Renowned Egypt's media expert and journalism professor at AUC, Mervat Abou Oaf, gave a fruitful seminar on reporting on trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, organized by the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Persons (NCCPIM & TIP).
During the seminar, Oaf shed light on the role of media in reshaping and raising awareness about issues of human trafficking, illegal migration, and migrant smuggling.
"Media news is very or somewhat effective for raising public awareness about these social issues," Oaf also revealed.
The maven media expert also described the media channels as effective rather than ineffective when it comes to achieving these goals.
"What people know about the world is largely based on what the media channels decide to tell us. More specifically, the result of this mediated view of the world is that the priorities of the media strongly impact the priorities of the public. Elements prominent on the media agenda become prominent in people’s minds," she indicated.
In the same connection, she noted that several media channels are sometimes the primary source of sensational pictures in our heads about the larger world of public affairs.
Meanwhile, Mahmoud Emam, an NCCPIM & TIP representative, indicated that victims of trafficking will not be held legally responsible for these awful crimes.
Tamim Alian, an IOM representative, said earlier that trafficking in persons is a crime different from smuggling. A man or woman can be trafficked inside one state, while a smuggled person has to cross a border.
"The majority of victims and children are trafficked against their will while others are smuggled willingly," Alian explained.
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