The Refugee Platform in Egypt expresses our rejection and condemnation of the recent forced deportation carried out by the so-called ‘Anti-Illegal Migration’ Agency of the eastern Libyan government on July 8th, 2025, through the Amsaed border crossing, that included 77 Egyptian migrants. This recent forced deportation incident is one of a series of escalating violations against Egyptian migrants in eastern Libya.

Information available regarding this incident indicates that this forced deportation took place under dehumanizing conditions, specifically where people were transported in closed trucks that did not even meet minimum safety protocols. This resulted in these peoples’ lives being put at serious risk, especially considering the heat and high temperatures of the border area during peak summer months. This inhumane forced deportation practice is a clear violation of basic human rights and international standards regarding the treatment of migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. 

Furthermore, the platform emphasizes that mass deportation, without an individualized assessment of each case, violates the principle of non-refoulement enshrined in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees; and places individuals who may be in need of international protection, including those who may be victims of human trafficking or asylum seekers, at risk of enforced disappearance or abuse in their country of origin. 

As of mid-2025, this is not the first incident where the dehumanization and illegal forced deportation of Egyptian people from Libya took place and involved an absence of the fundamental standards of international protection. Notably, there is no single comprehensive official statistic documenting the exact number of Egyptians forcibly deported from Libya during 2024 and 2025, but published data is available from official, Libyan and international media sources showing approximate figures and examples of mass deportation campaigns. For example, in December 2024, the alleged ‘Anti-Illegal Migration’ Agency in eastern Libya announced the deportation of 350 Egyptians. In July 2024, they announced the deportation of about 750 migrants to their countries, including Egyptians and Nigerians, without specifying the exact number of Egyptians within the group. Moreover, in August 2024, they announced that 65 Egyptian migrants were deported through the Amsaed border crossing as part of continuous campaigns where, during that year, mass deportations of hundreds of Egyptians were conducted repeatedly in several incidents with the numbers announced ranging from the tens to hundreds for each campaign. 

In the first quarter of 2025, the alleged ‘Anti-Illegal Migration’ Agency in Libya’s eastern region announced the deportation of more than 13,000 unlawful migrants of different nationalities, including Egyptian people, but the exact number of Egyptians within this figure was not clarified. On several other occasions during the first half of 2025, they announced that dozens of Egyptians were deported in each campaign.

Based on the tracking of news and reports for an estimation, the number of Egyptian migrants who were forcibly deported from Libya during the last three years combined reached several thousand, as campaigns continue periodically, and the recurrence of groups ranging between dozens and hundreds each time. Some security sources stated in previous reports that mass deportation campaigns may include between 2,000 to 4,000 Egyptians in some periods, especially throughout expanded security campaigns in eastern Libya.

Thousands of Egyptians forcibly deported from Libya were and continue to be subjected to a series of grave human rights violations that begin from the moment they are detained and until they reach the Egyptian border. These violations are documented by human rights organizations and survivor testimonies, which include the following:

1. Mass arrest and arbitrary detention: Authorities and some armed groups carry out mass raids and arrests of Egyptians, including children and women, often without any clear legal procedures or judicial review, while migrants are detained in warehouses or detention centers for periods ranging from days to months, in inhumane conditions, and subjected to various types of exploitation and extortion by law enforcement.
2. Mistreatment and torture: Survivor testimonies indicate that detainees are beaten, physically humiliated, threatened, and systematically subjected to physical and verbal violence, sometimes including electrocution, as well as the confiscation of money and and personal belongings, and are prevented from communicating with their families or the outside world.
3. Deprivation of basic needs: The provision of meager amounts of food and water, often unfit for consumption, resulting in malnutrition and detainees’ deteriorating health, lack of medical care, and overcrowding in cramped and unsanitary conditions. 
4. Forced deportation in degrading conditions: Deporting Egyptians by bus or forcing them to walk long distances on foot to the Egyptian border, with no safe or humane means of transportation, while forcing deportees to carry their luggage for long distances, and subjecting them to verbal threats humiliation and intimidation by Libyan security agents.
5. Additional risks during detention and deportation: Enforced disappearances, mysterious deaths of some detainees without transparent investigations, and exploitation of some victims by human trafficking networks, including financial extortion and violence at the hands of traffickers.
6. Lack of legal safeguards: Carrying out deportations without allowing victims to defend themselves, challenge deportation decisions, or obtain legal assistance, and not involving international organizations, or allowing them to effectively monitor conditions of detention or deportation.

These violations highlight the risks Egyptian people face while forcibly deported from Libya, and emphasize the need to hold Libyan authorities accountable and protect the rights of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in accordance with international standards.

The platform demands the following:

1. Recommendations to Libyan Authorities

Immediately stop the mass forcible deportations of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, especially in the absence of an individualized assessment for each person’s case, including guaranteeing the right to seek asylum and international protection and respecting the principle of non-refoulement.

Ensure that deportation procedures, if they need to occur, are carried out in a safe and humane manner, including transportation through appropriate means that preserve the dignity and safety of individuals, and refrain from using closed or non-specialized trucks to transport human beings.

Enable independent international and local organizations to access detention centers and monitor the transfer and deportation of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers while allowing them to document violations and ensure that legal and humanitarian standards are respected.

Enable those arrested to apply for asylum through the UNHCR in Libya.

1. Recommendations to Egyptian Authorities 

Open an urgent investigation into the deportation of the 77 Egyptian citizens from Tobruk on July 8th, 2025, given the serious violations involved, and hold accountable any Egyptian entity that was involved in receiving the deportees outside of a legal framework and/or through any non-transparent coordination with any Libyan party. 

Revisit the Egyptian law and constitution which recognize that a smuggled migrant, refugee, or asylum seeker is a victim and not a criminal by:

• Distinguishing that the definition of victims of smuggling and trafficking include those who were handed over by the Libyan party
• Refraining from detaining them or treating them as criminals
• Allowing them to contact their families and lawyers immediately 
• Publishing a list of the names and governorates of the deportees to ensure transparency and protect their rights 

III: Recommendations to the EU

Immediately stop supporting the arming and equipping of Libyan border guards, which contributes to the violation of migrant rights rather than protecting them.

Require the Libyan authorities to respect international human rights and refugee right conventions, including the Convention against Torture, the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and the Guidelines on the Treatment of Migrants at Border Crossings.

Link any technical or financial support to the Libyan migration file to a clear review of deportation and detention practices, systematic violations, and the activation of international accountability and oversight mechanisms.

We remind Libyan, Egyptian, and EU authorities of their legal obligations under international conventions, and that the protection of human rights must remain a priority, regardless of people’s legal status or nationality.

Refugee Platform in Egypt 

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