Human Trafficking in the Sinai: Refugees Between Life and Death

23 Nov 2012 by Jadaliyya Reports

[Protesters outside the Eritrean embassy in Tel Aviv in March 2011. Image by Physicians for Human Rights via Flickr]

[The following report was published by Tilburg University and Europe External Policy Advisors on 26 September 2012.]

Human Trafficking in the Sinai: Refugees Between Life and Death

Summary 

This report describes the horrific situation of trafficking of refugees in the Sinai Desert, a crisis that started in 2009. The refugees include men, women, children, and accompanying infants fleeing from already desperate circumstances in Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Sudan. An estimated ninety-five percent of the refugees held as hostages in the Sinai (also referred to as hostages) are Eritreans. Smuggled across borders by middlemen or kidnapped from refugee camps in Ethiopia and the Sudan as well as their surrounding areas, and then captured or sold, the refugees are held hostage close to the Israeli border in inhumane conditions and tortured for ransoms up to USD 50,000. A large number of the refugees have died, either while being held hostage or after their release – often even after their ransom has been paid. A large number of refugees simply “disappear,” killed while being held or shot by the Egyptian military guarding the border with Israel after release.