Egypt's strategy to address illegal immigration/Al-hram El-masryNews

 

 Written by / Ashraf Fawzy

 The phenomenon of illegal immigration has increased in recent times, and it has become one of the crimes that threaten the security and stability of states, which prompted the international community to agree on methods of confronting it with the approval by the United Nations General Assembly in November 2000 of the International Convention to Combat Organized Crime and its protocol on combating illegal immigration by land and sea.

 Egypt, like other countries, has been affected by the waves of illegal immigration, as it is a country of destination, transit and departure point for illegal immigration. Therefore, it exerts great efforts to confront it based on the risks that threaten the lives of migrants in the first place. The strategy focused on the following axes:

 Legal frameworks to curb illegal immigration

 - Establishing the National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration

 Results of a field study on illegal immigration of unaccompanied children

 The role of the Ministry of State for Immigration and Egyptians Abroad Affairs

 - The role of other government institutions to curb illegal immigration

 Egypt's participation in international forums

 An international appreciation for the Egyptian role in combating illegal immigration.

 We show the most important implementation mechanisms:

 * On November 25, 2015, the Council of Ministers approved the President's decision to issue a law to combat illegal immigration and smuggling of immigrants, and to prepare a media campaign to educate citizens about the dangers to which they are exposed, and the law, after its approval by the House of Representatives, is the legislative tool that deters criminals who trade young people's lives through illegal immigration  The bill stated:

 * Establishing the National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration.

  * The cooperation of the Egyptian judicial and security authorities concerned with combating the smuggling of migrants with their foreign counterparts through the exchange of information, aid or other forms.

  * Penalties for crimes of illegal immigration and migrant smuggling, including imprisonment or a fine of not less than fifty thousand pounds and not exceeding two hundred thousand pounds, whoever commits, attempts or mediates in the crime of smuggling migrants.

  * The penalty shall be temporary hard labor and a fine of not less than two hundred thousand pounds and not exceeding five hundred thousand pounds, and that is if the perpetrator founded, organized or managed an organized criminal group for the purposes of smuggling migrants or assumed leadership in it or was one of its members or joined it.

 * The National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration has reviewed national laws related to illegal immigration

 As a whole, these amendments revolve around toughening penalties to become custodial penalties, allowing the judicial and police authorities to take more effective measures against illegal acts while criminalizing their initiation.

 * The National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Immigration was formed according to Prime Minister Decree No. 380 of 3014 issued on March 9, 2014 and includes in its membership representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Interior, Justice, Manpower, Immigration, Social Solidarity, Local Development, Planning, International Cooperation, Media, Youth and Sports, and representatives  From the Public Prosecution Office, General Intelligence, the General Information Service, the Social Fund for Development, the National Council for Human Rights, the National Council for Motherhood and Childhood, the National Center for Social and Criminal Research, and two experts nominated by the head of the committee, and the committee as a whole holds its meetings every two months, in addition to the continuous meetings of 7 sub-technical working groups.  About the committee, the most important of which is the legal working group, and the committee works to coordinate government policies and efforts in the field of combating and preventing illegal immigration, and undertakes coordination between government agencies represented in it and other non-governmental parties and acts as an advisory reference to the authorities and national bodies and bodies in this field.  .

 * The National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration set the first field study in 2017 among the priorities of its work in the framework of the strategy to combat illegal immigration, in coordination with the concerned authorities, to work on developing educational and development programs that reflect the requirements and meet the needs of this group and their families in a way that guarantees them a decent life.  The awareness campaigns that the National Committee will continue to carry out

 * The Ministry of State for Migration and Egyptians Abroad plays an important role in raising awareness of the dangers of illegal immigration and developing plans to organize awareness campaigns, dialogues and educational seminars in youth centers and universities and the lack of mass culture in the governorates to combat the phenomenon of illegal immigration and work to educate young people about its dangers in coordination between the relevant ministries, with the aim of achieving a situation  Solutions to prevent this phenomenon and work to reduce it, and coordination and communication with the Ministry of Education to develop a basic study material in the field of occupational safety and health.

 * Dealing with the illegal immigrant equally with the legal immigrant upon his arrival abroad, and then calls on all illegal immigrants to legalize their status so that the state is on solid ground during the claim of their rights.  .

 * Work to limit the migration of minors, in addition to identifying its causes and motives, in addition to rehabilitating those who wish to emigrate by providing them with the necessary training.

 * A Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the International Organization for Migration to provide settlement services and support for illegal immigrants, by implementing a program to alleviate economic pressures in vulnerable communities in Egypt to provide support services to illegal immigrants, and to build the capacities of relevant government agencies to enable them to anticipate and address migration challenges.

   The most prominent efforts made to combat this phenomenon:

 1- Al-Azhar Sheikhdom: The Al-Azhar Sheikhdom emphasized the importance of the Ministry of Immigration's role in educating young people about the dangers of illegal immigration, identifying the reasons that lead young people to risk their lives for an unknown future, and finding alternative solutions to it.

 2- The Islamic Research Council: In response to a question about: What is the ruling on traveling by illegal immigration ?, and the answer came as follows: It exposes the soul to perdition to the extent that it is called the gates of death and it is forbidden to it. ”The Almighty said (And do not throw your hands to destruction),  And in it there is great risk and deceit due to the strict laws and penalties laid down by the state on this matter, and what we advise the questioner not to commit this matter and to be patient and turn to his Lord, because patience with what the soul hates is much good.

 3- The Ministry of Justice: It seeks to establish a specialized court to try those accused in cases of human trafficking and illegal immigration, and Egypt is one of the first countries in the world to criminalize the perpetrators of these crimes with appropriate penalties, as all efforts must be combined in order to confront this phenomenon and help the victims and present the perpetrators of crimes  Human trafficking for fair trials, especially the big traders.

  4- The National Council for Human Rights: It works to strengthen legal migration channels, prevent discrimination against immigrants, and continue international cooperation, to address the phenomenon of illegal immigration, in addition to addressing its causes, while relying on immigration policies based on human rights and working to disseminate information on human rights and freedoms  Essential for all immigrants.

 5- The Egyptian Agency for Partnership for Development: The agency, in cooperation with the Cairo Regional Center for Conflict Resolution and Peacekeeping in Africa, and the National Coordination Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration in Cairo, organized a training course for 14 trainees from 8 African countries on human trafficking and illegal migration.

 In the context of enhancing efforts aimed at combating illegal immigration, Egypt has participated in many international and regional conferences, the most important of which are:

 1- The African-European Migration Summit, held in the Maltese capital, Valletta, on November 11 and 12, 2015, with the participation of leaders of the European Union, a number of African countries, international and regional organizations, and United Nations agencies working in the field of migration and combating migrant smuggling and human trafficking. In its statement, Egypt stressed the importance of expanding  Paths of legal migration, strengthening links between migration and development, and the need for European countries to shoulder their responsibilities towards immigrants arriving to them.  And to work seriously to achieve sustainable development in Africa, and to open the way for the recruitment of migrant workers from Africa, and the need for European countries to implement their obligations towards hosting refugees and illegal immigrants in accordance with relevant international laws and agreements.

 2- The Second Regional Conference of the African Union and Horn of Africa Initiative on Combating Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling, or what is known as the "Khartoum Process", which was held in Sharm El-Sheikh for two days from 13 and 14 September 2015.

 * Egypt was keen to actively contribute to coordinating and strengthening the African effort to address the phenomenon of migrant smuggling and human trafficking by developing specific plans to move regionally. Egypt was one of the first countries to launch the Khartoum Process in October 2014 in the Sudanese capital, and it also chaired the first meeting of the steering committee of the Horn of Africa Initiative - the European Union  On the migration routes in April 2015 in Sharm El-Sheikh.

 * The Egyptian side proposed specific development projects aimed at assisting the African brothers in building and strengthening their capabilities in confronting these phenomena.

 * Egyptian efforts to combat illegal immigration are internationally appreciated, as Germany views Egypt as a major partner in combating illegal immigration and there is great confidence in Egyptian measures to protect its borders and coasts, and this can be seen in German experts' request to increase logistical, technical and financial support to Cairo to face the challenge of the global smuggling mafia  Which began to intensify its operations across the coasts of North Africa and focus on the Egyptian coasts, and due to the chaos in Libya and the growing influence of ISIS and the focus of European and Italian naval units on monitoring the Libyan coasts, organized smuggling gangs began to send refugees and migrants to the Egyptian coasts as a starting point for the crossing to Greece and Italy, according to the international organization.  Immigration There are no public figures on the volume of migrant smuggling operations from the Egyptian coast, and they still represent a small percentage.

 * As for Italy, it affirmed that its cooperation with Egypt is exemplary, and called for expanding relations to include cooperation in the face of illegal immigration, and praised Egypt's vision in this regard and the need to help countries from which illegal immigrants leave, as this will help dry up the sources of the phenomenon of illegal immigration.

 In sum, there are concrete steps that have been made in the field of preventing and combating illegal immigration, the foremost of which is the completion of the draft law on “combating illegal immigration, and the preparation of two field studies on illegal migration of youth and illegal migration of unaccompanied children, in addition to the establishment of the National Coordination Committee to Combat Illegal Immigration.  Preventing illegal immigration through field visits aimed at direct contact with youth in the governorates most exporting to immigration, to explain the dimensions of the issue, clarify the risks, as well as provide solutions and suggest alternatives available from small and micro enterprises.

 In terms of enhancing international and regional cooperation to build capacity in the field of combating illegal immigration, there is continuous cooperation with African countries through the agencies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by the Egyptian Agency for Partnership for Development and the Cairo Regional Center for Training in Conflict Resolution and Peacekeeping in Africa, and this cooperation aims  Primarily, it aims to reduce the influx of illegal immigration from source countries in the south of the continent to destination countries across the Egyptian borders.

 In all cases, illegal immigration ultimately leads to exposing the immigrant citizen to exploitation by employers in the diaspora as a result of his illegal situation and his exposure to security restrictions and deportation without realizing what he hopes for in a dream in which he paid a lot of his money .. And then more must be given  Of the effort at the level of awareness in the direct and indirect media, leading to intensified efforts among young people to discourage them from taking such risks that may cost them their lives.