Despite the spiralling war in nearby Sudan—where reports of massacres and widespread starvation have grabbed global attention—Egypt remains poised to adopt a new asylum law that will threaten access to protection for those fleeing the conflict. The law will also allow for arbitrary detention and refoulement based on migration status and without full consideration of a person’s individual protection needs. These developments could lead to massive increases in Egypt’s ongoing detention and deportation efforts—which have already ensnared thousands of Sundanese children, women, and men since late 2023—and further fuel Sudan’s humanitarian crisis.
In response, the international community has stepped up calls for Egypt to change course in its treatment of refugees and other vulnerable migrants, including civil society campaigns that have included important inputs from the Global Detention Project and its partners, as well as appeals from UN human rights monitoring bodies.
On 17 December, a group of UN human rights experts led by the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants issued a carefully worded critique of Egypt’s proposed asylum law, pointing to the many areas where it may contravene the country’s international human rights and humanitarian obligations. The letter, which can be read here, argued that the new law “would fall significantly short of international human rights and refugee law and other relevant standards.”
The letter signatories—also including the Special Rapporteurs on persons with disabilities; on the right to freedom expression; on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; on freedom of religion; and on trafficking; as well as the Working Group on discrimination against women and girl—emphasised that it was incumbent upon Egypt to recognise that irregular border crossing, which is common among refugees fleeing conflicts, “should not be treated as a criminal offense, as it does not strip foreigners of their human rights entitlements, including due process guarantees. The fundamental rights of foreigners must be protected, irrespective of their migration status, to ensure that they are treated with dignity and respect.”
The UN experts urged Egypt “to reconsider” problematic provisions of the asylum law and “to bring Egypt’s domestic law in line with international human rights standards,” as well as to adopt policies that are “designed to protect human rights and address the vulnerabilities of those on the move, aligning with international obligations and principles of equality, non-discrimination, and humanitarian protection. By prioritizing human dignity and expanding safe migration options, states can create a more equitable and humane approach to migration management.”
The UN letter was released in the wake of growing calls by local and international civil society groups to pressure Egypt to halt its harmful refugee practices. On 5 December, the Global Detention Project and the Egyptian-focused Committee for Justice issued an urgent appeal directed at key human rights monitoring bodies as as well as EU officials in Brussels to step up pressure on Egypt. In their letter accompanying their joint appeal, the GDP and CFJ noted with concern that despite growing concerns about the harmful treatment of Sudanese refugees in Egypt and the worsening conflict in the neighbouring country, Egyptian officials seemed wholly unprepared to “change course or acknowledge problems in the treatment of these vulnerable people.”
According to the GDP and CFJ: “During Egypt’s review before the Committee on Migrant Workers [on 4 December 2024] (view here), members of the Egyptian delegation flatly denied that the country was detaining refugee children, women, and men, or that it was deporting refugees in violation of its human rights and humanitarian obligations. But as our urgent appeal reports, there is a growing body of evidence revealing a spiralling refugee detention and refoulement regime in Egypt that is placing thousands of people in harm’s way. These developments are occuring as the European Union’s cooperation with Egypt on migration matters continues to grow, channeling millions of Euros into an enforcement regime that implicates Europe in mass human suffering. We urge the international community and EU leaders to pressure Egypt to change course.”
