CAIRO: Legal adviser to Egypt's Ministry of Family and Population, Khalil Mostafa, revealed that the government is currently preparing a draft law for Parliament's upcoming session that would criminalize human trafficking of adults, similar to the current law for children trafficking. However, he denied the recent report issued by the Land Center for Human Rights over the lack of substance in the existing Egyptian laws dealing with crimes of human trafficking. The new law also includes organ trafficking, which a number of local rights groups have reported is a major concern as Gulf Arabs come to Egypt and use their house workers to these ends. That report demanded that harsher penalties be imposed on perpetrators of human trafficking crimes. Mostafa said that the existing laws are adequate in dealing with children issues, but need to be buttressed in order to combat adult trafficking, which he said is a growing problem in the country. He stressed that Article No. 291 of the Penal Code criminalizing trafficking in children or in their organs or using them in research or scientific experiments, “whether those crimes were committed within or outside the Egyptian borders.” Egypt has been called the epicenter of Middle East’s illicit organ trade. In June, the American Coalition for Organ-Failure Solutions reported that a number of Egyptians are selling their organs on the black market for as much as $2,500. In a country struggling with poverty and unemployment, the financial gains have given rise to this phenomenon, which has finally caught the government’s eye and a proposed draft law has been under consideration for nearly two years to help stem this growing problem. Technically, Egypt does not need a new bill, as it is already illegal for doctors’ to sell organs, but no specific law is on the books currently and the Egyptian Doctors Union is pushing for stronger legislation to inhibit the black market trade in organs. The growing black market organ trade has left doctors and government officials looking for a solution. This new law, they believe, will help stem the tide of rich people buying body parts from people who need the money in order to support their families. According to the bill, initially proposed in 2008 and still be debated, physicians who violate the proposed law that would prevent non-family members from exchanging organs would face penalties, including the possibility of losing their medical license. (see also “Egypt's organ trafficking problems, sectarian dilemma”) Mostafa said that the marriage of a girl younger than “18-years-old from a rich Arab is child trafficking, unless the procedures, organized by the list of regulations of the notaries on the marriage of Egyptian to foreigners, were followed.” Women's groups and the Ministry of Family and Population, have spoken out over the rising tide of underage marriages, saying that the government should deploy more police to crackdown on the use of girls in marrying older men without their approval. Mostafa added that the Children's Act (126 of 2008) considers the father who marries his daughter off, before she reaches the legal age for marriage, “makes her health and morals subjected to danger, which requires the imprisonment of that father for not less than 6 months.” The Land Center stated that about 40 percent of married minors in Egypt get married to wealthy older men from the Arab Gulf States. Despite these findings, Mostafa questioned the validity of this figure, confirming that the marriage of minors with Arabs “are a few cases, but didn’t reach the rank of the phenomenon” as reported by the human rights center. **reporting by Mohamed Abdel Salam BM
