Egypt has been arbitrarily arresting and deporting refugees with expired permits, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Tuesday. The majority of these refugees and asylum seekers are from Sudan and South Sudan. Sudan is in year four of a deadly civil war, while renewed violence plagues South Sudan .
The situation in Egypt is due in part to a legal quagmire. In 2024, the government passed an asylum law that is supposed to transfer asylum duties to the government from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), but the transfer has not taken place. There is now a backlog for both the government and UNHCR, and people with expired permits are “given renewal dates as late as 2028.” Per Human Rights Watch, the arrests are occurring because of these delays. Egyptian authorities have reportedly arrested thousands of refugees this year.
Furthermore, the new law does not contain the principle of non-refoulement, which means countries shall not return migrants to a country where “they would face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment andother irreparable harm.” Non-refoulement applies regardless of immigration status. As party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, Egypt must comply.
Also enshrined in the Convention are due process requirements. Article 32 states expulsion can only occur with due process of law. Article 16 states that refugees should have full access to courts that nationals have. Additionally, Article 31 states that countries shall not impose penalties on those fleeing situations that threaten life or freedom.
Egypt is home to over a million refugees. It passed the 2024 law to control illegal immigration and smuggling networks. The law also came when European countries had refugee problems of their own and migration was surging because of global conflicts.
Initially the new law received praise for providing a pathway to citizenship and eliminating employment restrictions on refugees. However, there were concerns about the government’s authority to decide who is a refugee. Additionally with the implementation backlog the problem is only continuing.
