Cairo, 4 November 2020 - IOM Egypt, in partnership with the Government of Egypt and its counterparts, the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MOSS), the National Coordinating Committee for Combatting and Preventing Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Persons (NCCPIM&TIP), the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM), the Embassy of Denmark, and the Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC), attended a press conference to inaugurate the opening of the first government-run shelter for victims of trafficking (VoT) in Egypt.

The shelter, funded by the Embassy of Denmark, under the umbrella of the SPHERE project, is slated to commence operations accommodating up to 30 female and children VoTs.

A month prior to this inauguration, the Danish Foreign Minister, H.E. Jeppe Kofod, visited the IOM Mission to Egypt and met with Laurent de Boeck, Chief of Mission, as well as Mr. Karim Atassi, Representative of UNHCR, discuss the challenges and opportunities of migration within and from Egypt and identify potential synergies for furthering cooperation between the two countries.

Under SPHERE I, IOM in cooperation with NCCPIM&TIP, contributed to the opening of the VoT shelter and the enhancement of the mechanism of hotline response to human trafficking cases managed by the NCCM, NCW and NCHR. The new project intends to continue strengthening the institutional response by enhancing the capacities of the shelter and hotline operators, making their response effective and coordinated with the intervention of other stakeholders.

“Today, thanks to generous support provided by the Embassy of Denmark, IOM is glad to contribute to the establishment of the only Government-run shelter for VoTs in Egypt, by refurbishing and equipping the premises. The shelter is slated to commence operations accommodating up to 30 female and children VoTs. Such achievement is in line with the country’s national strategy 2016-2021 for Combating and Preventing Trafficking in Persons”, said de Boeck, Chief of Mission to IOM Egypt.

IOM Egypt and the Government of Egypt have long cooperated to better identify VoTs. In order to ensure a comprehensive support, the helpline of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) was established; and the helpline of National Council for Women (NCW) was enhanced to enable them to respond to cases of VoTs, for male and female victims, respectively. The two Councils were provided with telecommunication equipment, to provide protection services, including dedicated shelters, to victims of all forms of trafficking and allocate adequate resources and staffing for these services.

Egypt ratified the Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in March 2004, and approved the Law on Combating Trafficking in Person in 2010.

Egyptian national law is highly in line with the international legal standards, proving the government’s keenness to improve its protection provision of VoTs and its efforts in terms of prosecution. Over the years, there has been a steady improvement in addressing the trafficking-related issues, as evidenced in the increase in the number of apprehended and convicted human trafficking perpetrators, a high contrast to previous years.

IOM looks forward to contributing to the Government of Egypt’s efforts to ensure that human trafficking to and through Egypt is monitored and curbed and victims of trafficking are promptly identified and assisted.

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