Ashraf AboArafe
On 6 February the British Embassy in Cairo, in cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), launched a series of training workshops in Aswan for 49 Egyptian judges from the Southern and Northern governorates.
The training will focus on the critical role of the judiciary in combating smuggling and trafficking in persons. The UK-funded training, one of a series nationwide, aims to build the capacity of criminal justice authorities in Egypt to effectively prevent, investigate, prosecute and adjudicate cases of smuggling and trafficking in persons.
UK funding in 2017-18 has provided training for 237 prosecutors, judiciary and police, and has led to 11 workshops being carried out with representation from 15 governorates across Egypt. This training and capacity building aims to prevent irregular migration and bring to justice those who profit from the trade in human beings.
The launch of the training workshop was attended by Ambassador Naela Gabr, Chairperson of the National Committee for Preventing and Combating Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Persons, Counsellor Omar Abdel Hafiz, Assistant Minster of Justice for the National Centre for Judicial Studies, Cristina Albertin, UNODC Regional Representative for the Middle East and North Africa, and Joseph Whittle, the North Africa Migration Adviser at the British Embassy in Cairo.
British Ambassador John Casson said: “The UK is proud to allocate 11.7m EGP to assist the Egyptian government in implementing its new anti-smuggling strategy and law. This is part of our core belief that Egyptians shouldn’t have to risk their lives to build their dreams. We have coupled this commitment with a new wave of job-creating investments in a range of sectors, as well as a EGP50m fund to support start-ups.”
