Trafficking in Persons Interim Assessment - Egypt

[From the introductory text accompanying this report on the U.S. Department of State website: "In most cases, the Interim Assessment is intended to serve as a tool by which to gauge the anti-trafficking progress of countries that may be in danger of slipping a tier in the upcoming June 2010 TIP Report and to give them guidance on how to avoid a Tier 3 ranking. It is a tightly focused progress report, assessing the concrete actions a government has taken to address the key deficiencies highlighted in the June 2009 TIP Report. The Interim Assessment covers actions undertaken between the beginning of May – the cutoff for data covered in the June TIP Report – and November. Readers are requested to refer to the annual TIP Report for an analysis of large-scale efforts and a description of the trafficking problem in each particular country or territory."]

The Government of Egypt has made limited progress against human trafficking since the release of the 2009 TIP Report. A court in October 2009 convicted two marriage registrars under the anti-trafficking provisions of the country's Child Protection law. The two had illegally registered marriages of girls under the age of 18. In November, police arrested an additional 21 marriage registrars and charged them with illegally registering under-age marriages. The government did not report efforts to investigate or prosecute cases of the involuntary domestic servitude of children, nor did it provide adequate services to assist these children. The government does not actively encourage victims to assist in investigations against their traffickers.

Egypt has not yet enacted legislation criminalizing all forms of human trafficking, though the government completed a draft comprehensive anti-trafficking law for submission to Egypt's parliament. Egypt has provided limited in-kind support to NGOs providing protection services to victims. Working with a local NGO, Egypt's Ministry for Family and Population established a rehabilitation center for victims of child trafficking in Cairo's Dar El Salaam area in August 2009.

Despite the public prosecutor office's efforts in training prosecutors, judges, social workers, health inspectors, and other officials on victim identification, the government did not employ formal procedures to identify victims of trafficking and refer them to providers of care; as a result, trafficking victims were at risk for being treated as criminals rather than victims.

No progress was reported in creating specialized care for adults and foreign trafficking victims in Egypt's drop-in and day care centers, which can provide care to trafficked victims. In August 2009, the Minister of Family and Population launched a campaign against underage marriages to Arab tourists in villages in the 6th of October Governorate, where short-term marriages of underage girls are rife.