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Press Release For Egypt’s Joint UPR Report
Refugees and Asylum Seekers Rights in Egypt: 2019-2024
In July 2024, Migration and Human Rights Platform (MHRP) and Refugee Platform in Egypt (RPE), two human rights organizations, submitted a joint report to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)’s 48th session.
The report highlights the challenges faced by and violations committed against refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants in Egypt between 2019 and 2024. This report focused on human rights issues related to sanctuary, healthcare, education, and lack of legal protection.
The submitted report highlights obstacles also faced by refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers in Egypt including movement restrictions, byzantine bureaucratic procedures for obtaining asylum in Egypt, and negative material impacts on the rights of refugees due to the tightening of border regulations. All this continues to impede on their right to safely access Egypt and seek protection, as well as exacerbates their arduous conditions through their confinement in inhumane detention centers.
This report calls for urgent legislative reforms to ensure the protection of refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers in Egypt, including the adoption of national laws that regulate their status and provide them with necessary legal protection. Additionally, the report urgently calls for improved access to basic services such as education and healthcare. The report also calls for necessary reforms of the UNHCR office in Egypt to improve the organization’s efficiency and capacity as well as provide assistance and support to refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers, all of which aligns with Egypt’s international obligations.
On December 17th, 2024, the Egyptian government issued a law regulating the asylum of foreigners, however this law was criticized by human rights organizations for not conforming to the international standards which Egypt is committed to and already ratified.
The Report’s Detailed Summary:
The Legal Framework For Refugees, Migrants, and Asylum Seekers:
Despite Egypt being a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, as well as the convention’s 1967 Protocol, Egypt has not adopted comprehensive national legislation to regulate the status of refugees on Egyptian territory. Egypt’s legal framework lacks a precise definition of the term ‘refugee’which enables legislative loopholes that authorities exploit to circumvent their international obligations.
The report calls for the adoption of national legislation that complies with international standards and provides clear and comprehensive legal protection for refugees, migrants, asylum seekers, and forcibly displaced people.
Border Militarization:
Egypt’s border conditions demonstrate a strict security response to forced displacement. The Egyptian state has taken measures that include militarizing the border, criminalizing the movement of forcibly displaced people, as well as profiting off of their crossing from war zones. These policies have significantly impacted the rights of both border communities as well as forcibly and internally displaced people, resulting in serious human rights violations. These violations include arbitrary detention, forced deportation, and expulsion to war and conflict zones without due process.
Registration and Initial Procedures:
Refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers in Egypt face significant difficulties in registering with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The report discusses the long waiting periods and complicated procedures that hinder refugees’ access to their fundamental rights.
Moreover, refugees are subject to security harassment and forced deportation in spite of any pending asylum procedures or applications. The report calls for transparency and accountability regarding registration procedures while ensuring quick and fair access to services for asylum seekers.
Basic Service Accessibility:
Furthermore, the report detailed the struggles refugees face in obtaining basic services such as education and healthcare. Reference reports indicate that refugee, migrant, and asylum seeking children face bureaucratic obstacles when enrolling in public schools, while community education centers are often raided by authorities. Chronically ill refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers also suffer from a lack of medical care, with documented cases of Palestinian and Sudanese citizens and refugees being denied adequate and proper medical treatment.
Arbitrary Detention and Forced Deportation:
Additionally, the report addresses issues surrounding migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers arbitrary detention and forced deportation. In particular, Sudanese and Eritrean refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers are subject to arbitrary detention in harsh conditions as well as forced deportation without any judicial safeguards or legal representation. These violations constitute a flagrant violation of international law. Thus, the report calls for an immediate end to these practices as well as to ensure that the rights of refugees, migrants, asylum seekers, and forcibly displaced people are adhered to, implemented, and respected.
Recommendations:
The report includes a set of recommendations; primarily among them to stop violations against refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers including arbitrary arrests and forced deportations. The report also called for issuing domestic legislation in accordance with Egypt’s international obligations as well as facilitating forcibly displaced people’s access to services provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Additionally, the report emphasized the need to improve forcibly displaced people’s access to basic services, such as education and healthcare.
To read the full report, please click here
