Joint statement: Egyptian authorities must immediately stop the arbitrary detention and forcible deportation of Eritrean asylum seekers
Forced deportation / arbitrary detention of asylum seekers
Egypt
00 ….2022
The undersigned organizations condemn the arbitrary detention of Eritrean asylum-seekers in Egypt and call upon the Egyptian government to abide by international and regional treaties and conventions on refugee rights. These arrests and subsequent violations should immediately stop, Eritrean asylum-seekers should be allowed to access asylum procedures, and all plans for forced deportations to Eritrea should be halted.
The Refugee Platform in Egypt (RPE), an organization focused on supporting refugees, has documented the forcible return of at least (70) Eritrean asylum seekers including women and children to the Eritrean capital, Asmara. Many of those deported include refugees who suffer from critical illnesses. These deportations happened on at least five separate flights, between October 31, 2021 and June 30, 2022.
The detainments by Egyptian authorities have been mired with violations of the principle of non-refoulement as well as ill-treatment of the asylum seekers. According to families’ testimonies, some of those deported were sent to compulsory military service after their return, a fate they shared with Egyptian authorities in pleas to halt forced deportations. The conditions of their detainment were also horrifying. Asylum seekers spent periods that extended to two years in detention in conditions described by pregnant women and children detained there as unsuitable and inhumane.
Deported former detainees faced a lack of adequate medical care, inadequate and poor quality food for children, denial of legal defense and no access to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) asylum procedures in the country. At least 200 who are currently detained face the same illegal and inhumane detention conditions, in addition to the threat of forcible deportation.
The threats these asylum seekers endure are also posed by Eritrean embassy representatives in Cairo. In several incidents RPE has documented, community leaders and activists were subjected to threats to not communicate with human rights organizations or to publish information regarding the situation of Eritrean refugees and the violations being practiced against them.
These practices constitute violations of Egypt’s local and international legal commitments. To that end, the undersigned organization call upon Egyptian authorities to immediately refrain from deporting asylum seekers for reasons related to irregular entry or exit. Additionally, we call on the authorities to grant bodies such as the UNHCR access to all detainees who request to register protection applications. Finally, we call upon the Public Prosecutor’s Office to investigate previous forced returns and hold those responsible accountable.