VZCZCXYZ0017
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHEG #0721/01 1181451
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 281451Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2293

UNCLAS CAIRO 000721 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA, G/TIP FOR YOUSEY, G/TIP FOR TAYLOR, 
NEA/ELA FOR CHATTERJI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KCRM KWMN KJUS EG
SUBJECT: EGYPT MAKING PROGRESS TO COUNTER TRAFFICKING IN 
PERSONS (TIP) 
 
REF: 08 CAIRO 2525 
 
SENSITIVE, BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY 
 
¶1. (SBU) Key Points: 
 
-- Since the November 2008 visit of G/TIP Coordinator, 
Ambassador Mark Lagon to Egypt, the Government of Egypt (GOE) 
has continued to make progress to address trafficking in 
persons by beginning to implement the anti-trafficking 
amendments to the child law (reftel), opening its first 
rehabilitation center, and increasing public awareness on 
trafficking issues. 
 
-- There are two cases currently in the Egyptian courts, 
which are using the anti-trafficking amendments to try 
perpetrators of trafficking crimes.  The victims in one case 
have been turned over to other governmental bodies for 
protection, and provision of medical, pyschosocial and 
rehabilitation services. 
 
-- Both the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood 
(NCCM) and the Public Prosecutor's office have trained people 
on how to use the new amendments in their work on TIP. 
 
-- First Lady Suzanne Mubarak has played a leading role in 
raising public awareness of TIP both in Egypt and the Middle 
East region.  Other governmental organizations such as NCCM 
and the National Council for Human Rights have carried out 
studies and seminars to raise awareness. 
 
-- The GOE is drafting a comprehensive anti-trafficking law. 
The Egyptian National Commission for Combating TIP hopes the 
law will be presented to parliament during the fall 2009 
session. 
 
-- NCCM is working to address the issues of "forced and 
temporary marriages" and child sex tourism. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Comment: Although Egypt still does not fully comply 
with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act's (TVPA) minimum 
standards, it is making significant efforts to comply with 
the minimum standards.  Both Prosecutor Hany Fathy Georgy and 
Dr. Azza El Ashmawy participated in the International 
Visitors Program in 2005.  Both reference this training as 
the "watershed" event in helping them to understand TIP. 
They have both risen to leadership position with the Public 
Prosecutors Office and NCCM and are two of the Egyptian 
champions in combating TIP.  First Lady Suzanne Mubarak's 
impact cannot be overstated, as her involvement signals the 
clear interest and support of the President.  Although she is 
not officially part of the government, her status as First 
Lady gives her an informal political role and the ability to 
make significant political and social changes.  More than one 
of our contact told us that because of her activism and 
efforts, officials at the Ministries of Interior and Justice 
are now afraid to drag their feet on TIP issues. The Mission 
also urges graduating Egypt from the Watch List to Tier 2. 
Egypt has met the criteria as the number of trafficking 
victims is not significantly increasing, and the GOE made 
substantial efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in 
persons in 2008. Not to do so could undermine our credibility 
and the influence of those Egyptians who have been willing to 
work with us. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
Implementing Child Law Amendments and Protecting Victims 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Hany Fathy Georgy, Senior Chief Prosecutor at the 
Public Prosecutor's told us that the Public Prosecutor's 
office has two cases using the child law amendments.  In 
March, the Public Prosecutor's office began prosecuting a 
case in the Alexandria Criminal Court involving a gang that 
forced four young boys to participate in homosexual 
prostitution in exchange for money. The defendants are being 
charged under the new child law amendments and the 
prostitution law.  Georgy also told us that the Public 
Prosecutor's office transferred the victims to the care of 
NCCM, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Social 
Solidarity to provide protection, medical treatment, as well 
as psychological and rehabilitation services. Also in March, 
Giza Security arrested the parents of three girls, and three 
men from the Gulf, after investigations revealed that the 
parents sold the girls, aged 12 and 13, for prostitution 
purposes in exchange for 3000 Egyptian pounds (USD 550) per 
week for each child. The five defendants were transferred to 
South Giza Prosecution.  The parents were charged with 
trafficking under the child amendments and the Gulf men were 
 
charged with sexual assault. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Training to Use the Anti-Trafficking Amendments 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Subsequent to the June 2008 passage of the new child 
law amendments that criminalize all forms of trafficking in 
children (reftel), NCCM conducted 10 capacity building 
training sessions with the Ministries of Interior, Justice, 
Tourism, Health, Religious Affairs, Manpower and the Public 
Prosecutor's Office to raise awareness of the amendments and 
help officials understand the crimes and sanctions under the 
new amendments.  Over 370 government officials, including 45 
judges and prosecutors, and 107 social workers in the Cairo, 
Giza and 6th of October Governorates, participated in the 
NCCM training sessions.  Prosecutor General Abd El-Megeed 
Mahmoud told us on February 18 that the Public Prosecutor's 
Office issued a guidebook to train all judges and prosecutors 
on the effective and strict implementation of the 
anti-trafficking child amendments. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
Opening the First Rehabilitation Center 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Dr. Azza El Ashmawy, Director of the National 
Council for Childhood and Motherhood's (NCCM) TIP unit told 
us on March 29 that NCCM opened a rehabilitation center in 
January in the southern Cairo neighborhood of Dar el-Salaam 
to aid street children who had either been victimized by 
traffickers or were vulnerable to being trafficked.  She told 
us that NCCM was working with the British NGO, FACE, and the 
French company, Danone (Dannon) to run the center.  Both NCCM 
and FACE worked for one year to gain the trust of the street 
children.  The center currently offers day services to 25 
young boys, but has plans to offer residential services in 
the future.  El Ashmawy told us that many of the boys at the 
center had been abused, were involved in forced begging, and 
committed petty crimes in order to survive on the streets of 
Cairo.  She said that the center provides the boys with 
counseling services, medical care, lunch, and literacy and 
computer training. Danone funded the training of the center's 
social workers and provides a doctor for medical checkups. 
NCCM also plans to open a rehabilitation center for at-risk 
girls in the near future.  NCCM is also working to document 
the nature and magnitude of the street children problem in 
Egypt. 
 
-------------------- 
Increasing Awareness 
-------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Egypt has taken steps to increase public awareness 
of TIP issues primarily through the voice of First Lady 
Suzanne Mubarak. Mrs. Mubarak plays a leading role in leading 
the fight against TIP. She is a key voice in the NCCM, which 
operates under the direction of her close friend, the 
Minister of Family and Population, Ambassador Moushira 
Khattab.  In December, Mrs. Mubarak was a co-sponsor with the 
International Organization for Migration (IOM) at the Cairo 
launch of the Arabic version of the IOM's handbook on 
"Providing Direct Assistance to Victims of Trafficking." 
Suzanne Mubarak's Peace Movement has an international 
campaign called &End Human Trafficking Now," and in March 
2009 the movement helped to organize a regional conference in 
Bahrain called "Trafficking in Persons at the Crossroads." 
Dr. Nihal Fahmy, UNODC's former regional consultant on TIP 
told us on February 3 that as a direct result of Mrs. 
Mubarak's anti-TIP activities, there was a noticeable 
increase of Egyptian media coverage on trafficking issues in 
¶2008. 
 
¶7. (SBU) In November 2008, the National Council for Human 
Rights special seminar on trafficking which brought together 
officials from different sectors to address the problem and 
identify its magnitude. On March 29, NCCM's TIP unit 
presented us with a draft copy of a manual to raise awareness 
among parents and hospital workers of the dangers of selling 
and trafficking new-born infants.  NCCM will follow up on the 
manual with training programs for nurses, doctors, and 
psycho-social specialists. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
Status of Comprehensive Trafficking Law 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Hany Georgy told us on April 22 that the Egyptian 
National Commission for Combating TIP had one more session 
 
before it finished drafting the comprehensive trafficking law 
(reftel).  He hoped that the draft would be ready in time to 
be presented before parliament in the fall of 2009. 
 
----------------------- 
Study on Early Marriage 
----------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) El Ashmawy told us that NCCM will launch a six-month 
study in the 6th of October Governorate on "early marriage" 
in Egypt late April.  The study will specifically focus on 
the problem of "forced or temporary marriage" of young 
Egyptian girls to older men from the Gulf.  The study will 
also examine ways to implement the Ministry of Justice's 
"legal regulation" that bans the registration of marriages of 
Egyptian women to foreigners if the age gap is more than 25 
years, which was instituted to eliminate temporary marriages 
of Gulf men to young Egyptian girls. NCCM also plans to 
launch a website of forced and temporary marriage and conduct 
a media campaign to raise awareness of the problem. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Working to Address Child Sex Tourism 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶10. (SBU) El Ashmawy admitted that admitted that the Ministry 
of Tourism has been slow to engage on TIP issues and NCCM was 
working with them to get tourism officials to understand the 
"code of conduct" and get them to work on the problem of 
child sex tourism. 
SCOBEY