Human Trafficking in [Egypt Street Children in [Egypt] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Egypt] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Arab Republic of Egypt [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Arab Republic
of Egypt [map], located NE
Africa and SW Asia, is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea (N), Egypt is a transit
country for women trafficked from Uzbekistan, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, and
other Eastern European countries to Israel for sexual exploitation, and is a
source for children trafficked within the country for commercial sexual
exploitation and domestic servitude, although the extent to which children
are trafficked internally is unknown. Some of Cairo’s estimated one million
street children—both boys and girls—are exploited in prostitution. In
addition, wealthy men from the Gulf reportedly travel to Egypt to purchase
“temporary marriages” with Egyptian women, including in some cases girls who
are under age 18, often facilitated by the females’ parents and marriage
brokers. Some Egyptian cities may also be destinations for sex tourism.
Children were also recruited for domestic and agricultural work; some of
these children face conditions of involuntary servitude, such as restrictions
on movement, non-payment of wages, threats, and physical or sexual abuse. - U.S. State Dept
Trafficking in Persons Report, June 2008
[full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Egypt - Underage
And Unprotected: Child Labor In Egypt's Cotton Fields SUMMARY - Each year over one million
children between the ages of seven and twelve are hired by Egypt's agricultural
cooperatives to take part in cotton pest management. Employed under the
authority of Egypt's agriculture ministry, most are well below Egypt's
minimum age of twelve for seasonal agricultural work. They work eleven hours
a day, including a one to two hour break, seven days a week-far in excess of
limits set by the Egyptian Child Law.1
They also face routine beatings by their foremen, as well as exposure to heat
and pesticides. These conditions violate Egypt's obligations under the
Convention on the Rights of the Child to protect children from ill-treatment
and hazardous employment. They are also tantamount to the worst forms of
child labor, as defined in the International Labour Organization's Convention
182, which Egypt has not yet ratified. Children were forcibly recruited to
take part in pest management as recently as ten years ago, and some farmers
continue to believe that they will be fined if they resist their children's
recruitment. However, most children today are compelled to work by the
driving force of poverty. ***
ARCHIVES *** U.S. Dept
of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Reports indicate a widespread practice of poor rural families
making arrangements to send daughters to cities to work as domestic servants
in the homes of wealthy citizens. Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – There
were anecdotal and press reports of trafficking of persons from sub-Saharan
Africa and Eastern Europe through the country to Europe and NGOs
warn against plan to increase Russian visas However, Russia is considered a
transit destination for trafficking operations, with many men, women and
children from neighboring countries arriving there before being transported
elsewhere. Egypt has no visa requirements for Russian visitors, and its
border with Israel is considered to be a main entry point for human
traffickers. Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 6 Civil Liberties: 5 Status: Not Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide U.S. Library of Congress
- Country Study Egyptian
Journalists Trained to Report on Child Labor Issues Internews Arabic Network held a
training session in Aswan, Cairo in March to increase Egyptian journalists’
understanding of the harms of child labor and how journalists can help
alleviate this problem in Egypt. Liberian court
tries Egyptian woman for child trafficking The Criminal Court in Monrovia
Tuesday indicted Fathia Kieta, an Egyptian wife of a Liberian diplomat
accredited to Egypt, on charges of child trafficking. The woman is accused of
"kidnapping" four Moroccan children she brought to Liberia. She
seized their passports and curtailed their movements. Court records showed that the four children
were confined to a Monrovia pub "where they were exposed to involuntary
prostitution and other illegal services". Egypt - Underage
And Unprotected: Child Labor In Egypt's Cotton Fields SUMMARY - Each year over one million
children between the ages of seven and twelve are hired by Egypt's agricultural
cooperatives to take part in cotton pest management. Employed under the
authority of Egypt's agriculture ministry, most are well below Egypt's
minimum age of twelve for seasonal agricultural work. They work eleven hours
a day, including a one to two hour break, seven days a week-far in excess of
limits set by the Egyptian Child Law.1 They also face routine beatings
by their foremen, as well as exposure to heat and pesticides. These
conditions violate Egypt's obligations under the Convention on the Rights of
the Child to protect children from ill-treatment and hazardous employment.
They are also tantamount to the worst forms of child labor, as defined in the
International Labour Organization's Convention 182, which Egypt has not yet
ratified. Children were forcibly recruited to take part in pest management as
recently as ten years ago, and some farmers continue to believe that they
will be fined if they resist their children's recruitment. However, most
children today are compelled to work by the driving force of poverty. It is estimated that around 1.2
million children swarm the Egyptian cotton fields in early summer (Schemm,
p.8). Most of them are below 12 years of age and work up to 11 hours each
day, thus impeaching Egypt's laws that state that a child of 12 (the minimum
working age) can only participate in a six hour work day of seasonal
agricultural work. Children not only toil under the hot sun, but are beaten
by the foreman and forced to work in fields that have been sprayed with
pesticides only pesticides only 24 - 48 hours earlier. Yet these children
play an important role in the labor intensive cotton fields…being ideal in
height and plentiful in number. Laws:
October, 1997 - Number #17 CHILD LABOR - In Egypt, education is supposed
to be compulsory to the age of 15, but thousands of children as young as age
six pick cotton by hand in September for about $1.50 for an eight-hour day.
In September 1997, 31 children were killed when the flatbed government truck
taking them to a government-owned cotton field overturned. Egyptian law
prohibits employment under 12 in agriculture, and under 14 in nonfarm jobs.
However, these age limits are routinely violated, including by the
Agriculture Ministry, which owns 10 percent of the cotton fields in
Egypt. The Egyptian Center for Social
Research estimates that 1.5 million children in Egypt under the age of 14 work,
and that most work in agriculture. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use |
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Human Trafficking in [Egypt Street Children in [Egypt] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Egypt] [other countries]