The Fund for Assisting Victims of Trafficking in Persons organized an intensive training programme targeting around 30 imams and female religious preachers in Damietta Governorate, entitled “The Role of Religious Leaders in Combating Trafficking in Persons and Raising Community Awareness,” in cooperation with the National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Persons, with the participation of the Ministry of Religious Endowments (Awqaf), Egypt.
The training programme was opened in the presence of Dr. Ali Ismail Saber, Director of the Da’wah Department at the Directorate of Awqaf in Damietta, and Dr. Ahmed Saeed, representing the Fund for Assisting Victims of Trafficking in Persons. Both emphasized the importance of the role of religious leaders in raising community awareness of the risks of trafficking in persons through sermons and religious lessons.
The programme included several training sessions. The first session focused on introducing the National Coordinating Committee, as well as the mandates and functions of the Fund for Assisting Victims of Trafficking in Persons and the support provided to victims, while the second session addressed trafficking in persons and its various forms.
The third session reviewed the national legal framework for combating trafficking in persons, in addition to drawing connections between religious texts from the Holy Quran and the Sunnah, which prohibit the exploitation of human beings and affirm the preservation of human dignity, and how religious values can be utilized to strengthen efforts to prevent and combat exploitation.
This training programme is part of the Fund for Assisting Victims of Trafficking in Persons’ training plan across the governorates, with the aim of enhancing the awareness of imams and female religious preachers and enabling them to disseminate awareness messages among all segments of society, while strengthening partnerships with relevant entities to protect society, particularly the most vulnerable groups.
