Hurghada and Fayoum, Egypt - 22 December 2017 - Under the framework of GLO.ACT, UNODC organized two workshops on migrant smuggling for prosecutors from 11-14 December in Hurghada and from 17-20 December in Fayoum.
Egypt is a source, transit, and destination country for trafficking in persons (TIP) and the smuggling of migrants (SOM). Primary SOM routes are from the Horn of Africa and Eastern Africa taken by migrants seeking passage to Europe. In 2016, Egypt adopted Law No. 82/2016 on Combating Illegal Migration and the Smuggling of Migrants, which merged the National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration and the National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Trafficking in Persons (NCCPIM & TIP). To help strengthen national capacities to investigate and prosecute migrant smuggling, a series of training workshops are currently being rolled-out under the framework of GLO.ACT and, to date, over 40 prosecutors have been trained.
The recent workshops aimed to develop the prosecutors' skills for dealing with cases of migrant smuggling according to Law 82/2016. The prosecutors learned specific investigation skills that would strengthen the evidence base in cases of migrant smuggling.
At the workshop in Hurghada, Counsellor Mohamed Ezzat, Senior Coordinator at the International Cooperation Administration of the General Prosecutor's Office and Mr. Khaled El Nakady, Senior Coordinator at the NCCPIM & TIP provided opening remarks. Mr. Ezzat said, "The Public Prosecution Office appreciates the efforts by UNODC to strengthen the capabilities of the national prosecutors". He also thanked the European Union (EU) for its support on migrant smuggling interventions. Mr. El Nakady commended UNODC for its training model and emphasized Egypt's willingness to engage in strategic cooperation with all international organizations and donors, including the EU.
The four-day workshops covered a broad range of topics such as:
The last day of each workshop was interactive in nature and included a mock trial. Participants were divided into two groups, with one group representing the prosecution and the other group the defense. The groups studied a migrant smuggling case and participated in the simulation of an investigation and trial. After the mock trial, the participants discussed the challenges they faced in the investigation and prosecution of real SOM cases. For example, many of the prosecutors believed migrant smuggling cases to be fairly straight forward, overlooking the complexity and multi-dimensional nature of migration and migrant smuggling.
After the Hurghada workshop, Counselor Ahmed Baset from Qenna said, "The training was extremely beneficial to my work. What I learnt will help me restructure my tactics in dealing with such migrant smuggling cases."
The Global Action to Prevent and Address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT) is a four-year (2015-2019), €11 million joint initiative by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The project is being implemented in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). GLO.ACT aims to provide assistance to governmental authorities and civil society organizations across 13 strategically selected countries: Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Mali, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, South Africa, Ukraine. GLO.ACT works with the 13 countries to plan and implement strategic national counter-trafficking and counter smuggling efforts through a prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships approach. It supports the development of more effective responses to trafficking and smuggling, including providing assistance to victims of trafficking and vulnerable migrants through the strengthening of identification, referral, and direct support mechanisms.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Faisal Hegazy
UNODC Programme Officer
faisal.hegazy@unodc.org
www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/glo-act/
Email: glo.act@un.org
Twitter: @glo_act