Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07CAIRO1029
2007-04-11 11:05:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Cairo
Cable title:  

EMBASSY CAIRO ASSESSMENT OF CHILD PROSTITUTION AND

Tags:  PGOV KCRIM KWMN EG 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHEG #1029/01 1011105
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 111105Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4535
INFO RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 001029 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/RA, G/TIP
NSC STAFF FOR RICK WATERS, PAT DAVIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2017
TAGS: PGOV KCRIM KWMN EG
SUBJECT: EMBASSY CAIRO ASSESSMENT OF CHILD PROSTITUTION AND
FORCED MARRIAGES AS FACTORS IN TIP IN EGYPT

REF: A. CAIRO 580

B. JONES-ABERCROMBIE-WINSTANLEY E-MAIL OF 3/22/2007

Classified by Charge Stuart Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

-------
Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 001029

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/RA, G/TIP
NSC STAFF FOR RICK WATERS, PAT DAVIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2017
TAGS: PGOV KCRIM KWMN EG
SUBJECT: EMBASSY CAIRO ASSESSMENT OF CHILD PROSTITUTION AND
FORCED MARRIAGES AS FACTORS IN TIP IN EGYPT

REF: A. CAIRO 580

B. JONES-ABERCROMBIE-WINSTANLEY E-MAIL OF 3/22/2007

Classified by Charge Stuart Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (C) Embassy Cairo has met with key Egyptian civil
society advocates for women's and children's issues, and has
reviewed the available literature on trafficking. We have
seen no evidence that confirms that child prostitution and
forced or temporary marriages are occurring on any
significant, documented scale in Egypt. Considerably more
research must be done in order to make a conclusive
determination. We have commissioned, through USAID, an
assessment on these issues. This assessment will be led by
trafficking expert Mohamed Mattar, under a contract with
Chemonics, and is scheduled for May-July 2007. It would be
premature and counter-productive to downgrade Egypt to Tier 3
on the basis of the extremely limited, anecdotal, and poorly
sourced information that is currently available. The GOE,
and leading civil society groups closely linked to the GOE,
are engaged in the fight against TIP and in protecting
Egypt's street children. A Tier 3 determination without
thorough documentation will likely make the GOE very
reluctant to cooperate with the USG in future efforts to
tackle trafficking. End summary.

--------------
The Views of Key Activists in Cairo
--------------


2. (C) The DCM met on March 28 with Ambassador Moushira
Khattab, director of the GOE's National Council for Childhood
and Motherhood (NCCM). Khattab outlined the Council's
ongoing efforts to protect street children, but lamented that
there has been no research on this at-risk population. The
Council is now conducting its own study in cooperation with
Cairo University and several NGOs. Khattab expressed
surprise that the USG would make any formal determination
regarding Egypt in the absence of reliable documentary
evidence about child prostitution and temporary marriages.
Khattab acknowledged that Egypt faces major child protection
challenges and welcomes USG support. But she insisted that

she knows of no evidence that would suggest that street
children or other minors are being trafficked for
prostitution. Khattab also outlined NCCM efforts on broader
child protection issues, including regional coordination
meetings, assessment studies, and major input into a revised
child protection law which will explicitly ban child
trafficking.


3. (C) Poloff discussed trafficking issues on March 20 with
UNICEF Child Protection Officer Nadra Zaki who said that
UNICEF data indicates that abuse, including rape, of street
children (by both their peers and by adults) are much more
pressing issues than allegations of child prostitution. Zaki
noted that a GOE study by the Ministry of Health indicated
that some street children engaged in commercial sexual
activity, but warned that it was not clear if their clients
were other street children or adults. Zaki said that despite
the indications of some commercial sexual activity by street
children, there was no evidence that this activity was
controlled or coordinated by traffickers.


4. (SBU) In a similar vein, the Egyptian Center for the
Rights of the Child, in a report sent to Embassy Cairo based
on data from 2001-2002, indicated that sexual abuse of street
children is a significant problem in Egypt, but was unable to
provide any evidence that this involved commercial sexual
activity.


5. (C) Abla El-Badry, the director of the Hope Village
organization, which operates shelters for street children,
told A/IO that there is anecdotal evidence that gangs of
youths and young men do engage in detentions and sexual
assaults on girls and young women from the street children
community. El-Badry noted that there are some unconfirmed
reports that kidnappers have prostituted their victims, but
said that a survey is needed to understand the extent of the
problem and to design solutions.

--------------
A Review of Relevant Literature
--------------


6. (SBU) A review of the available literature also suggests

that reports of child prostitution, and of temporary or
forced marriages used to mask prostitution, must be examined
critically. For example, a 2001 ECPAT report notes that
"there is still insufficient data and awareness concerning
the phenomenon." A 2003 ECPAT report on Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children (CSEC) in North Africa noted that
due to cultural taboos, Egyptians were not inclined to admit
that child prostitution was a problem, and that CSEC "through
prostitution is thus even more difficult to document."


7. (C) ECPAT's most recent country profile for Egypt
(available on www.ecpat.net, and which is undated but appears
to have been drafted in late 2006) noted that "only limited
information is available concerning CSEC in Egypt" and that
there is a dearth of "reference resources or previous
studies." The statistics that ECPAT does cite to support its
contention that "child prostitution in Egypt is significantly
spreading" date from 1995-96. ECPAT also asserts that
according to "recent research by Dr. Nicholas Ciaccio,
associate professor of sociology at AUC, more than 80 percent
of the estimated 93,000 street children in Egypt are
exploited sexually." Dr. Ciaccio retired from AUC in 2004
and does not appear to have conducted any research since
then. Ciaccio has relocated to the USA and has not responded
to Embassy queries for clarification of his research. ECPAT
also cites an Arabic-language UNICEF study undertaken with
the GOE's Ministry of Social Affairs as evidence of child
prostitution. According to UNICEF Nadra Zaki, the study in
fact focuses strictly on the matter of early marriage of
Egyptian girls to foreigners (especially Gulf Arab visitors),
and asserts that in 4.4 percent of a sample of 500 families,
there was evidence of early marriage to foreigners. UNICEF
stressed that this study should not be seen as evidence of a
child prostitution problem.


8. (SBU) Cairo's Land Center for Human Rights, one of
Egypt's leading human rights NGOs, in a 2007 report, detailed
the many child protection issues that Egypt faces, including
sexual abuse, domestic violence, parental negligence, and
several instances of detentions for domestic servitude. The
Land Center did not, however, report any instances of CSEC.


9. (SBU) A 2006 IRIN report (Egypt: Minors Sold for
Prostitution under the Guise of Marriage") offered anecdotal
reports of children "sold" into temporary marriages, but
concluded that "few statistics or studies on the matter
exist."

-------------- --------------
U.N. Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child
prostitution, and child pornography
-------------- --------------


10. (SBU) In a 2004 note addressed to the U.N. Special
Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution, and
child pornography, the Government of Egypt asserted that
there had been no "cases of sex tourism or trafficking of
children for the purposes of sexual exploitation abroad."
The U.N. Special Rapporteur has not challenged the GOE on
this point, neither prior to or subsequent to 2004.

--------------
Comment and Recommendations
--------------


11. (C) Embassy Cairo is working with the GOE and Egyptian
civil society to address trafficking and to evaluate the
sketchy reports that alleged child prostitution (especially
of street children) and temporary marriages are a problem in
Egypt. In addition to the above-mentioned Chemonics
assessment, USDOL has funded a major new initiative focused
on eradicating child labor (implemented by UNICEF and WFP, in
close coordination with the GOE) and we are currently working
with CEDPA and IREX as they prepare proposals in response to
G/TIP's recent solicitation. Egypt clearly does face
significant child protection issues. While more information
is needed, the evidence available does not lead to a
conclusion that Egypt faces problems with CSEC, temporary
marriages, or the more lurid allegations that Cairo,
Alexandria, and Aswan are sex tourism destinations.


12. (C) We anticipate that the planned Chemonics study,
headed by the respected Mohamed Mattar of the Johns Hopkins
Protection Project, will shed considerable new light on this
murky subject. Moreover, we are hopeful that Mattar, will be
able to connect with key GOE officials as well as NGO
leaders, to build the necessary political will and commitment
to tackling trafficking in all its forms. We judge that a
downgrade to Tier 3, over the undocumented allegations of

child prostitution and temporary marriages, without more
conclusive proof, would generate a strong pushback from the
GOE, undermine our credibility, and make future collaboration
on this issue much more difficult.


13. (C) In order to address possible trafficking in Egypt
related to child prostitution and other such issues, we first
need to obtain more reliable information. Accordingly, we
strongly recommend that the Department not proceed with a
downgrade for Egypt to Tier 3 on the basis of the currently
available information. If the Chemonics study, or any other
studies, document with greater certainty that child
prostitution and forced marriages are a significant piece of
Egypt's TIP problem, we will be able to engage the GOE on
this issue on the basis of facts.
JONES