On Monday, July 10th, a regional conference on fostering international cooperation to prevent and address trafficking in persons (TIP) and smuggling of migrants (SOM) kicked off in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh.
The conference is organized by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the regional office for the Middle East and North Africa in cooperation with Egypt’s National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Persons (NCCPIMTIP).
Addressing the inaugural session, the head of the NCCPIMTIP, Naela Gabr, stressed Egypt’s key role in combating the crimes of human trafficking and illegal migration.
She added: At the national level, Egypt has also been acting to suppress the two crimes through an effective legal framework consisting of the 2014 constitution and the laws combating human trafficking and illegal migration.
Gabr told the conference that the Egyptian vision of how to combat the crimes of human trafficking and illegal migration is based on respecting the internationally-recognized principles of human rights.
Moreover, she underscored national strategies that include activities to raise public awareness, as well as training courses, noting that inalienable basic human rights are at the heart of all of them.
The head of the NCCPIMTIP further pointed out that development is the main pillar to help create jobs for youth, noting that alternative solutions have been made available, including through small and medium-sized enterprises.
She continued: Awareness programs are meant to inform youth and their families about the risks of illegal migration, as well as make clear to them the different forms of human trafficking.
Gabr also stressed that Egypt has been keen on joining the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its two protocols: the Protocol to Suppress, Prevent and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air.
She finally told the gathering that regional cooperation is an effective tool to exchange expertise and success stories, which in turn support investigations and judicial pursuit that would eventually lead to dismantling criminal networks that further mushroom in light of the successive political and economic crises.
Development is the main pillar to help create jobs for youth, Gabr said, noting that alternative solutions have been made available, including through small and medium-sized enterprises.
Awareness programs are meant to inform youth and their families about the risks of illegal migration, as well as making clear to them the different forms of human trafficking, she further said.
She finally told the gathering that regional cooperation is an effective tool to exchange expertise and success stories in order to support investigations and judicial pursuit that would eventually lead to dismantling criminal networks that further mushroom in light of the successive political and economic crises.
