Three parliamentary committees approved in an urgent meeting on Tuesday night legislation aimed at stemming the tide of illegal migration.
The meeting, which comes a few days after a migrant boat capsized off Egypt's Mediterranean coast, was headed by chairman of the Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee Bahaaeddin Abu Shoqa. It also included members of the human rights and budget committees.
The meeting also came after President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi held an urgent national security meeting on Saturday to discuss the possibility of issuing a unified law aimed at toughening penalties for those involved in human trafficking and illegal migration operations.
On 21 September, the migrant boat, which was carrying between 450 and 500 migrants, sunk as it sailed for Italy from Egypt's Mediterranean port city of Rosetta.
The death toll from the accident reached 195 on Tuesday.
On Sunday, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Magdi El-Agati said in a press conference that a new bill including tougher penalties on illegal migration was submitted to parliament last June, "but discussions were delayed because parliament had a very busy agenda."
Abu Shoqa told reporters on Tuesday that "when the bill on illegal migration was sent to parliament last June it was approved in principle by the legislative and constitutional affairs committee, though we did not discuss it article by article because we gave priority to the church building bill."
Parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Al told reporters Tuesday that "in all probability the new bill on illegal migration will be discussed in a plenary session when parliament reconvenes on 4 October."
In the meeting on Tuesday night, Abu Shoqa stressed that the 33-article draft bill does not impose penalties on migrants themselves.
"The bill views them as victims of illegal activity. The bill is humanitarian in that sense and aims to extend help to them," said Abu Shoqa. "However, it will impose penalties on families who approve letting their members join illegal migration operations."
The draft law states that "members of criminal gangs that traffic migrants will face fines between EGP 50,000 and EGP 500,000 and prison sentences ranging from six months to life imprisonment."
An explanatory note attached to the bill explains that an anti-illegal migration fund will be set up to help victims. The fund will be under the purview of the prime minister and will begin operating on 30 June 2017.
The bill also establishes a national anti-illegal migration and human trafficking commission that will include representatives from all concerned ministries and research centres.
It will provide training on how to combat illegal migration and operate a unit to document progress in combating the phenomenon. The unit will be affiliated with the ministry of foreign affairs.
According to Article 3 of the new bill, the National Council for Motherhood and Childhood will take charge of caring for children and women who fall victims to human traffickers. Foreign migrants will be granted the right to contact the diplomats of their countries in Egypt so they can receive help and be taken back to their countries.
The explanatory note also stresses that while "international conventions on human rights and Egypt's 2014 constitution grant citizens the right to emigrate," it stipulates that this must be the result of a decision freely and legally made and not one that can be exploited "by criminal gangs which use the internet and other means to secure astronomical profits from this illegal activity."
Minister El-Agati indicated that the new bill has become a necessity in order to safeguard ordinary citizens against human traffickers whose activities have increased in tandem with "political troubles and civil wars in a number of African and Arab countries."
