MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on Human trafficking in Sinai, in particular the case of Solomon W.

13.3.2012

with request for inclusion in the agenda for the debate on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law
pursuant to Rule 122 of the Rules of Procedure

Mario Mauro, José Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra, Elmar Brok, Cristian Dan Preda, Roberta Angelilli, Bernd Posselt, Filip Kaczmarek, Tunne Kelam, Monica Luisa Macovei, Elena Băsescu, Eija-Riitta Korhola, Sari Essayah, Zuzana Roithová, Sergio Paolo Francesco Silvestris, Giovanni La Via, Bogusław Sonik on behalf of the PPE Group

See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B7-0158/2012

B7‑0163/2012

European Parliament resolution on Human trafficking in Sinai, in particular the case of Solomon W.

The European Parliament,

-       Having regard to its resolution of 16 December 2010 on Eritrean refugees held hostage in the Sinai;

-       Having regard to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, especially Article 3, "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person" and Articles 4 and 5 thereof, affirming that the slave trade shall be prohibited in all its forms;

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

-       Having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, particularly Articles 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 thereof;

-       Having regard to the first Conference of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network in Cairo 26-27 January 2006;

-      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 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;

B.     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 Solomon, an Eritrean 25 year old man has escaped from the hands of his kidnappers;

C.    Whereas what Solomon had been spared to bring water to 125 more prisoners from Eritrea, Sudan and Ethiopia who were imprisoned in houses and stables in the village of Al Mahdya, and Solomon knows exactly where the prisoners are kept and he also witnessed the murders, tortures and rapes;

D.    Whereas the Eritrean young man revealed that one of the jailers showed him a plastic bag containing human organs of a refugee who did not pay the ransom;

E.     Whereas the life of Solomon is in danger, as the human organ traffickers are in close pursuit of him and put a price of $ 50 000 on his head, and for the moment, Solomon is protected by the Salafist Bedouins of Sheikh Mohamed;

F.     Whereas police arrested hundreds of irregular 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;

G.    Whereas the Sinai desert border has become a trafficking route for African migrants seeking jobs; thousands of Eritreans each year flee the country, with many heading for Israel;

H.    Whereas trafficking in human beings is the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them and it is a modern form of slavery, a serious crime and a severe violation of fundamental human rights and reduces people to a state of dependency via threats, violence and humiliation;

I.      Whereas trafficking in human beings is an extremely profitable business for organised crime, with high profit possibilities and limited risk-taking;

J.      Whereas every country in the world is affected by these crimes; whereas the challenge for all countries, rich and poor, is to target the criminals who exploit desperate people and to protect and assist victims of trafficking and smuggled migrants, many of whom endure unimaginable hardships in their bid for a better life, including by protecting their internationally recognized human rights;

K.    Taking due account of the other international legal instruments relevant in the field of action against trafficking in human beings;

 

 

1.     Urges the Egyptian authorities to rapidly intervene in order to provide effective protection and secure the life of Solomon, as the human organ traffickers are in close pursuit of him and have put a price of $50 000 on him because he knows exactly were the prisoners are kept;

2.     Calls on the Egyptian authorities to protect Solomon as a victim of trafficking in persons, and all victims of trafficking in persons, especially women and children, from becoming a victim again;

3.     Urges the Egyptian authorities to investigate this case of murders, tortures and rapes where women were battered and mistreated and some of them were killed and their bodies were thrown into desert, applying the national and international law against this type of organised crime concerning human trafficking;

4.     Urges on Egyptian authorities to rapidly intervene in order to ensure that these refugees are rescued and to take appropriate measures to proceed to arrest and to prosecute members of trafficking syndicates;

5.      Urges the Egyptian authorities to take all necessary measures to stop torture and extortion and human trafficking of Eritrean refugees and other refugees in the country and to prosecute those who violate refugees' human rights and those who practice any form of slavery;

6.     Stresses that Egypt, as well as all countries, has a duty to urgently bring its treatment of refugees into line with international norms so that every refugee is afforded full protection and assistance;

7.     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;

8.     Encourages Egypt, Israel and the international community to continue fighting against human smuggling and trafficking in Sinai;

9.     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;

10.   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, as to promote international cooperation on action against trafficking in human beings;

11.   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.