Egypt: New asylum law could badly impact refugee rights

Egypt is only one step away from ratifying a new law on asylum seekers that will shift responsibility from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) to Egypt.

Once in place, Egypt will have its own legal framework to address the growing number of refugees in the country and to decide if an asylum request is approved or rejected.

As the government plans to implement the law as soon as possible, it is most likely that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi will give his final approval for the draft law on "regulating foreigners' asylum in Egypt" within the next days.

The Egyptian government stated in November that the number of refugees from Sudan, Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, Eritrea and Gaza had reached around 9 million.

However, up until October, only around 800,000 were registered with the UNHCR and thus entitled to aid, healthcare and education.

The vast majority live in Egypt without official refugee status and rely on their own savings, communal help, relatives, volunteers or donations.

"The new asylum law shifts the ownership of the migration file and its operational side to Egypt," Kelly Petillo, Middle East researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), told DW, adding that, "the decision has been viewed quite negatively, as rights groups have been seeing it as a removal of ownership away from the UN and rights-based organizations."

Observers and human rights activists have long accused Egypt of a dire human rights record which has been exacerbated by the war in Gaza, as the country's key role in the Middle East crisis has left diplomats and foreign officials reluctant to voice criticism for fear of losing a strategic partner.

Lack of essential protections

For the Egyptian authorities, however, the new 39-article law "aims to provide a comprehensive legal framework for refugees, while ensuring a delicate balance between refugee rights and national obligations," according to a government statement on the matter.

Once in place, all refugee and asylum matters will be decided by a newly established Permanent Refugee Affairs Commission under the lead of Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly.

The draft asylum law further states that granting and renewing refugee status will depend on three key issues.

Firstly, refugees and asylum seekers must "respect Egypt's values and traditions."

Secondly, they are forbidden from doing anything that could harm national security or public order or contradict the goals and principles of the United Nations, the African Union, the Arab League, or any organization to which Egypt is a party, or committing any hostile act against their country of origin or any other country.

And thirdly, they are banned from engaging in any political or partisan activity, or any work within trade unions, including founding, joining, or participating in any way in any political party.

Those who do not comply with these rules, or are denied refugee status, must leave Egypt regardless of the security situation in their home country.

Criticism from home and abroad

This is something Mona, a Sudanese from Khartoum who fled to Egypt when the civil war erupted in her home country in April 2023, is worried about.

"For many of the Sudanese civil society and youth resistance group members, Cairo has become our base, and I wonder if this could be deemed as going against Egyptian values and traditions?" she told DW, asking that her full name not be published for fear of retribution.

Timothy E. Kaldas, deputy director of the Washington-based Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy also sees that "Egypt's new asylum law contains a number of worrying provisions, and it omits a number of essential protections [necessary] for it to comply with international law."

"The importance of guarantees that asylum seekers cannot be forcibly returned to their countries of origin, when it is unsafe to do so, is a vital protection that is guaranteed under international law," Kaldas told DW, adding that "this law in no way upholds that protection and guarantees that right."

This week, 22 Egyptian and international human rights organizations rejected the draft law in a joint statement.

"Due to the overly broad and vague nature of the term 'national security,' this exclusion clause could be used to overly restrict the rights of refugees without any real oversight or legal recourse," the statement said.

Preparation for Palestinians from Gaza

Since the Hamas-led attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, and the resulting violence in Gaza, which borders on Egypt, the Egyptian President el-Sissi has repeatedly said that his country will not take in large numbers of displaced Palestinians.

"This risk is now increasing due to the upcoming [President-elect Donald] Trump administration," ECFR's Petillo said.

In Egypt, neither the UNHCR nor the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) hold a direct mandate for Palestinian refugees. In certain circumstances, displaced Palestinians in Egypt can receive minimal protection or support under the UNHCR's wider refugee mandate.

"Egypt wants more ownership of the asylum issue, especially in the case of Palestinian refugees, as it's a very politically salient issue and one the Egyptian public is very receptive to," Petillo said.

Kaldas sees another reason for Egypt to push forward with its own asylum law. "The law was also passed at the behest of Egypt's European partners, as they want to deepen Egypt's role as a host country," he said.

Egypt has not only become a destination for regional refugees, it is also one of Europe's partners in curbing migration.

The 2023 EU-Tunisia agreement — which sought to limit the number of migrants arriving on EU soil with a substantial aid package to Tunisia in exchange for curbing migration — could serve as a blueprint for this.

In March 2024, the European Union entered a "strategic and comprehensive partnership" with Egypt worth $8 million (€7.4 million) to reinforce the country's stability and boost counter-migration efforts.

Edited by: Maren Sass