EGYPT MOVES AHEAD ON CHILD PROTECTION, SUPPORTED

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 001097 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/ELA AND G/TIP NSC STAFF FOR WATERS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/16/2017 TAGS: PGOV KWMN KCRM EG SUBJECT: EGYPT MOVES AHEAD ON CHILD PROTECTION, SUPPORTED BY USAID REF: A. CAIRO 1029 ¶B. 2006 CAIRO 6935 Classified by DCM Stuart Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The GOE's National Council for Childhood and Motherhood is drafting legislation for new child protection measures which include tough new anti-trafficking articles. USAID is poised to provide major technical and programmatic support to the Council and its partners as Egypt tackles its child protection challenges. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Egypt's National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) is currently drafting a revised Children's Law, to replace the existing statute (12/1996). NCCM has not yet made the draft public, but both NCCM and UNICEF have confirmed that the GOE aims to seek parliamentary approval of the law prior to July 15, when the current session of Parliament adjourns. ¶3. (C) According to UNICEF Child Protection Officer Nadra Zaki (protect),who has been advising NCCM on the section of the law pertaining to children at risk, the new law will place major new emphasis on sexual and economic exploitation and will impose stiff prison sentences (5-15 years) for persons convicted of trafficking children. Zaki's information tracks with information shared by NCCM chairwoman, Ambassador Moushira Khattab, with the DCM on March 28. The Embassy and USAID have requests in with UNICEF and NCCM for copies of the draft law, but have not yet received copies. ¶4. (SBU) In conjunction with NCCM's child protection efforts, as well as related women-at-risk protection efforts led by the National Council of Women (NCW),USAID is proceeding with a major new initiative aimed at supporting the GOE's effort to combat violence against women and children. USAID has earmarked $18 million for a five-year activity. A major component of the project will be to add 20 GOE-run shelters for street children to the 40 existing shelters. The new initiative, which will be implemented through an existing USAID indefinite quantity contract (IQC), will be awarded in May or June 2007, and contains flexible terms of reference that will allow it to adjust goals and priorities to incorporate the findings and recommendations of the planned Chemonics assessment of trafficking (ref A), which will be headed by Mohamed Mattar. The USAID initiative will also play a major role in supporting implementation of the new child protection legislation after it is passed by parliament. ¶5. (SBU) The Embassy has reminded the GOE of the need to move ahead in formalizing the GOE's inter-ministerial coordinating body on TIP, which the MFA previewed for us in November 2006 (ref B),and which is meeting regularly. Ambassador Khattab told DCM that the last meeting focused on the U.S. Human Rights Report and the references therein to trafficking and child protection issues. ¶6. (C) Comment: Building on the reasons outlined in ref A, Embassy Cairo reiterates its recommendation that a Department decision to downgrade Egypt to Tier 3 at the present time, in light of the dated and incomplete evidence currently available of child prostitution, would be ill-advised. In addition, a move to Tier 3, despite ongoing GOE actions to strengthen child protection legislation (which include a specific anti-trafficking component),might imperil future GOE cooperation on this issue. RICCIARDONE