Naeema Farouk sat on the doorstep of her house in Abnub district in Upper Egypt, 400 kilometers south of Cairo, awaiting the return of her 16-year-old son, Yasser Mohammed. She held a picture of him close to her, remembering the day she went to the livestock market to sell the only ‘buffalo’ she had to help to pay the agent who would transport her child, Yasser to Italy by sea via Libya. Her day-laborer husband had been also signed promissory notes and borrowed about 30,000 Egyptian Pounds equivalent to $5000 to come up with the fee needed for his son’s travel.
Naeema Farouk sat on the doorstep of her house in Abnub district in Upper Egypt, 400 kilometers south of Cairo, awaiting the return of her 16-year-old son, Yasser Mohammed. She held a picture of him close to her, remembering the day she went to the livestock market to sell the only ‘buffalo’ she had to help to pay the agent who would transport her child, Yasser to Italy by sea via Libya. Her day-laborer husband had been also signed promissory notes and borrowed about 30,000 Egyptian Pounds equivalent to $5000 to come up with the fee needed for his son’s travel.
The couple hoped that their son, who did not complete his secondary education, like other village children, would return with money. Yasser left school after he had learned that some of those who traveled abroad became rich and wealthy. Yasser’s parents hoped he would build a house and support his five-member family, especially his parents, who said they had been overburdened with debt.
“His father and I were afraid he would die from depression and despair and we did not want to prevent him from achieving his and our ambition,” said his mother. “We hoped his travel would benefit his brothers and we never thought about the risks he would face.”
Children of Upper Egypt leaving
According to the Ministry of Manpower and Immigration, over 10,000 children and minors in Upper Egypt attempt to migrate to Europe especially since the spread of illegal immigration agents in different centers of Upper Egypt and more specifically in the villages of Minya, Asyut, Sohag and the New Valley.
Dr. Nasser Mussalam, in charge of Protection Programs at the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood in Egypt, said the phenomenon of illegal child migration emerged in 2007 and is attributed to a loophole in the Italian law, which provides that children under 18 who enter the Italian territory unaccompanied by either parent shall be placed in the care of the Italian government. Human traffickers have taken advantage of this legal text to take children from the age of eleven years and cast them into nowhere.
“Egypt has taken third place in the world in human trafficking of minors after Afghanistan and Tunisia. According to a report published by the Italian government in 2008, Fayoum, Sharqiya, Gharbia, Qaliobia and Asyut are the governorates with the most illegal migration. A more recent report issued on February 28, 2013 placed Asyut at the top, with over 20% of a total of about 1850 illegal migrant children traveling to Italy. Abnub district in Asyut Governorate accounts for 95% of these migrant children. Upper Egypt is considered one of the poorest and underprivileged regions in Egypt,” said Mussalam.
All for the family
The dream of material wealth achieved through migration is not only limited to young people. Parents are sometimes responsible for this dream. In the case of Mohammed from Kfar Kila village in the Senta district in Gharbia Governorate, as Dr. Nasser Musallam indicated, travel was not this boy’s desire, but that of his father, who caused him to leave school at the age of twelve and sold his agricultural land, worth 30,000 Egyptian Pounds, equivalent to about $5000, to pay the illegal migration agent who would facilitate his son’s travel to Italy. The child then traveled to Libya and stayed at an assembly point for 21 days during which time he was repeatedly beaten and harassed by his colleagues. Later, they all boarded a boat intended to ferry them to the Italian shores.
There were 24 passengers including six children. Suddenly, their boat encountered stormy weather and nearly sank. They were forced to return to the Libyan shores where they were arrested by the Libyan coast guards. Mohammed remained in custody for six months in a Libyan detention center. He then returned to Egypt completely devastated and spent three months in hospital because of his psychological pain and fractured shoulder caused by an assault by his colleagues, according to Dr. Musallam.
Mohammed’s schoolmates by that time had become university students while he ended up on the street selling fruits and vegetables. His parents were crippled with debt following their sale of the land they owned.
Young children are easy bait
Haitham Qadhi, Programs Official at Save the Children Commission, said according to Italian government reports, 25% of children under 18 who arrive in Italy without their parents are from Egypt and are mostly between 16 to 17 years old including 13 and 14 year olds. He adds that these children face many dangers during the journey such as food and water shortages in addition to being abused by traffickers. Before their arrival, they face the threat of paying the remaining balance before the Italian coast guard searches the boat. They also face the risk of fleeing the care centers and becoming exposed to kidnapping and subsequent bargaining with their families for ransom.
Qadhi, who was previously responsible for a refugee center in Italy, added that the meetings he had with minors in various Italian cities revealed that relatives were found to be more intensively involved in child abuse incidents of young relatives in their custody, encouraged by the children’s naiveté and ignorance about working regulations or number of working hours in addition to sparing their relatives the burden of tax payment.
Ahmed Saad Thabit, a human rights activist, said according to a report released by the Italian Parliament in 2009, children also faced the risk of human organ trafficking, in addition to prostitution, drug trafficking training and recruitment of children for carrying out criminal acts by mafia gangs, in collaboration with foreign gangs specialized in organized crime. The report linked the increasing human organs transplants for members of wealthy families in Europe to the flow of illegal migrants on the Italian territory where prospects of sale of human organs are active.
Civil society
Programs Officer at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Jacob Kurinery believes the exacerbated rate of child trafficking prompted the Italian government to raise the alarm, urging the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies to finance a project aimed at educating young people in the Egyptian Governorate of Fayoum about the threats of illegal immigration. He added that the project was launched by IOM in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Education, the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood and Save the Children Commission funded by the Italian ministry. The project seeks to provide information and alternatives to clandestine migration. This project is considered a sustainable and preventive response to the alarming rates of illegal migration of minors.
Hatem Kotb, Director of Terre des Hommes International in Upper Egypt, said, “We are working to implement and activate a system and a mechanism of child protection. Children’s Act No. 126 of 2008 incorporates a number of articles focused on setting up protection committees at the local level to monitor and incorporate the risks children are exposed to so that we may embark on genuine interventions on the ground for child protection.” He stressed the importance of concerted government efforts with NGOs operating in Egypt totaling 43,000 organizations supported and enhanced by the new constitution.
The ultimate risk
“My 16-year-old brother Mohammed traveled by boat from Libya to the Italian shores along with 24 others,” recalled Mahmoud S. E. from Fayoum Governorate. “They faced threats of death and assault by acid during their journey to push them to pay the remaining balance. But, their boat sank and three passengers died.”
His brother, Mohammed, survived and was rescued by the Italian coastguards, then taken to a minors’ center, which he then fled. Mohammed then lived with his uncle, who offered him accommodation for three months. Afterwards, he ended up on the street sleeping in public parks away from police eyes. He sought help through the Islamic Center, but the center did not provide accommodation. Therefore, he used to take a blanket and sleep inside a large black plastic trash bag. During the day, he would ride a Milano bus, and sleep in it.
Mohammed faced several problems with drug traffickers, but he was not enmeshed by them despite his need for money, as his brother Mahmoud said. In the end, he became acquainted with an Egyptian resident who guided him about how to process his legal residence permit. He helped him appoint a lawyer and told him he could pay back the money after getting a job. Later, Mohammed got a job as a construction worker and had started to pay that Egyptian man the debts five years after getting a job, according to Mahmoud’s story.
Despite the stories she has heard about the tragic accidents of the sunken boats, Naeema still clung on to hope. “My only concern now is the return of my long-awaited son from whom I have not heard any news since his departure last year. True, I made a mistake when I succumbed to his wishes, but after all it is destiny,” she said.
