http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article50345
UN urges Sudan, Egypt to take tougher stance on human trafficking
March 17, 2014 (GENEVA) - Members of the UN Human Rights Council have
called on Egypt and Sudan to take action to investigate and prosecute human
traffickers accused of kidnapping, torturing, and killing Eritrean refugees
in the Sinai Peninsula.
Thousands of Eritreans have been lured from Sudanese refugee camps to
Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, where they are subject to torture and other abuses
in order to extort ransom payments from their families (Photo:
Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)
The German-led statement signed by 24 member countries also called on both
countries to identify and prosecute any security officials who may have
colluded with traffickers.
In a statement issued on 13 March on behalf of the council, Hanns
Schumacher, Germany's permanent representative, said there was substantial
evidence that Eritrean refugees had been the target of physical and sexual
abuse "in a most brutal, frequent and systematic way".
Thousands of Eritreans have fled repression in their homeland, which is
referred to as the North Korea of Africa, usually transiting via Sudan and
Egypt en route to Europe, Israel or other countries.
Traffickers operating within secretive criminal networks routinely prey on
desperate migrants, kidnapping them from refugee camps near the Sudanese
border with Eritrea and selling them to groups operating in Sinai, where
victims are then subjected to torture to extract large ransom payments from
their families.
While Schumacher acknowledged that both Sudan and Egypt had taken some
steps to address the issue, the practice continued and instruments in place
to address this situation - both at national and international level - are
either lacking or not sufficiently implemented or enforced.
"We urge all countries concerned to launch a concerted effort to identify,
and to investigate the alleged involvement of officials, and to hold
accountable all persons involved in these horrendous crimes," he said.
The council has also called on the countries concerned to "renew and
strengthen" their efforts in combatting human trafficking.
CONDEMNATION FROM PARLIAMENT
In a resolution adopted the same day, the European Parliament condemned "in
the strongest terms the terrible abuses to which the victims of traffickers
are subjected", saying there had been "an almost complete failure by both
Sudan and Egypt to investigate and prosecute officials responsible for
carrying out trafficking and abuses".
It has called on Sudanese authorities to step up security measures in the
Shagarab refugee camp, while underlining that a coordinated regional
response was needed to address the problem.
The parliament has also requested that the European Commission make
trafficking in the Sinai a high-priority topic on the agenda of political
dialogue with Egypt, Israel and Sudan.
Map shows trafficking route, stretching from eastern Sudan to Egypt's Sinai
Peninsula
The calls come following a report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) last
month, which found authorities in both Sudan and Egypt have colluded with
human traffickers in the kidnap and torture of hundreds of Eritrean
refugees in the past 10 years.
The report, I Wanted to Lie Down and Die: Trafficking and Torture of
Eritreans in Sudan and Egypt, details harrowing testimonies from dozens of
refugees who told HRW that Sudanese and Egyptian security officers often
facilitated their abuse rather than arresting the traffickers.
All of the Eritreans interviewed by HRW who had arrived in Sinai in 2012
said that traffickers had taken them from Sudan to Egypt against their will.
ASYLUM DENIED
Many victims die at the hands of their captors and those that do manage to
escape are often subject to indefinite detention in a third country and
denied the right to apply for asylum.
Israel has taken a particularly tough stance on African migrants, with its
troops often venturing into Sinai to deter African refugees from entering
its territory. It has also constructed a 240km fence along its border to
keep Eritreans out.
HRW wants Egypt and Sudan to publicly explain how they plan to tackle human
trafficking in the region. It says measures to date have been inadequate
and that traffickers continue to operate in the two countries with "almost
complete impunity".
"Egypt and Sudan should respond to this call for action at the UN with
concerted efforts to arrest the traffickers and show zero tolerance for
colluding security officials," said Gerry Simpson, a senior refugee
researcher at HRW who authored the latest report.
Up to 3,000 people flee Eritrea every month, according to the UN special
rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, while 4,000
trafficking victims are estimated to have died since the beginning of 2008.
It is believed that about 1,000 African refugees are currently being held
in captivity and HRW has received reports of trafficking from eastern Sudan
to Sinai as recently as February.
(ST)
Received on Thu Mar 20 2014 - 08:26:52 EDT