Human trafficking in Sinai, in particular the case of Solomon W.

The European Parliament,

- Having regard to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

- Having regard to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human rights of 1950;

- Having regard to the 2000 UN Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime;

- Having regard to Article 6 and Article 9 of the "Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime" 2003;

- Having regard to the Brussels Declaration on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, adopted on 20 September 2002;

- Having regard to Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings 2005;

- Having regard to Article 2, Article 6.1, Article 7, and Article 17: "Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks" of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

- Having regard to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 protocol thereto;

- Having regard to the declaration of 21 September 2010 by Catherine Ashton, Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on political prisoners in Eritrea;

- Having regard to Rule 122 of its Rules of Procedure;

A.  Whereas the Sinai Desert is a traditional transit route for people from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and sub-Saharan Africa, escaping political turmoil,

B.  Whereas African refugees crossing the Sinai Desert to escape from political turmoil are subject to arrest, torture, rape and other ill treatment by the traffickers operating in the Sinai;

C.  Whereas last December a group of people was kidnapped outside a UN refugee camp in Sudan by human traffickers of the Rashaida tribe: 27 of them were from Eritrea, including four girls and a woman with a small child, who were taken to Al Mahdya near Rafah in the Sinai, Egypt;

D.  Whereas within the group, in particular women were battered and mistreated and some of them were killed and their bodies were thrown into desert and only Mr Solomon, an Eritrean 25 year old man has escaped from the hands of his kidnappers;

E.  Whereas Mr Solomon witnessed human traffickers' activities such as murders, tortures, rapes and organ trafficking of African refugees from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia,

F.  Whereas Mr Solomon is in danger, as the human organ traffickers are in close pursuit of him,

G.  Whereas the Egyptian authorities failed not only to protect refugees but also border police shoot at unarmed African migrants who attempted to cross the Sinai border into Israel, killing at least 22 since January;

H.  Whereas police arrested hundreds of migrants, primarily Eritreans, Ethiopians, and Sudanese, and detained them in police stations and prisons in Sinai and Upper Egypt without access to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, thereby denying them the right to make an asylum claim;

I.  Whereas the Sinai desert border has become a trafficking route for African migrants and asylum-seekers, notably thousands of Eritreans who each year flee the country, with many heading for Israel;

1  Urges the Egyptian authorities to rapidly intervene in order to provide effective protection and secure the life African migrants, crossing the Sinai Desert,

2  Calls on the Egyptian authorities to provide a of special protection to Mr Solomon, as the human organ traffickers are in close pursuit of him, as he revealed to the international community the illegal activities of human traffickers,

3  Urges the Egyptian authorities to allow officials of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to go out from Cairo for protecting the life of Mr Solomon and other refugees who are kept prisoners;

4  Urges the Egyptian authorities to take all necessary measures to stop torture and extortion and human trafficking of African refugees in the country and to bring to court those responsible for these action,

5  Urges the Egyptian authorities to stop shooting at unarmed African migrants who attempt to cross the Sinai border into Israel and to stop denying them, primarily Eritreans, Ethiopians, and Sudanese refugees and others refugees the right to make an asylum claim;

6  Calls on the Egyptian authorities to open independent investigations on the killings and ill treatments of migrants and asylum seekers and ensure that these crimes do not remain unpunished;

7  Calls on the Egyptian authorities to fully implement the principles of the Conventions, through its national legislation, to which Egypt is Party i.e. the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (and its Optional Protocol 1967) and the 1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, as well as the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrants Workers and Members of their Family in 1993 (entered into force in 2003);

8  Calls on the Egyptian authorities to undertake measures such as research, information and mass media campaigns and social and economic initiatives to prevent and combat trafficking in persons;

9  Calls on Egypt, Israel and all countries fight against human smuggling and trafficking in Sinai taking into consideration the necessity to remove barriers to mobility that lead migrants to take such dangerous paths; urges Israeli authorities to stop its policy of forcibly returning to Egypt, in violation of international refugee law;

10  Welcomes Egypt’s efforts in combating human trafficking specially the establishment of ‘the National Coordinating Committee for combating and preventing trafficking in persons’ in the year 2007, and calls on all countries to resume their efforts in facing the challenge of human trafficking crimes world wide, and to respect relevant national laws;

11  Calls on the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to put this topic with high priority on the agenda of political dialogue with Egypt and to urge its government to combat human trafficking and to uphold its obligations under international refugees conventions, so as to promote international cooperation on action against trafficking in human beings;

12  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the High Representative / Vice-President, the Council and the Commission, to the Governments and the Parliaments of the Member States, to the Egyptian Government, to the UN Secretary General and the UN Human Rights Council