: Egypt: 2009 Tip Interim Assessment

VZCZCXRO9518
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHEG #2263 3411501
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 071501Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4407
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS CAIRO 002263

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM KWMN PGOV PHUM SMIG KTIP EG
SUBJECT: EGYPT: 2009 TIP INTERIM ASSESSMENT

REF: A. SECSTATE 112489
B. CAIRO 2083
C. CAIRO 1967
D. CAIRO 1758
1. (U) Per reftel A, the following is Embassy Cairo's interim assessment of the GoE's efforts to combat trafficking in persons in 2009. ------------------------- Law Enforcement Activity -------------------------

2. (SBU) Since May 2009, there have been a number of high profile prosecutions for trafficking related offenses. In May 2009, an Alexandria court, using the 2008 amendment to Egypt's Child Law which criminalized trafficking in children, convicted two men of forcing eight street children into prostitution. The court sentenced one trafficker to life and the other to fifteen years in prison. In October 2009, Egyptian courts, also using the 2008 Child Law amendments, convicted and sentenced to prison two marriage registrars for illegally facilitating the marriages of more than 100 under-age girls to foreign men (ref B). In November, local press reported that as part of an on-going investigation into under-age marriages, an additional 21 marriage registrars - suspected of illegally recording over 800 such marriages in 2009 - had been arrested. --------------------------------------------- ----------- Anti-Trafficking Legislation Currently Before Parliament --------------------------------------------- -----------

3. (SBU) In November 2009, Egypt's inter-ministerial National Coordinating Committee to Combat Human Trafficking announced that it had forwarded draft comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation to Egypt's Prime Minister for submission to Parliament, which is in session from December 2009 through approximately May 2010. In its annual conference held in November 2009, Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party announced that passage of the draft anti-trafficking law is one of its priorities for the current parliamentary session. ----------------------------------------- Law Enforcement Victim Protection Efforts -----------------------------------------

4. (SBU) In October 2009, approximately 25 senior and mid-level officers of Egypt's State Security Investigations Service (SSIS) participated in a two week International Organization for Migration (IOM) program focused on protecting victims during trafficking investigations (ref C). In August 2009, Egypt's Ministry of State for Family and Population launched a "hot-line" to assist "child brides" in alerting authorities and seeking assistance. --------------------------------------------- - Support to NGOs Providing Protection Services --------------------------------------------- -

5. (SBU) Egypt's Ministry of State for Family and Population (MSFP), working with local NGOs, established in August 2009 in Cairo's low-income Dar Al Salaam area a rehabilitation center for victims of child trafficking. In December 2009, Egypt's Ministry of Justice, in cooperation with the Protection Project of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, conducted a week-long training session for local NGOs on enhancing access to justice for women, especially trafficking victims. In early 2010, the IOM, with "in-kind" support from Egypt's Ministry of Health, is scheduled to open a trafficking victims rehabilitation center in a Cairo public hospital. --------------------------------------------- Public Information Campaign on Child Marriage ---------------------------------------------

6. (SBU) In August 2009, the MSFP, in conjunction with the completion of a study on Egypt's child marriage phenomena, launched a national information campaign to raise awareness of child marriage (ref D). As part of the campaign, the MSFP opened 33 counseling centers in rural villages to assist victims and potential victims of child marriage. Tueller

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