Egypt calls int'l community to share refugee burden "despite difficulties"

CAIRO – 22 June 2018: In a bid to renew Egypt’s moral and legal commitment towards refugees in the territory, Egypt has called on the international community to share the collective responsibilities of hosting refugees.

According to Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid, Egypt seeks to integrate refugees into the Egyptian society “despite high burdens and economic difficulties.”

On #WorldRefugeeDay Egypt stresses need to share the collective repsonbilities of hosting refugees. We renew our legal & moral commitment towards refugees on our own territory and keenness to integrate them into society, despite high burdens &economic difficulties @UNHCREgypt

— Egypt MFA Spokesman (@MfaEgypt) June 20, 2018

Abu Zeid’s tweet coincided with the World Refugee Day, an international observance that marks June 20 and is dedicated to raising awareness of the situation of refugees throughout the world.

Last August, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Egypt reported that the number of refugees and asylum seekers in the country was about 209,000 refugees. Unofficial estimates however indicate that there are more than 300,000 refugees in the country, including those who are registered in the UNHCR.

The UNHCR's annual "Global Trends" study found that a staggering 68.5 million people worldwide had been forcibly displaced by the end of 2017.

According to UNHCR, around 68.5 million people worldwide had been forcibly displaced by the end of 2017 –http://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends2017

“Nearly a quarter of them were uprooted just last year, either for the first time or repeatedly. That's an average of one person displaced every two seconds of the day,” the study says.