- MB NewsParliament News
- April 13, 2010
- 5 minutes read
MB agrees on law to combat human trafficking
The Muslim Brotherhood parliamentary bloc has agreed on the proposed law to combat human trafficking which criminalizes the purchasing, selling, and transporting of any individual.
Hussein Mohamed Ibrahim, Deputy-Chairman of the MB parliamentary bloc, praised the drafted law. He maintained “We would like to see the government committed to the international conventions in protecting and maintaining human rights”. He praised the article which gave the judge the right to combat any crime in this field without considering the nationality of its perpetrator.
The session called for changing the name of the law from “combating human trafficking” to “combating human abuse”, since article 2 included acts which do not fall under human trafficking such as prostitution, child pornography and forced labor.
MB MP Gamal Qorani, stressed the need to activate this law, pointing out that the reason behind these crimes is poverty. He called on the government to fight this phenomenon and claimed that an important article in the law stipulates that the state protect its victims, looking after them and their welfare and provides adequate shelter for victim children. They also called for harshening the punishment if any crime against the victim leads to death or permanent disability.
Dr. Ibrahim el-Gafari, MB MP asserted the significance of implementing the law pointing out the rate of human trafficking in Egypt has greatly increased during the last 10 years.
Dr. Khalaf Abdel Aziz emphasized that Islam has ended slavery and dignified all humans regardless of creed. He warned of the increase of the phenomenon of street children which studies have verified that there are more than 2 million. He commended the role of the council in preventing Egyptian females from traveling to the gulf to work as servants. He also added that the marriage of underaged girls to wealthy men from the gulf is considered part of the human trafficking crime and called on the government to firmly combat this phenomenon.
