Cairo, 7 November - The International Organization for Migration (IOM), the National Coordinating Committee on Combatting and Preventing Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Persons (NCCPIM&TIP), and the National Centre for Judicial Studies (NCJS) launched a series of capacity building trainings on counter-trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants for judges across Egypt.

The trainings are part of IOM’s support to the Egyptian government’s commitment to enhance national mechanisms to combat and prevent trafficking and smuggling as envisaged by the two national strategies implemented by the NCCPIM&TIP. The trainings are also an extension of IOM’s ongoing cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Justice (MoJ), and the start of a new collaboration with the NCJS.

Egypt’s updated legislative amendments – counter-trafficking law 64/2010 and counter smuggling law 82/2016, drafted and adopted with IOM support – require judges to be well-versed in both national and international laws. Judges operate in a convoluted legal system and the trainings provide them with easy reference tools to identify and respond to trafficking and smuggling cases.

“The trainings are the first of many cooperation modalities envisaged with IOM to invest in capacity development for members of the judiciary, facilitating access to knowledge and professional enhancement,” said Counselor Omar Hafeez, Deputy Minister of Justice and Director of the NCJS.

The pool of participants includes newly-appointed judges across Egypt, with a focus on governorates, which are more prone to human traffecking and smuggling.

The training focuses on the identification of and response to victims of trafficking, smuggled migrants, protection, and the implications of law 82/2016. This follows the U.S. Department of State's 2016 Report on Trafficking in Persons which recommends increasing training for all government officials. Capacity development trainings and technical support are also one of the priorities identified in the National Strategies and Action Plans that were adopted in September 2016.

The trainings are supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the US Department of State and the Government of the United Kingdom.

For more information, please contact Mr Andrea Dabizzi, at IOM Egypt. Tel: +202-27365140, Email: iomegypt@iom.int