Submission to the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families 

11 June 2024

39th Session 2024

Egypt: Urgent Appeal concerning Egypt’s Responses to Humanitarian Crises in Sudan and Eritrea

Submitted in June 2024

This document is intended to provide a brief overview of a number of pressing violations facing refugees and migrants in Egypt for consideration by the Committee on Migrant Workers in preparing the list of issues for the CWM’s 39thSession. This submission builds on the previous submission from the Global Detention Project in April 2017. In particular, this submission focuses on critical recent events in Egypt, which are spelled out in more detail in the attached Urgent Appeal concerning the treatment of Sudanese in Egypt that the Global Detention Project and the Committee for Justice issued in early 2024 concerning the detention and refoulement of Sudanese refugees in Egypt, as well as in the investigative article by the New Humanitarian “Inside Egypt’s secret scheme to detain and deport thousands of Sudanese refugees.” 

This submission also notes the ongoing deportation of Eritrean refugees from Egypt, many of whom have disappeared upon arrival in Eritrea. 

  1. According to information provided, detentions of refugees and migrants in 2023 increased by 42 percent compared to 2022; totaling ‘as many as’ 5,200 detentions in comparison to 3,800 detentions in 2022. The majority of those detained are Sudanese fleeing the active conflict in Sudan and arrested due to irregular entry to Egypt. Those arrested at the border are denied any access to asylum through registration with UNHCR. As a signatory of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, how is Egypt upholding Article 31 of the Convention requiring States not to “impose penalties, on account of illegal entry or presence, on refugees who, coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened in the sense of article 1, enter or are present in their territory without authorization”?
  2. Among those arrested and detained for irregular entry or lack of documentation in Egypt are children. As per the joint CRC/Committee on Migrant Workers in General Comment No. 23 (2017)/No. 4 (2017) on “State obligations regarding the human rights of children in the context of international migration in countries of origin, transit, destination and return[,]” how is Egypt upholding its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child to end immigration detention for children and their families?
  3. Reports from July 2023 indicate that Egypt pushed back into Sudan of up to 7,000 refugees and migrants, including Sudanese, South Sudanese, Eritrean, and Ethiopian. In August 2023, UNHCR reported in its Sudan Situation Report that “UNHCR continues to receive reports that 40 persons are deported daily for illegal entry/stay and criminal acts in Egypt. In another report from November 2023, UNHCR indicated that “close to 1,600 people, including documented refugees were reportedly deported from Egypt.” Protection partners operating in Sudan have reported that in the first three months of 2024, approximately 4,500 Sudanese were deported from Egypt to Sudan. However, these figures do not represent the comprehensive number of those deported due to the absence of any official data or access to detention or border areas. According to recent reports, some refugees told reporters that Egyptian border guard forces had shot at them in desert areas, and then arrested and deported them without any legal process. In light of the UNHCR Non-Return Advisory for Sudan, how is the deportation of Sudanese refugees and pushback of other nationalities in Sudan in line with Egypt’s obligations in accordance with the 1951 Convention Relation to the Status of Refugees and its obligation of non-refoulement as a rule of customary international law?
  4. Egyptian authorities started requiring all Sudanese to obtain a visa to enter Egypt as of 10 June 2023, the waiting period for visa processing has increased to up to six months. Since then, there are reports of the collection of exorbitant fees of up to USD 2,000 per visa to expedite processing, despite Egyptian authorities waiving visa fees for the Sudanese.[1] As such the government effectively prevents Sudanese fleeing direct harm and persecution access to territory, and prevents them from practicing the fundamental right to asylum, it meets the definition of refoulement in accordance with different International Legal Instruments. As signatory to a number of these instruments, how is Egypt upholding its active responsibility of ensuring non-refoulement of Sudanese refugees fleeing imminent persecution?
  5. The non-entrée regime Egypt has adopted towards Sudanese refugees have forced Sudanese to rely on migrant smugglers to escape persecution and harm in Sudan. The Sudanese Consul in Egypt announced this week the burial of 51 bodies of Sudanese refugees during their smuggling journey to Egypt due to heat, thirst, and traffic accidents. Among the dead are women, children, and entire families. Many of the Sudanese who made it alive into Egypt reported their family members missing in the desert, and seeing many bodies of migrants in the desert.[2] Considering the direct correlation between increasing reliance on migrant smugglers, and difficulties accessing visas to Egypt, how does Egypt intend to take measures to prevent further deaths among refugees fleeing active conflict and imminent persecution?
  6. Since the start of the aggression on Gaza, Egypt has only allowed Palestinians to enter Egypt if they are being medically evacuated or if they pay security coordination fees of USD 5,000 for adults and USD 2,500 for children to a government owned company.[3] As such regime effectively prevents Palestinians fleeing direct harm and persecution access to territory, and prevents them from practicing the fundamental right to asylum, it meets the definition of refoulement in accordance with different International Legal Instruments. As signatory to a number of these instruments, how is Egypt upholding its active responsibility of ensuring non-refoulement of Sudanese refugees fleeing imminent persecution?
  7. In 2021, the Global Detention Project issued an Urgent Appeal on the disappearances of Eritreans deported from Egypt. These deportations eventually received widespread condemnation (see attached UN press release); however, while the pace of deportations of Eritreans may have slowed, sources in Egypt report that there continue to be cases of mass removal flights from Egypt to Eritrea, including a recent planned deportation  of Eritrean children, which as of this writing remains shrouded in secrecy and the whereabouts of the children unknown. How is Egypt adhering to its obligation not to return people to a situation where they may be harmed in the case of Eritreans? How is to ensuring non-refoulement of Eritreans who have a legitimate claim of asylum? And when will Egypt abide by its obligations under the Joint CRC-CWM General Comment not to detain children for immigration reasons in the cases of detained Eritrean children as well as all migrant and asylum-seeking children (see also point 2 above)?

Attachments

  1. Urgent Appeal: “The Detention and Refoulement of Sudanese Refugees in Egypt,” April 2024
  2. The New Humanitarian, “Inside Egypt’s secret scheme to detain and deport thousands of Sudanese refugees,” 25 April 2024
  3. OHCHR Press Release, “UN experts condemn expulsions of Eritrean asylum seekers despite risks of torture, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance,” 13 April 2022
  4. Global Detention Project, CMW Submission, List of Issues: Egypt, April 2017 

[1] Radio Dabanga, The Public Prosecution in Wadi Halfa closes its doors due to lack of police cooperation in arresting defendants in the visa case, 3 April 2024, available in Arabic here. 

[2] Facebook, Al Jazeera – Sudan, 11 June 2024, available in Arabic here. See also; Twitter, Refugees Platform in Egypt, 10 June 2024, available in Arabic here. See also; Madameek, Aswan Hospitals Crowded with Bodies if Sudanese Fleeing Hell of War, 8 June 2024, available in Arabic here. 

[3] Mada Masr, The Argany peninsula, 13 February 2024, available here.