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“WHO SPEAKS FOR THE COPTIC CHRISTIANS?” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E648 on April 26, 2010.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
WHO SPEAKS FOR THE COPTIC CHRISTIANS?
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HON. FRANK R. WOLF
of virginia
in the house of representatives
Monday, April 26, 2010
Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I submit for the Record a bipartisan letter which was sent to the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, TIP, expressing ``concern over continuing reports of abductions, forced marriages, and exploitation of Coptic women and girls in Egypt.'' We urged the TIP Office to investigate whether these cases should be included in the upcoming Trafficking in Persons Report.
The U.S. has given Egypt billions of dollars in foreign aid since the Camp David Accords, and yet they persist in trampling the rights of minorities and brutally suppressing political and human rights. In fact, by most accounts there has been backsliding in all of these areas.
With still no Ambassador for International Religious Freedom, when was the last time that this administration advocated for the Coptic Christians?
Congress of the United States,
Washington, DC, April 16, 2010.Hon. Luis CdeBaca,Ambassador-at-Large, U.S. Department of State, Washington,
DC.
Dear Ambassador CdeBaca: We write today to express our concern over continuing reports of abductions, forced marriages, and exploitation of Coptic women and girls in Egypt. Some of these reports document a criminal phenomenon that includes fraud, physical and sexual violence, captivity, forced marriage, and exploitation in forced domestic servitude or commercial sexual exploitation, and financial benefit to the individuals who secure the forced conversion of the victim. As you know, these are some of the hallmarks of human trafficking.
Numerous reports, including in Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly and a November 2009 report issued by the Coptic Foundation for Human Rights and Christian Solidarity International (CSI), point to the grim reality of forced marriage faced by vulnerable Coptic women and girls in Egypt. In the 25 cases documented by the Coptic Foundation for Human Rights and CSI, it is clear that violence, fraud, and/or coercion are used to force vulnerable Egyptian women and girls into marriages for the purpose of forced conversion, and these forced marriages are sometimes accompanied by sexual exploitation or domestic servitude. In some cases the families involved in the abductions and forced conversions receive mysterious financial benefits. Further, it appears, according to their lawyers, that the situations facing the women highlighted in the report are not isolated cases.
In the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act
(2008), Congress tasked the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) office with reporting on ``emerging [and] shifting global patterns in human trafficking.'' We respectfully request that the office follow up on the reports coming out of Egypt, investigate whether the cases of abduction, forced marriage, exploitation and other financial benefit to the individuals who secure a forced conversion should be included in the forthcoming 2010 TIP Annual Report, and inform us about your determination on the matter.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Frank Wolf, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Chris Smith, Carolyn
Maloney, Michele Bachmann, Bob Inglis, Aaron Schock,
Eleanor Holmes Norton, Doug Lamborn, Marsha Blackburn,
Anna Eshoo, Dan Burton, Donald Payne, Albio Sires, Joe
Wilson, Ted Poe, Trent Franks, Anh ``Joseph'' Cao,Members of Congress.
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