Asylum Seekers Crisis In Egypt.. Abdication of Humanitarian Responsibility and UN Failure

 While refugees fleeing violence and persecution seek refuge in Egypt, hoping to find safety, protection, and a dignified livelihood in a new homeland, many find themselves facing harsh challenges. There are no tangible, serious, or urgent solutions from the authorities or the international bodies responsible for refugees, primarily the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Instead, they face the threat of forced deportation and the fear of the unknown, as well as the worst-case scenarios. Repatriation to their conflict-ridden regions only exposes them to imminent danger.

Last Chance… What Comes Next?

Recently, the Egyptian Cabinet announced a final deadline for all foreigners residing in Egypt to regularize their status and legalize their presence in the country. This deadline, ending on September 30, follows the extension of the previous deadline which ended on June 30. During this period, all services provided by various entities will be suspended until the exemption card is obtained from the General Directorate of Passports. The government

has stated that after the final deadline, legal action will be taken against foreigners who have not obtained the exemption from the General Directorate of Passports, treating them as violators of the country’s residency regulations.

The government has urged foreigners and expatriates to visit the General Directorate of Passports, Immigration, and Nationality to regularize their status, renew their residency, and obtain the smart residence card to ensure access to all government services provided to them. Additionally,

foreigners exempted from residency fees are called upon to register their data and obtain the exemption card from the General Directorate of Passports, Immigration, and Nationality.

In total, Egypt hosts approximately 670,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers from 62 different nationalities. Sudanese nationals form the largest group, followed by Syrians, with smaller numbers from South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Yemen, Somalia, and Iraq, according to the UNHCR.

Refugee Situation in Egypt as of June 20, 2024, the number of refugees registered with the UNHCR in Egypt stands at 387,071 from Sudan, making up more than 52% of the total registered refugees in the country. An additional 250,000 Sudanese are awaiting registration with the UNHCR in Egypt. The registered refugee population also includes 156,444 from Syria, 43,031 from South Sudan, 36,813 from Eritrea, 18,419 from Ethiopia, 8,677 from Yemen, 8,046 from Somalia, 5,683 from Iraq, and individuals from over 54 other nationalities.

According to both government and international estimates, the total number of refugees and foreign residents in Egypt exceeds 9 million, originating from around 133 countries.

Forced Deportation and Its Consequences While emphasizing the importance of following the necessary registration procedures, it must be noted that forced deportation of refugees and asylum seekers exposes them to a frightening fate. Deporting individuals back to regions experiencing armed conflict poses serious threats to their lives, increasing the likelihood of persecution, torture, or even death. This also exposes vulnerable groups, such as women and children, to additional risks like human trafficking and exploitation, which is a blatant violation of human rights.

Challenges Faced by Sudanese Refugees Tens of thousands of Sudanese, the largest group of refugees and asylum seekers, who are fleeing the horrors of civil war, face significant challenges when attempting to enter Egypt. These challenges include long wait times at the borders under unhealthy conditions, lack of shelter, medicine, and basic necessities, amid severe delays in processing visa applications due to the closure of several embassies and immigration offices. Many have lost their passports and identity cards, or their documents have expired. Despite the Egyptian government increasing the number of staff to handle the influx and extending service hours, there remains a significant issue in managing visa applications as the numbers continue to rise daily. This situation forces many to attempt entry through irregular means. The initial waves of displaced individuals mostly include those with better resources, but subsequent waves predominantly comprise the more vulnerable groups, many of whom cannot afford a bus ticket, as the scope of conflicts and threats to their lives expand.

Risk of Forced Return Nevertheless, many Sudanese find themselves at risk of being returned to the very hell they faced many horrors to escape. According to the Sudan News Agency (SUNA), on June 13, 2024, the Arqin border crossing in Wadi Halfa, Northern State, received 721 deported Sudanese from Egypt. These individuals, including dozens of families with elderly members and children, as well as a segment of youth, were deported for allegedly entering Egypt irregularly from Sudan.

UN Agencies and Donors: Slow Processes and Support Challenges

The slow process of the UNHCR in determining the status of asylum seekers frustrates many applicants, as it can take months. Even after obtaining the asylum seeker card (the “yellow card”), which serves as a renewable residence permit to protect against detention and deportation, scheduling the next phase can take up to two years to receive the blue card and determine refugee status. Furthermore, rejected applicants are not provided with specific reasons for their rejection.

Many asylum seekers have reported difficulties in communicating with UNHCR staff. The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights attempted to contact the emergency number listed on the UNHCR website but received no response.

At the same time, the UNHCR and other NGOs supporting refugees are facing funding shortages, hindering their ability to provide essential and urgent assistance such as housing, food, healthcare, and education, along with psychological and social support.

The UNHCR in Egypt has only two offices: one in Greater Cairo and another for Alexandria and the northern governorates, with an additional office in Zamalek, Giza, dedicated exclusively to Syrian refugees. The insufficient number of staff responsible for registering asylum seekers cannot practically accommodate the number of applicants through traditional bureaucratic methods. This necessitates the implementation of flexible mechanisms to urgently address their cases, especially since the fate of tens of thousands of asylum seekers, who are at risk of deportation by the end of the government’s deadline in September,

depends on this. All these issues require urgent intervention from the UNHCR in Geneva and its office in Cairo to address the obstacles in registering asylum seekers. This could involve increasing the number of staff handling applicants’ cases and extending temporary protection to Sudanese nationals in Egypt, similar to previous measures for Syrian and Iraqi asylum seekers. This would also necessitate providing the necessary support to ensure a dignified life for them.

Prima Facie Recognition: An Urgent Necessity

In cases of major humanitarian crises or armed conflicts that force individuals to flee en masse, such as wars or severe internal conflicts, humanitarian agencies often grant “prima facie” refugee status to all citizens of a country or category, assuming they meet the criteria for refugee definition. This approach avoids forced return to their home countries and reduces bureaucratic procedures for registration, thus providing better protection against the risks they might face if returned.

This prima facie approach means that the state or the UNHCR recognizes refugees based on the clear objective conditions in their home country or previous place of residence. This approach has been applied by neighboring countries in the past to citizens from Syria and South Sudan, for example. This method

allows for rapid and effective protection of individuals facing immediate danger to their lives or safety without the need for long and complex bureaucratic procedures to determine their refugee status on an individual basis.

In this context, the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights urges the UNHCR and its Cairo office, along with the relevant authorities, to swiftly adopt this approach for Sudanese citizens. This would ensure effective protection, avoiding the risks they might face upon returning to their home country under dire humanitarian conditions.

The Role of the State: Humanitarian Commitment and Procedural Hurdles

With ongoing registration obstacles and the limited number of UNHCR staff handling asylum seeker cases, many vulnerable individuals are forced to remain as visitors on periodically renewed “tourist” visas. This deprives them of the rights guaranteed by international laws and treaties, as confirmed by several asylum seekers in testimonies to the Egyptian Center. This situation leads authorities to classify them as residents rather than refugees, displaced persons, or humanitarian migrants. Thus, it is necessary for the relevant authorities and the UNHCR to coordinate efforts to ensure that those who regularize their status through various means are granted the protection they need, despite the impossibility of registering through the announced methods.

In 2004, Egypt and Sudan signed the Four Freedoms Agreement, ensuring mutual freedom of movement, residence without permits, work, and property ownership for their citizens, eliminating the need for visas to enter or exit either country. However, its implementation has recently been halted due to the increasing influx of displaced individuals into Egypt, despite the growing need to reactivate it in consideration of the historical fraternal relations between the two Nile Valley nations.

While Egyptian law enforcement authorities affirm their commitment to the legal and legislative framework in handling the refugee issue, there is a need for real, urgent, and extended facilitation of registration and regularization procedures. This includes easing or eliminating entry and residence requirements to alleviate the humanitarian suffering they already face, rather than resorting to deportation as the first option in handling the situation.

Given the difficulty of registering all those without proper status in Egypt by the government’s deadline due to limited time and increasing numbers, as well as the registration and regularization cycle, the Egyptian Center urges the relevant authorities to extend the deadline to accommodate all asylum seekers.

The Egyptian Center reminds that the government’s obligations towards refugees are clear and recognized at all levels, including international treaties, the Egyptian constitution and law, and the rulings of the Egyptian judiciary. Notably, the Center previously obtained a landmark ruling on refugee protection. On July 2010, the Administrative Court in the State Council issued a ruling to halt the deportation of a Sudanese refugee to his home country, , resulting in his release from detention and continuation of his asylum in Egypt, in accordance with international agreements on refugee protection.

Laws and International Treaties: No Deportation Under Any Circumstance

The principle of non-refoulement is a fundamental principle in human rights law and international humanitarian law, forming a core tenet of refugee law. This principle stipulates that asylum seekers cannot be returned by the host country to a place where they are at risk of persecution.

Article 91 of the Egyptian Constitution states: “The state may grant political asylum to any foreigner persecuted for defending the interests of peoples, human rights, peace, or justice. The extradition of political refugees is prohibited, all in accordance with the law.” Additionally, Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution in other countries.

The 1951 Geneva Convention, which Egypt has signed, allows for reservations on many of its rights but prohibits reservations on certain core rights, including the right against expulsion and non-refoulement.

Furthermore, the prohibition of refoulement is clearly stated or interpreted in the 1984 Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Article 3), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 7), and the 1992 Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (Article 8, Paragraph 1).

Additionally, non-refoulement is prohibited in several regional human rights instruments, such as the 1969 African Union Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa (Article 2, Paragraph 3) and the 1992 Cairo Declaration on the Protection of Refugees and Displaced Persons in the Arab World (Article 2).

The 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees codifies this principle, stating in Article 33, Paragraph 1: “No contracting state shall expel or return (‘refouler’) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.”

The principle of non-refoulement also applies to asylum seekers while they await a decision on their asylum request, before their status as a refugee is recognized, or until it is confirmed that the applicant does not meet the criteria for refugee status.

The prohibition against refoulement under international refugee law applies to any form of forced movement, including deportation, expulsion, informal transfers or “renditions,” and denial of entry at borders.

Urgent Recommendations

From this standpoint, the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights emphasizes the need for close cooperation between Egyptian authorities, the UNHCR, and international donors to ensure the protection of refugee rights and improve their living conditions. This will enhance the capacity to address the growing challenges resulting from the influx of refugees and ensure the necessary support or alternative solutions are provided.

Urgent Recommendations for Enhancing the Protection and Rights of Refugees in Egypt. The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights puts forward several urgent recommendations to enhance the protection and rights of refugees in Egypt:

1. 1. **Improving Procedures for Regularizing Refugees’ Status:**

– The center urges the Egyptian authorities and the UNHCR to fulfill their responsibilities by establishing an effective and expedited mechanism to facilitate the regularization of asylum seekers. These procedures should include:

– Extending the deadline for regularizing the status of refugees.

– Simplifying the necessary procedures to obtain the smart residence card.

– Regularly updating the refugee database to ensure accuracy and quick access to information.

– Granting Sudanese asylum seekers “prima facie” refugee status or temporary protection and its accompanying benefits.

2. 2. **Increasing Financial and Logistical Support:**

– The center emphasizes the need for international and UN donors to commit to their responsibilities by:

– Increasing funding allocated to the UNHCR to expedite the clearance of backlog cases.

– Providing necessary protection for new arrivals.

– Offering essential support to Egypt to enable it to fulfill its commitments to host refugees and improve their living conditions, especially in light of the severe economic crisis the country is facing.

3. 3. **Respecting and Implementing International Commitments:**

– The center stresses the importance of Egypt adhering to its international and humanitarian obligations, particularly those outlined in the 1951 Geneva Convention. These commitments include:

– Ensuring non-refoulement of refugees.

– Guaranteeing the legal rights of refugees and asylum seekers, including the right to appeal against deportation decisions.

– Announcing mechanisms to protect the rights of refugees and prevent their violation.

4. 4. **Activating Complaints Mechanisms and Rapid Response:**

– The center calls for:

– Establishing and activating a hotline to receive complaints from refugees and asylum seekers regarding violations, discrimination, or hate speech against them.

– Ensuring a swift and effective response to these complaints and taking necessary measures to halt such practices that have become prevalent recently.

– Ensuring refugees have access to basic services to provide a decent life for them and their families.