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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
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2009 - 2014
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Plenary sitting
B7‑0161/2012
European Parliament resolution on human trafficking in Sinai, in particular the case of
Solomon W.
The European Parliament,
- having regard to its previous
resolutions, in particular that of 16
December 2010 on Eritrean refugees held hostage in Sinai,
- having regard to the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights of 1948,
- having regard to the UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951,
- having regard to the UN
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment of 1984,
- having regard to the UN
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially
Women and Children, Supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational
Organized Crime of 2000,
- having regard to Rule 122 of
its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas Sinai is a principal
transit route for asylum-seekers and migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and North
Africa escaping extreme poverty and political turmoil and seeking refuge in
Israel and beyond,
B. whereas reportedly an average
of 2,000 people enter Israel through Sinai each month, many of them with the
assistance of smugglers who have established a sizable network in this area;
whereas, according to Israeli government estimates, around 50,000
Africans have illegally entered Israel through Sinai since 2005;
C. whereas thousands of asylum
seekers and migrants lose their lives and disappear in Sinai every year while
others, including many women and children, are kidnapped and held hostage for
ransom by human traffickers; whereas victims of human traffickers are abused in
the most dehumanising manner and are subject to systemic violence and torture,
rape and sexual abuse, and forced labour;
D. whereas many female asylum
seekers and migrants, who are in a particularly vulnerable situation, fall
victim of human trafficking and the vast majority of them are repeatedly
tortured, gang-raped and sodomised; whereas hundreds of them arrive in Israel
pregnant as a result of rape;
E. whereas Egypt's border area
with Israel in Sinai is a restricted military zone to which the country
prohibits unauthorized entry; whereas a significant number of illegal migrants
have been killed by Egyptian security forces in Sinai or have been prosecuted
before military tribunals in the country; whereas UN agencies and human rights
organisations have no or only limited access to the area affected by human
smuggling and trafficking in Sinai;
F. whereas Egypt adopted an
anti-trafficking law in 2010, which prohibits and punishes all forms of human
trafficking, but the implementation of this legislation requires further
significant efforts; whereas Egypt established a National Coordination
Committee to Prevent and Combat Human Trafficking in 2007;
G. whereas Israel reviews very
few asylum requests but grants temporary protection to many migrants arriving
to the country through Sinai; whereas illegal migrants in many cases continue
being returned to Egypt by Israeli authorities without having a genuine
opportunity to claim refugee status,
H. whereas the Knesset approved,
in January 2012, a new law on illegal immigrants which has provoked widespread
criticism from human rights organisations; whereas about 60 miles of the fence
Israel builds along her border with Egypt, with the aim of preventing
infiltrators and illegal migrants to enter the country, has been completed with
plans to complete the rest by the end of this year;
I. whereas Egyptian and Israeli
human rights organisations, such as Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, make
considerable efforts to help, assist and provide medical treatment to victims
of human traffickers in Sinai,
J. whereas the UN Protocol to
Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and
Children defines trafficking in persons as „the recruitment, transportation,
transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of
force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the
abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving
of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over
another person, for the purpose of exploitation”,
1. Expresses its deep concerns that,
despite widespread international appeals, human smuggling and trafficking in
Sinai continues and further increases;
2. Urges Egypt ,
Israel
3. Acknowledges that illegal
migrants in Sinai pose a security risk for Egypt and Israel; however, urges
again Egyptian and Israeli security forces to avoid the use of lethal force
against illegal migrants;
4. Stresses the responsibility of Egyptian and Israeli authorities
to stop the human traffickers in Sinai as well as to protect the victims;
welcomes the efforts of the Egyptian and Israeli governments in this regard;
calls, however, for more assistance and support for the victims, with special
regard to women and children;
5. Reminds Egyptian and Israeli authorities of their obligations
to fully respect international human rights law provisions and standards
regarding the treatment, the protection of dignity and physical and
psychological integrity, and the right to due process and fair trial of asylum
seekers and migrants as well as to guarantee that detained migrants have the
ability to contact UNHCR and allow UNHCR access to all asylum seekers and
refugees in state custody;
6. Reminds Egyptian and Israeli
authorities of their obligations under international law to detain asylum
seekers only as necessary to ascertain their identity and the basis of their
asylum claims, allow detained migrants to present asylum claims and have those
claims adjudicated prior to any decision to deport, refrain from returning
asylum seekers and refugees to countries where they have a well-founded fear of
persecution or face a real risk of torture, or to third countries that might
not respect that prohibition, and ensure that detention of children is in line
with international conventions and standards concerning the best interest of
the child and family unity;
7. Calls for full access of UN agencies and human
rights organisations to the areas affected by human smuggling and trafficking
in Sinai;
8. Applauds the activities of Egyptian and
Israeli human rights organisations providing help, assistance and medical
treatment to victims of human traffickers in Sinai and urges the international
community and the EU to support their work;
9. Instructs its President to
forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the High Representative/Vice
President of the Commission, the
Parliaments and Governments of the Member States
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