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Repository of Practices

Dedicated Shelter for Victims of Trafficking in Persons

Primary GCM Objectives

GCM Guiding Principles*

*All practices are to uphold the ten guiding principles of the GCM. This practice particularly exemplifies these listed principles.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Dates

2020 - Present

Type of practice

Project/Programme

Geographic scope

Regions:

Sub Regions:

Summary

Egypt strives to eradicate human trafficking through a victim center approach. The government believes that protecting and empowering the victims might be the best solution to break the vicious circle of trafficking. Since 2018, Egypt worked on enhancing the national protection system for the victims of human trafficking “VOTs”.

A cooperation protocol for establishing a new dedicated shelter for VOTs was signed by the Ministry of Social Solidarity “MOSS” and National Council for Childhood and Motherhood “NCCM” and Egyptian Red Crescent “ERC”. Every party of the protocol has a certain role, MOSS provided the shelter’s premises and its running cost, ERC hired the shelter’s staff and NCCM provided the technical expertise. 

The National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration and trafficking in Persons “NCCPIM&TIP” and the three abovementioned entities selected carefully a well experienced staff that are used to work with victims in general. The shelter is staffed by female psychologists, social workers, and medical staff.

After this stage, NCCPIM&TIP in cooperation with IOM implemented SPHERE project, one of its objectives is to enhance the VOTs’ shelter capacities. This project was funded by the Danish government, and it included the renovation and refurbishment of the shelter as well as building the capacities its staff.

The staff training program focused on the international best practices in the area of managing the VOTs’ shelter, victims’ personal data security, national and international legal frame work and ways of psychological and social support for the victims. It is worth mentioning that the shelter was built in line with the international standards, and is equipped to receive special needs victims.

MOSS in cooperation with NCCPIM&TIP and its relevant national members prepared the internal rules of regulation for managing the shelter. This rules stated all the related guidelines that should be followed in managing the shelter.

The shelter received until now five victims, one of them was identified by authorities of UAE in coordination with Egypt’s diplomatic mission in Abu Dhabi and through the Egyptian national referral mechanism the victim was returned to Egypt and sent to the VOTs shelter.

Egypt currently is working on establishing two new shelters for VOTs, one will be allocated in Alexandria and the second in upper Egypt to cover the different geographic areas of the country.  

Organizations

Main Implementing Organization(s)

Government of Egypt

Detailed Information

The Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity, The National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Persons (NCCPIM&TIP)

Partner/Donor Organizations

National Council for Childhood and Motherhood - NCCM
Egyptian Red Crescent
International Organization for Migration - IOM

Benefit and Impact

The establishment of a shelter for Victims of Trafficking in Egypt is considered an advancement in Egypt’s protection capacities. It contributes to strengthening of protection services for victims of human trafficking and vulnerable migrants in Egypt, in addition to preventing exploitation and abuse by reducing vulnerabilities. Providing shelter for Victims of Trafficking can in some cases motivate victims to come forward and remove themselves from situations of abuse.

Key Lessons

When the shelter was inaugurated, there weren't enough trained personnel to effectively carry out the services provided in it.
To overcome this, IOM and NCCPIM&TIP conducted the first training for the staff of the shelter for Victims of Trafficking in March 2021.

Recommendations(if the practice is to be replicated)

Inaugurating a shelter for victims of trafficking requires securing competent staff, sustainable funding, and focusing on inclusivity.

Innovation

The shelter was a perfect example of a multi-stakeholder approach to dealing with trafficking, with the participation of government entities (Ministry of Social Solidarity, NCCM, NCCPIM&TIP), and NGOs (Egyptian Red Crescent), in cooperation with IOM and the support of Denmark.

Date submitted:

31 March 2022

Disclaimer: The content of this practice reflects the views of the implementers and does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations, the United Nations Network on Migration, and its members.

 

 

*References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).