Cairo - In collaboration with the office of the Egyptian Public Prosecution Office, the offices of the International Organization of Migration in Egypt and Algeria organized a global symposium on the Role of Digital Evidence in Combating and Investigating Transnational Organized Crimes: Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants.

The event was attended by high-level delegations from prosecutor offices, aimed at implementing IOM’s institutional approach to counter-trafficking, employing international legal frameworks related to trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, and to link of these frameworks to cybercrime and obtaining, analysing digital evidence and its forensic use.

The symposium, which was held in Hurgada, was attended by 53 Senior prosecutors from 22 Countries (Egypt, Mauritius, Uganda, Namibia, Mozambique, Morocco, Angola, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tunisia, Kenya, South Africa, Kuwait, Jordon, Lebanon, Lesotho, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, KSA, The Netherlands and Germany), as well as relevant experts from the U.S.A and academia.

“This symposium covers an urgent topic as we are currently living in a digitally connected world. Cybercrime has massively grown, causing economic and social consequences on governments, businesses, and individuals all over the globe. Migrants and people on the move are unfortunately no exception to this”. Said Mr. Carlos Oliver Cruz, IOM Chief of Mission in Egypt.

The gathering of senior prosecutors served as an excellent opportunity to gather the African Prosecutors Association members (APA) and Arab Prosecutors to enhance their knowledge and exchange experiences on combating and investigating transnational organized crimes and to explore ways of enhancing international Judicial cooperation among APA and Arab countries. It saw the valuable contribution/ participation of The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL).

“This regional symposium is essential as it witnesses a real exchange of experiences between members of the Public Prosecution Office in the countries of the region”. Said Mr. Mohamed Khalaf, Director of the International Cooperation and Human Rights Departments of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Egypt.

The completion of this symposium contributes to the acknowledgement of the urgent need to support and protect vulnerable migrants. The activity was generously funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) through the sub-regional desk of Africa Regional Migration Program ARMP in Cairo. It aligns with IOM Egypt’s engagement with the Government of Egypt on the protection of migrants and enhancement of related National and Regional capacities and Egypt’s Vision 2030.

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For more information please contact Salma Okasha, sokasha@iom.int