Cairo, 22 October 2020 - IOM Egypt and the Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG), in cooperation with the National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Persons (NCCPIM&TIP), organized two virtual trainings for public prosecutors during 19- 22 October, 2020, keeping in view the COVID-19 precautions. The trainings focused on enhancing capacities of forty public prosecutors from Cairo and Giza, on Investigating and Prosecuting the crimes of smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons.

The Prosecutor General of Egypt, H.E Counselor/ Hamada Al – Sawy inaugurated the series of virtual trainings in the presence of Mr. Andrea Dabizzi, Head of MPA at IOM Egypt, highlighting the longstanding cooperation between IOM and OPG on a range of interventions to enhance national capacities and strengthen cross-border cooperation in the fight against smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons.

The use of technology to overcome challenges in implementing the trainings due to COVID-19 precautionary measures, was appreciated and it was asserted that this methodology should be continued for capacity building and gathering feedback through discussions with participants in the future as well to continue to tailor the joint interventions.  Furthermore, it was stressed that capacity building initiatives should be extended to other countries in the region and beyond under the auspices of various cross-border fora including the Africa Prosecutors Association, to harmonize the approach and practice in curbing migration-related crimes, whilst protecting vulnerable migrants.

The training sessions focused on relevant national and international legal frameworks, financial investigations, discussions on practical case studies and best practices from national and international contexts, victim, and witness protection safeguards. The final training session of the series will be held on 27-28 October 2020, following which further virtual feedback and discussion sessions will be planned with the participants on the impact of the capacity building activities.

The trainings were organized under the Africa Regional Migration Program funded by United States Department of State Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration.

For more information, please contact Wigdan Mohamad at IOM Egypt, Tel: +20 1012 428 527, Email: wimohamad@iom.int