VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHEG #0580/01 0641121
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 051121Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3838
INFO RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 1546
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 0123
RUEHCH/AMEMBASSY CHISINAU 0020
RUEHKV/AMEMBASSY KYIV 0001
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0363
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 0756
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1375
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0743
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS CAIRO 000580 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, NEA/RA, NEA/ELA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM SMIG PREF ASEC KFRD KCRM KWMN ELAB EG
SUBJECT: EMBASSY CAIRO SUBMISSION FOR 2007 TIP REPORT 
 
REF: 2006 STATE 202745 
 
Senstive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  This message responds to reftel.  Embassy POC is 
poloff Roger Kenna, phone  20-2-797-2749, fax  20-2-797-2181, 
kennart2@state.gov.  Poloff spent approximately 16 hours in 
the preparation of the TIP report.  PA officer spent two 
hours; ECPO Minister Counselor spent two hours; DCM spent two 
hours.  The GOE does not have a POC for TIP.  Information in 
this report was gleaned from bilateral meetings, other 
diplomatic contacts, and press reporting.  The following 
input is keyed to the questions in reftel paras 27-30. 
 
------------ 
¶I.  Overview 
------------ 
 
¶A.  Egypt is neither a country of origin or destination for a 
significant number of trafficking victims.  However, an 
unknown number of trafficking victims probably transit Egypt 
en route to other destinations, notably Israel and Europe. 
There are currently no reliable estimates available in Egypt 
for the magnitude of the problem. 
 
¶B.  The trafficking scenario most commonly cited involves 
young women from Eastern Europe arriving in Egypt by air, 
especially in the Red Sea resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh and 
Hurghada.  The women then travel overland, often with the 
facilitation of Bedouin smugglers, across the border into 
Israel where they are presumed to be forcibly employed in 
that country's sex industry.  There were no confirmed cases 
of such trafficking in Egypt in 2006 by the GOE or by 
Egyptian media sources, but there were occasional media 
reports of intercepted illegal migrants who may have been 
trafficking victims.  A number of illegal migrants from south 
and East Asia may also transit the Suez Canal en route to 
Europe.  Some of these migrants may be trafficking victims. 
We are not aware of any surveys or research on the extent or 
nature of trafficking in Egypt. 
 
Media reports indicate that Italy is the destination for 
significant numbers of illegal Egyptian migrants who seek to 
cross the Mediterranean, often with the help of smugglers. 
 
Embassy Cairo has repeatedly raised the issue of Trafficking 
in Persons with the Government of Egypt at both the 
Ministerial and working levels.  In all of our discussions, 
GOE officials have expressed determination to fight the 
problem, to the extent that it exists in Egypt, and have 
sought from the U.S. any available information that could 
help identify extant trafficking networks inside the country. 
 
 
In January 2006, First Lady Suzanne Mubarak addressed an 
international meeting in Athens on TIP and said that her NGO, 
the Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement 
(SMWIPM), is committed to fighting TIP of women and children. 
 Also in May 2006, addressing an IOM conference in Cairo in 
Cairo and a WEF meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh, Mrs. Mubarak 
called for international cooperation and coordination to 
eliminate trafficking. 
 
Reports from Israel suggest that that country is realizing 
some success in its effort to combat trafficking into the 
country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation 
and domestic servitude.  We believe that any Israeli 
successes in the fight against TIP will correlate to a 
corresponding drop in the number of trafficking victims who 
transit Egypt en route to Israel.  According to a November 
15, 2006 Jerusalem Post article, Israeli police success in 
policing the land border with Egypt had led "more and more 
women" to use "forged passports to bypass the route through 
Sinai and across the long desert border with Egypt in favor 
of an easy arrival at Ben-Gurion Airport."  According to 
earlier Israeli press reporting, based on "police data," 2005 
witnessed a significant drop in the number of foreign women 
working as prostitutes in Israel, from 3000 in 2001 to 
"several hundred" in 2005.  This anecdotal information 
suggests that the number of trafficking victims transiting 
Sinai may also have significantly decreased. 
 
¶C.  Limitations on the government's ability to address TIP 
include budgetary constraints and treaty restrictions on 
infrastructural improvements and troop numbers, along the 
Egyptian-Israeli border, under the Camp David Accord.  The 
GOE devotes significant resources toward patrolling and 
policing its borders.  Geography and resource limitations 
preclude total success.  During bilateral meetings with U.S. 
officials in 2006, GOE officials repeatedly asserted that 
human trafficking through Sinai was not a significant 
problem. 
 
¶D.  There is no evidence to suggest involvement of any kind 
of either Governmental authorities or individual members of 
Government forces in facilitating or condoning trafficking. 
Due to lack of training and resource limitations, individual 
Government officials may not be well equipped to identify and 
prevent instances of trafficking.  Egyptian law prohibits 
prostitution as well as the solicitation and facilitation of 
commercial sex.  The "sale of child brides" has not been 
documented, per se, although the payment of dowries and 
marriage at relatively young ages are in keeping with some 
cultural traditions.  Girls marrying below the age of 18 
require parental permission.  Girls below the age of 16 may 
not marry.  Infringements of these laws are thought to be 
common, particularly in rural areas. 
 
--------------- 
II.  Prevention 
--------------- 
 
A-B.  The Government acknowledges that some trafficking 
victims may transit Egypt.  The Government reports that it is 
not currently aware of information that suggests a 
significant flow of such persons.  Government agencies that 
are involved in combating trafficking are the border police, 
immigration, and customs inspectors, overseen by State 
Security Investigations Service, and ultimately the Ministry 
of Interior.  Officials responsible for consular affairs or 
tourism can also become involved in responding to suspected 
trafficking cases. 
 
¶C.  There are currently no anti-trafficking information or 
education campaigns being conducted in Egypt.  In December 
2006, however, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the 
launch of a public information campaign among Egyptian youth 
"to raise awareness on the dangers of illegal migration."  We 
are aware of at least one Egyptian NGO, the Arab Institute 
for Migration Studies, which is beginning to systematically 
monitor and document trafficking in persons cases.  Egyptian 
human rights and women's NGOs tell us they are not aware of a 
significant trafficking problem in Egypt. 
 
¶D.  The Government devotes significant resources to 
patrolling and policing its borders, particularly the Sinai 
desert border with Israel.  The Government does not currently 
have a specific program to monitor migration and travel 
patterns for evidence of trafficking although it exerts 
robust efforts to combat illegal migration and alien 
smuggling.  In particular, in the aftermath of the October 7, 
2004 terror bombings in Sinai, which killed 34 people, the 
Government has made a concerted effort to increase security 
in Sinai, especially with regard to alleged illegal 
activities by the Sinai Bedouin tribes.  In November 2006, 
for example, the Middle East News Agency (MENA, the GOE wire 
service) reported that government security forces were 
engaged in a "massive crackdown operation in north Sinai" 
against suspected terrorist and criminal elements. 
 
¶E.  Egyptian civil society is not focused on TIP.  On human 
rights and related matters, Egyptian civil society has a 
sometimes contentious relationship with the GOE. 
 
¶F.  Anecdotal information supplied by GOE border security 
personnel suggests that the GOE does not have a comprehensive 
program to monitor immigration/emigration for evidence of 
trafficking. 
 
¶G.  The GOE indicated in November 2006 that it planned to 
create an official inter-ministerial body to coordinate the 
GOE's efforts against TIP, but this body had not been 
formally established as of March 1, 2007.  There are a number 
of GOE bodies and institutions focused on tackling public 
corruption. 
 
¶H.  The Government has not announced or presented a national 
plan of action to address trafficking in persons. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
III.  Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
A-C.  Egyptian law does not specifically prohibit trafficking 
in persons, either for sexual exploitation or forced labor. 
However, other parts of the criminal code, such as laws 
against rape, abduction, prostitution, and forced labor, may 
be used to prosecute traffickers.  Slavery is illegal.  The 
maximum penalty for rape is life imprisonment.  Egyptian 
Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials 
have told U.S. diplomats that they plan to draft new 
anti-trafficking legislation to remedy any gaps in existing 
legislation, but they have not provided an estimated time of 
completion. 
 
¶D.  The prescribed penalties for rape or forcible sexual 
assault range from a minimum of three years to life 
imprisonment with hard labor.  The actual penalty imposed 
depends on a number of factors including the ages of the 
victim and the perpetrator as well as their relationship. 
 
¶E.  Prostitution is illegal and the activities of prostitutes 
(as well as brothels) are criminalized.  The government 
generally enforces laws against prostitution. 
 
¶F.  There do not appear to have been any recent government 
prosecutions of traffickers.  In December 2003, an Egyptian 
court convicted Moataz Attiya Mohammad Hassan, a.k.a. Abu 
Qusay, of manslaughter and aiding illegal immigration for his 
role in the deaths of 353 persons trying to reach Australia 
when their boat sank.  Abu Qusay was sentenced to seven-years 
in prison, although the sentence was reduced on appeal to 
three years.  In February 2005, a criminal court in South 
Sinai convicted Talal Soliman of attempting to smuggle 5 
Russian (and/or Moldovan) women to Israel.  Soliman was 
sentenced to 3.5 years in prison.  According to press 
accounts, Sinai police in July 2003 had sought to detain 
Soliman when he was transporting the Eastern European women 
from south Sinai to Israel.  Soliman opened fire on the 
police and wounded one of them before he was detained. 
      According to a Cairo-based Russian diplomatic source 
(2005 information), in September 2002, three Moldovan women 
were abducted from a hotel in Sharm el-Sheikh by Bedouin who 
raped them and apparently tried to transport them to Israel. 
One of the victims escaped and informed Egyptian police, who 
successfully rescued the other two victims and arrested the 
perpetrators.  According to the Russian, the perpetrators 
were eventually convicted and received 25-year sentences. 
The Russian diplomat said no trafficking cases have come to 
his attention since that time. 
 
¶G.  Egyptian law enforcement contacts generally identify 
Sinai Bedouin as engaging in the smuggling of contraband, 
possibly including humans, from Egypt into Israel.  In 
October 2004, an Associated Press story reported that a gun 
battle between Bedouin smugglers and police in September had 
left an unspecified number of policemen wounded and 13 
people, mainly Eastern European women, in Egyptian police 
custody.  Embassy Cairo officials were unable to confirm the 
details of the AP account with Egyptian police contacts. 
Press accounts in September 2006 indicated that Bedouin 
criminals played a role in the effort of eight Colombian job 
seekers who sought to transit Sinai to reach Israel.  Media 
reports indicated that two of the Colombians perished from 
thirst on the Israel side of the border before the remaining 
six travelers were repatriated to Colombia via their embassy 
in Cairo.  There were several media reports that suggested 
that the Colombians had been kidnapped and mistreated by the 
Bedouin.  The Colombian embassy in Cairo declined to confirm 
the reports of kidnapping and mistreatment. 
 
¶H.  The Government is not currently known to be involved in 
any international investigations of trafficking cases. 
 
¶I.  The Government does not currently provide specialized 
training in how to recognize, investigate, or prosecute 
instances of trafficking.  The Government advises that 
instances of trafficking rarely come to its attention, but 
has explicitly requested from the U.S. any information that 
could identify such instances in Egypt. 
 
J-N.  The Government is not known to have ever extradited 
persons charged with trafficking to face prosecution in other 
countries.  However, in the Abu Qusay case, the Government 
requested the defendant's extradition from Indonesia, which 
was granted.  There is no evidence of Government involvement 
in or tolerance for trafficking nor is there evidence of a 
child sex tourism problem. 
 
¶O.  Egypt is a signatory of ILO convention 182 concerning 
prohibition of the worst forms of child labor. Egypt is also 
a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (with a 
reservation regarding adoption) ILO Convention 29, and ILO 
Convention 105.  Egypt is also a signatory to the Protocol to 
Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons 
supplementing the UN Convention Against Transnational 
Organized Crime. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
IV.  Protection and Assistance to Victims 
----------------------------------------- 
 
A-I.  The Government reports that its consular and 
immigration officials, at home and abroad, have been 
instructed to be on the alert for possible instances of 
illegal migration and fraudulent travel, which would include 
trafficking.  However, the Government does not currently have 
any programs for victim assistance or specialized training 
for personnel in identifying trafficking victims.  The 
Government does not currently make special provisions for 
victims' participation in prosecutions or for protection for 
victims as witnesses nor does it provide specialized training 
in TIP to government officials.  There are currently no NGOs 
in Egypt focused on providing services to trafficking victims. 
RICCIARDONE