POVERTY: Egypt, selling daughters

Marrying off their daughters for money is a temporary respite from poverty in a country where more than 23 percent of the 80 million population live below the poverty line, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics.“Extreme poverty stands behind the rise in this phenomenon,” said Ahmed Seif el-Islam, a lawyer and a human rights advocate. “These parents need money and they view their daughters as a deal that can bring them money.”Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, the UN special rapporteur on trafficking in persons, who visited the country on 21 April, called on the government to take tougher action to combat what she called “a list of social ills”.“There’s a growing trend of sexual and economic exploitation of underage girls through seasonal/temporary marriage, domestic servitude, other forms of sexual exploitation and prostitution,” Ezeilo said.