Egypt’s women demand action

12 thousand Syrian refugees trafficked in 2012 Cairo - Ali Ragab Egypt’s National Council of Women (NCW) has called on the country’s Interior Ministry to tackle the growing trend of Egyptian men trafficking female Syrian refugees, often under the guise of marriage. In a statement released on Friday, the NCW claims that many female refugees fleeing from the conflict in Syria are then being bought by young Egyptian men under the guise of marriage, with many of the victims being paid as little as 500 Egyptian pounds. The NCW revealed that it has witnessed a number of such cases in recent months, estimating that 12 thousand so-called “marriages” have been formed in this way in 2012 alone and calling it “little more than human trafficking.” The NCW is now calling on Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to do more to tackle the problem and help these often “vulnerable women”, which the organisation says “have no families to protect them”. The motion has also been backed by World Federation of the Egyptian Woman in Europe, which claims the government needs to do more to “protect the human rights of refugees.”