VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHEG #1029/01 1011105
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 111105Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4535
INFO RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 001029 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/RA, G/TIP 
NSC STAFF FOR RICK WATERS, PAT DAVIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2017 
TAGS: PGOV KCRIM KWMN EG
SUBJECT: EMBASSY CAIRO ASSESSMENT OF CHILD PROSTITUTION AND 
FORCED MARRIAGES AS FACTORS IN TIP IN EGYPT 
 
REF: A. CAIRO 580 
     ¶B. JONES-ABERCROMBIE-WINSTANLEY E-MAIL OF 3/22/2007 
 
Classified by Charge Stuart Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
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Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (C)  Embassy Cairo has met with key Egyptian civil 
society advocates for women's and children's issues, and has 
reviewed the available literature on trafficking.  We have 
seen no evidence that confirms that child prostitution and 
forced or temporary marriages are occurring on any 
significant, documented scale in Egypt.  Considerably more 
research must be done in order to make a conclusive 
determination.  We have commissioned, through USAID, an 
assessment on these issues.  This assessment will be led by 
trafficking expert Mohamed Mattar, under a contract with 
Chemonics, and is scheduled for May-July 2007.  It would be 
premature and counter-productive to downgrade Egypt to Tier 3 
on the basis of the extremely limited, anecdotal, and poorly 
sourced information that is currently available.  The GOE, 
and leading civil society groups closely linked to the GOE, 
are engaged in the fight against TIP and in protecting 
Egypt's street children.  A Tier 3 determination without 
thorough documentation will likely make the GOE very 
reluctant to cooperate with the USG in future efforts to 
tackle trafficking.  End summary. 
 
----------------------------------- 
The Views of Key Activists in Cairo 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C)  The DCM met on March 28 with Ambassador Moushira 
Khattab, director of the GOE's National Council for Childhood 
and Motherhood (NCCM).  Khattab outlined the Council's 
ongoing efforts to protect street children, but lamented that 
there has been no research on this at-risk population.  The 
Council is now conducting its own study in cooperation with 
Cairo University and several NGOs.  Khattab expressed 
surprise that the USG would make any formal determination 
regarding Egypt in the absence of reliable documentary 
evidence about child prostitution and temporary marriages. 
Khattab acknowledged that Egypt faces major child protection 
challenges and welcomes USG support.  But she insisted that 
she knows of no evidence that would suggest that street 
children or other minors are being trafficked for 
prostitution.  Khattab also outlined NCCM efforts on broader 
child protection issues, including regional coordination 
meetings, assessment studies, and major input into a revised 
child protection law which will explicitly ban child 
trafficking. 
 
¶3.  (C)  Poloff discussed trafficking issues on March 20 with 
UNICEF Child Protection Officer Nadra Zaki who said that 
UNICEF data indicates that abuse, including rape, of street 
children (by both their peers and by adults) are much more 
pressing issues than allegations of child prostitution.  Zaki 
noted that a GOE study by the Ministry of Health indicated 
that some street children engaged in commercial sexual 
activity, but warned that it was not clear if their clients 
were other street children or adults.  Zaki said that despite 
the indications of some commercial sexual activity by street 
children, there was no evidence that this activity was 
controlled or coordinated by traffickers. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  In a similar vein, the Egyptian Center for the 
Rights of the Child, in a report sent to Embassy Cairo based 
on data from 2001-2002, indicated that sexual abuse of street 
children is a significant problem in Egypt, but was unable to 
provide any evidence that this involved commercial sexual 
activity. 
 
¶5.  (C)  Abla El-Badry, the director of the Hope Village 
organization, which operates shelters for street children, 
told A/IO that there is  anecdotal evidence that gangs of 
youths and young men do engage in detentions and sexual 
assaults on girls and young women from the street children 
community.  El-Badry noted that there are some unconfirmed 
reports that kidnappers have prostituted their victims, but 
said that a survey is needed to understand the extent of the 
problem and to design solutions. 
 
------------------------------- 
A Review of Relevant Literature 
------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  A review of the available literature also suggests 
 
that reports of child prostitution, and of temporary or 
forced marriages used to mask prostitution, must be examined 
critically.  For example, a 2001 ECPAT report notes that 
"there is still insufficient data and awareness concerning 
the phenomenon."  A 2003 ECPAT report on Commercial Sexual 
Exploitation of Children (CSEC) in North Africa noted that 
due to cultural taboos, Egyptians were not inclined to admit 
that child prostitution was a problem, and that CSEC "through 
prostitution is thus even more difficult to document." 
 
¶7.  (C)  ECPAT's most recent country profile for Egypt 
(available on www.ecpat.net, and which is undated but appears 
to have been drafted in late 2006) noted that "only limited 
information is available concerning CSEC in Egypt" and that 
there is a dearth of "reference resources or previous 
studies."  The statistics that ECPAT does cite to support its 
contention that "child prostitution in Egypt is significantly 
spreading" date from 1995-96.  ECPAT also asserts that 
according to "recent research by Dr. Nicholas Ciaccio, 
associate professor of sociology at AUC, more than 80 percent 
of the estimated 93,000 street children in Egypt are 
exploited sexually."  Dr. Ciaccio retired from AUC in 2004 
and does not appear to have conducted any research since 
then.  Ciaccio has relocated to the USA and has not responded 
to Embassy queries for clarification of his research.  ECPAT 
also cites an Arabic-language UNICEF study undertaken with 
the GOE's Ministry of Social Affairs as evidence of child 
prostitution.  According to UNICEF Nadra Zaki, the study in 
fact focuses strictly on the matter of early marriage of 
Egyptian girls to foreigners (especially Gulf Arab visitors), 
and asserts that in 4.4 percent of a sample of 500 families, 
there was evidence of early marriage to foreigners.  UNICEF 
stressed that this study should not be seen as evidence of a 
child prostitution problem. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Cairo's Land Center for Human Rights, one of 
Egypt's leading human rights NGOs, in a 2007 report, detailed 
the many child protection issues that Egypt faces, including 
sexual abuse, domestic violence, parental negligence, and 
several instances of detentions for domestic servitude.  The 
Land Center did not, however, report any instances of CSEC. 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  A 2006 IRIN report (Egypt:  Minors Sold for 
Prostitution under the Guise of Marriage") offered anecdotal 
reports of children "sold" into temporary marriages, but 
concluded that "few statistics or studies on the matter 
exist." 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
U.N. Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child 
prostitution, and child pornography 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU)  In a 2004 note addressed to the U.N. Special 
Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution, and 
child pornography, the Government of Egypt asserted that 
there had been no "cases of sex tourism or trafficking of 
children for the purposes of sexual exploitation abroad." 
The U.N. Special Rapporteur has not challenged the GOE on 
this point, neither prior to or subsequent to 2004. 
 
--------------------------- 
Comment and Recommendations 
--------------------------- 
 
¶11.  (C)  Embassy Cairo is working with the GOE and Egyptian 
civil society to address trafficking and to evaluate the 
sketchy reports that alleged child prostitution (especially 
of street children) and temporary marriages are a problem in 
Egypt.  In addition to the above-mentioned Chemonics 
assessment, USDOL has funded a major new initiative focused 
on eradicating child labor (implemented by UNICEF and WFP, in 
close coordination with the GOE) and we are currently working 
with CEDPA and IREX as they prepare proposals in response to 
G/TIP's recent solicitation.  Egypt clearly does face 
significant child protection issues. While more information 
is needed, the evidence available does not lead to a 
conclusion that Egypt faces problems with CSEC, temporary 
marriages, or the more lurid allegations that Cairo, 
Alexandria, and Aswan are sex tourism destinations. 
 
¶12.  (C)  We anticipate that the planned Chemonics study, 
headed by the respected Mohamed Mattar of the Johns Hopkins 
Protection Project, will shed considerable new light on this 
murky subject.  Moreover, we are hopeful that Mattar, will be 
able to connect with key GOE officials as well as NGO 
leaders, to build the necessary political will and commitment 
to tackling trafficking in all its forms.  We judge that a 
downgrade to Tier 3, over the undocumented allegations of 
 
child prostitution and temporary marriages, without more 
conclusive proof, would generate a strong pushback from the 
GOE, undermine our credibility, and make future collaboration 
on this issue much more difficult. 
 
¶13.  (C)  In order to address possible trafficking in Egypt 
related to child prostitution and other such issues, we first 
need to obtain more reliable information.  Accordingly, we 
strongly recommend that the Department not proceed with a 
downgrade for Egypt to Tier 3 on the basis of the currently 
available information.  If the Chemonics study, or any other 
studies, document with greater certainty that child 
prostitution and forced marriages are a significant piece of 
Egypt's TIP problem, we will be able to engage the GOE on 
this issue on the basis of facts. 
JONES