As millions of people take to the streets in Egypt calling for political change, African migrants en route to Israel are subjected to torture, rape and assault by human traffickers in Egypt's Sinai region. Many of these migrants are now in hiding according to Mother Jones News. Ashley Bates, a Mother Jones editorial intern, reported on January 31, 2011 that an estimated 2 to 3 million migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers are currently in Egypt fearing the Egyptian authorities.
Egyptian Traffickers Abusing Refugees
Refugees and economic migrants fleeing Sudan, Eritrea, and elsewhere in Africa often migrate to the Middle East. Even before the Egyptian revolution started, there was little media attention given to the seriousness of the inhumane treatment of migrants at the hands of Egyptians.
Israeli Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has conducted numerous interviews with abuse victims. In a Cypress Mail news story on January 14, 2011, a case worker in PHR’s clinic in Jaffa stated, "From January to November 2010 we referred 165 women who travelled through Sinai to Israeli hospitals for abortions. We believe half of these women were sexually assaulted in Sinai."
Migrants have reported that they pay Bedouins to smuggle them through Egypt's border with Israel. PHR states that these migrants are then held for days and sometimes weeks, more cash is demanded and the refugees are physically abused until money is paid.
Germai Omar, a 30-year-old Eritrean farmer, told Reuters in Tel Aviv, "I was beaten, electrocuted, tied up and thrown outside at night. We ate once in three days. There was one woman – the traffickers raped her." Omar was detained for a month in the Sinai by Egyptian traffickers who demanded he pay an additional $1,500 to the original $2,500 fee. He was able to contact his family by cell phone and they sent the cash to the smugglers' contacts in Cairo.
Physical Abuse and Torture
In December 2010, the United Nations refugee office, NGOs across the world, the European Union, and the Pope were drawing attention to the horrific plight of thousands of Eritreans being held hostage and severely abused in Egypt's Sinai peninsula. Six Eritrean migrants were shot or beaten to death in Egypt and another 30 individuals were killed along the Yemen-Saudi border.
Nathan Jeffay of Forward reported that Mekonen Kefet, an Eritrean refugee, was brutally tortured. His legs are scarred with black marks where red-hot iron bars were poked into his skin. He became chattel passed between several Egyptian traffickers being beaten and abused every day for three months.
According to Israeli Physicians for Human Rights, from the refugees they have surveyed, the majority of them have been locked or tied up. Most were confined in buildings with some individuals kept in caves or containers.
Eritreans and Ethiopian refugees all reported that they were deprived of food and water. Their average stay in the Sinai was 15 days. 77% of these people reported they were beaten, 10% were burned or branded; 8% were buried in sand or soil; and 8% were hung by their hands or feet.
According to EveryOne Group, a human rights group, “The police cannot carry out operations inside Bedouin property unless they are invited to by the hosts. If Egypt and Israel fail to sign a new agreement on the Sinai, trafficking in migrants, slaves, children and human organs will continue in the future. But we need urgent and concrete actions, because words, even when they come from major institutions, cannot solve such a huge and tragic problem.”
This group urges that outside intervention must happen in order to stop these crimes, however, due to the current political unrest in Egypt, migrants will continue to be subjected to these crimes.
Sources:
Mother Jones News: African Refugees in Egypt Sit Out the Protests, Ashley Bates. January 31,2011.
Cypress Mail: African Migrants Report Abuse, Maayan Lubell. January 14, 2011.
CAMERA: Obsessing Over Israel, NPR Glosses Over Plight of African Migrants, Gilead Ini. January 18, 2011.
The Jewish Daily Forward: Eritrean Tells of His Cruel Odyssey to Israel, Nathan Jaffay. December 29, 2010.
Karen Stephenson - Karen has written for several newspapers and print media in addition to many online publications. She holds a B.A. in English and an ...
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