Egypt is obligated to protect asylum seekers and refugees

CAIRO - 6 October 2020: The Egyptian Foreign Ministry affirmed Egypt's commitment to providing protection as well as all the available services to asylum seekers and refugees, stressing the importance of coordination between donors and the Egyptian government to ensure complementarity in the exerted efforts and the sustainability of projects.

This came during the event organized by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to launch the regional response plan to support Syrian refugees residing in Egypt and empower their host communities, as well as the Egyptian response plan for refugees and asylum seekers from Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, Iraq and Yemen for the year 2020-2021.

Assistant to the Egyptian Foreign Minister for Multilateral Affairs and International Security, Ihab Fawzy, stressed the importance of observing equality among refugees, regardless of their nationalities, in allocating financial support provided by donor countries, as this is directly related to respect for the human dignity of all refugees as well as stability and societal cohesion.

The Egyptian official pointed to the need to increase international support directed to Egypt, which — in addition to the registered refugees — hosts millions of people who have been forced to flee their countries for fear of conflict and armed unrest. These refugeesbenefitfrom all the services provided by the Egyptian government, like Egyptian citizens. 

International support for refugees and the host community is an expression of commitment to the International Refugee Covenant, which was adopted in 2018 and affirmed the principle of shared responsibility and support for host countries in bearing the burden of hosting refugees.

The organization of the event comes within the framework of the Egyptian government's efforts to mobilize all necessary means of support to host refugees and asylum seekers in Egypt from about 58 countries, including Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Iraq.

The event was attended by the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Richard Dictus, and the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Egypt, Karim Atassi. It was attended by a number of ambassadors, representativesof international organizations, and representatives of civil society.

For his part, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Egypt called on donor countries to increase the support provided to Egypt to reduce the burden on the Egyptian government and emphasized the organization's keenness to coordinate between all agencies in Egypt to ensure access to all the most vulnerable groups of refugees and migrants, especially in light of the coronavirus crisis that causes significant economic and social repercussions.

The representative of the High Commissioner for Refugees thanked the government and the Egyptian people for hosting refugees, noting that Egypt has not yet received international support equivalent to the cost it bears in hosting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in a refugee-like situation. He praised the efforts produced by the Egyptian government to serve refugees and ensure that they enjoy essential services.