Cairo, 24  July – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Egypt in collaboration with the Egyptian Office of Prosecutor General (OPG) organized last week a Symposium for Enhancing Knowledge and Cross Border Cooperation among African Prosecutors on combating human trafficking and migrant smuggling in Cairo. The symposium was attended by officials from the Egyptian OPG, twenty prosecutors from fourteen countries and technical experts.

Justice Kamel Guirguis, OPG’s Head of International Cooperation, and Ambassador Gabr Head of National Coordinating Committee for Combatting and preventing Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Persons NCCPIM&TIP, inaugurated the symposium with speeches highlighting the importance of cross-border cooperation in tackling transnational migration-related crimes, and the vital role of those present in setting the tone of discussions on this topic along the complex migratory routes.

“IOM’s role as an inter-governmental agency allows us to see, from a global perspective, the many intricacies of migration-related crimes, and to share those perspectives with our Member States. Cross-border cooperation is essential in the efforts to combat and prevent trafficking, smuggling, and other related offenses. The willingness of the States represented in this Symposium is indicative of the growing cooperation we’re seeing across the African continent to prevent the abuse of migrants in the form of trafficking in persons and smuggling.” said Laurent De Boeck in his speech.

The discussions over the two-day symposium focused on enhancing regional cooperation among public prosecution offices of African countries to curb migration-related crimes, with emphasis on best practices in cross-border cooperation, investigations and evidence collection in the digital era, financial investigations and improving migration data management and analysis. Ms. Dorothy Shea, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of the United States of America in Cairo, addressed the participants and emphasized the commitment of the Government of United States to support efforts to effectively combat human trafficking and migrant smuggling.

The participants deliberated on challenges they face as practitioners and put forth key recommendations to enhance cross-border cooperation in prosecuting perpetrators of human trafficking and migrant smuggling while ensuring protection of vulnerable migrants.  The recommendations included advocacy for ratification of relevant international conventions, concluding bilateral and multilateral agreements to enhance cross-border cooperation and establishing more time efficient channels of communications between public prosecution authorities, amongst others.

The Symposium was made possible by the Government United States of America. This collaboration will work to support the achievement of the National Strategies for Combatting Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Persons of Egypt.

For more information, please contact Omar Awwad at IOM Egypt, Tel: +20 1032 049 144 ; Email: oawwad@iom.int