Abstract

Children have been used during the so called Arab Spring in the Arab countries since 2011 as tools at the hands of different group of people to achieve certain benefits. In Egypt particularly during and after the 25th of January Revolution, this phenomenon became obvious where the Egyptian children have been used during demonstrations by revolutionaries, political factions, the state itself or even by their families. Each group uses children to achieve its own interests. Revolutionaries and security forces used them as human shields, whereas political faction especially Muslim brotherhood used them to wear the death shrouds during the sit-ins. Moreover, some families rented their children to participate in these sit-ins and receive money in return. In most of the cases, the children’s abusers or exploiters achieve certain gain whether it is financial or political gain. The families who rented their children got money and those who used them as human shields during demonstrations protected themselves from the opposite side. In this thesis, the use of children in political conflicts will be analyzed in lights of international and national legislation. This thesis argues that the children who have been used as tools during political conflicts in Egypt is considered to be victims of trafficking thus a new form of trafficking is recommended to be added to the Egyptian law. It further argues that the international and national legislation represented by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the Egyptian Child Law fail to properly categorize using children in political conflicts as form of trafficking although they both contain articles related to trafficking in persons. On the other hand, this thesis argues that both legislation, the UNCRC and the Egyptian Child Law legally categorize using children in political conflicts as form of violence against those children.

Department

Law Department

Degree Name

MA in International Human Rights Law

Graduation Date

6-1-2016

Submission Date

May 2016

First Advisor

Sayed, Hani

Committee Member 1

Beckett, Jason

Committee Member 2

Skouteris, Thomas

Extent

79 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Rights

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Not necessary for this item

Comments

Thank you my great Lord and Father for always being there for me. Many thanks are owed to a number of people without their support I would have been unable to complete this thesis. First and foremost, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my sincere husband, Dr. Sherif Samuel, for his unconditional love and continual support, for believing in me, for supporting me in all my endeavors and for sharing my dream to accomplish this thesis. Thank you Sherif for being always around at times I thought that it is hard to continue; and you should take all the credit for much of what I have achieved. I would like to show my heartfelt gratitude to my mother who had the hard task of raising two daughters by herself since she was very young after the untimely death of my father. She invested too much into me and always gives me her support and encouragement. I would also like to thank my sister, Rania, for her usual prayers and unconditional love; her friendship makes my life wonderful experience. I thank my mother and my sister, who, although thousands of miles away, they have never allowed me to feel their absence. In addition, I must offer my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Professor Hani Sayed, for his inspiring guidance, encouragement and his way to let me organize my ideas and express my thoughts in this thesis. His patience, support and practical advice enriched me to develop my analytical skills towards writing this thesis and to bring me to a higher level of thinking which improves the quality of my research. I owe countless thanks to him for his support since finding an appropriate subject for my thesis till the process of writing it. Last but not least, I am particularly indebted to Professor Diana Van Bogaert for dedicating her precious time in all steps of the development of this thesis since I started to write my proposal last semester till finishing it. Without her valuable criticism and usual encouragement, I would not have finished this thesis. Finally, I dedicate this thesis to all those people who have made this thesis possible and provide me with support and encouragement.

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