Sign! - They're smuggling pregnant women

[Egon Albrecht]

<td style="border:1px sol[/IMG]

Thousands of East Africans have been kidnapped by sadistic gangs, and tortured in Egypt’s Sinai until their families pay huge ransoms for their freedom. If we show Egypt’s leaders that this dirty secret is out and damaging the Sinai’s tourism reputation, we can force them to end the horror. Sign now:

http://www.avaaz.or[/IMG [/TD]

N[/IMG]She gave birth in shackles, beside other terrified captives[/B], with only rusty metal to cut the umbilical cord. It's unbelievable that this is happening in Egypt in 2014!
Amazingly Haben, a young Eritrean refugee, survived -- but she is one of thousands of East Africans who have been abducted by criminal trafficking rings, and tortured in Egypt’s Sinai until their desperate families pay huge ransoms for their freedom. If we can show Egypt’s leaders that this dirty secret is out and damaging the Sinai’s tourism reputation as the ‘Red Sea Riviera’, they could stop the horror.

Every hour these men, women and children are in captivity is an hour too long. Sign the urgent petition now and forward it to everyone. When we reach 1 million signers, Avaaz will raise a massive media storm to pressure Egypt to act:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/end_the_torture ... gb&v=35799

If we can stop human smuggling in the Sinai -- one of the most notorious routes for human trafficking in the world -- we can strike a blow against a trade that imprisons nearly one million people a year.   

And it’s possible to stop. The Egyptian government has the power and the local resources already deployed to shut the traffickers down for good. So here’s what we could do to make that happen:[*]Join with elected officials from Egypt’s major donor countries in pressing Egypt to act;</li>[*]Run hard-hitting ads targeting Egypt’s prized tourism industry;</li>[*]Expose the names of the key traffickers in a series of national Avaaz campaigns in the region;  </li>[*]Help journalists get access to torture camps to investigate which officials are complicit.</li>Let’s start it all with a million person movement to end this horrific trade in human suffering. Sign now and share with others:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/end_the_torture ... gb&v=35799

Our community has stepped in repeatedly to help those trapped in terrible conditions. Last year, we helped rescue migrant Indian labourers trapped in Bahrain. And we’ve helped provide food and medicine to those trapped in Syria. Now let’s help liberate those being tortured in Egypt.  

With hope and determination,

Ian, Nick, Ari, Bissan, Alice, Wissam and the entire Avaaz team

*Haben is a pseudonym, but her story is real.

SOURCES

Egypt/Sudan: Traffickers Who Torture (Human Rights Watch) 
http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/02/11/egyp ... ho-torture 

Extortionists, smugglers preying on Eritrean refugees, report says (Globe and Mail)
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/world ... -report-... 

Egypt/Sudan: Refugees face kidnapping for ransom, brutal treatment and human trafficking (Amnesty International)
http://www.amnestyusa.org/research/repo ... utal-tre...

The Human Trafficking Cycle: Sinai and Beyond (EEPA Report)
http://www.eepa.be/wcm/dmdocuments/Smal ... -web-3.pdf  

Thousands of Eritreans 'abducted to Sinai for ransom' (BBC)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25222336 

Egypt's Sinai: Trafficking, torture and fear (Al Jazeera)
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/featur ... 80563.html 

Human Trafficking Statistics (Polaris Project)
http://www.cicatelli.org/titlex/downloa ... istics.pdf

Support the Avaaz Co[/IMG]

<hr>
Avaaz.org is a 33-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 18 countries on 6 continents and operates in 17 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

You are getting this message because you signed "Before Monsanto uncorks the champagne" on 2013-12-05 using the email address gabriellbraga@....
To ensure that Avaaz messages reach your inbox, please add avaaz@... to your address book. To change your email address, language settings, or other personal information, contact us, or simply go here to unsubscribe.

To contact Avaaz, please do not reply to this email. Instead, write to us at www.avaaz.org/en/contact or call us at +1-888-922-8229 (US).