Egypt must end use of lethal force against refugees
Girl's dress caught on barbed wire fence on border between
Egypt and Israel © Yonathan Weitzman/BluePress
Egypt hosts between two to three million refugees and migrants, mostly from Sudan, who live in economic hardship and suffer from discrimination and racism.
Since mid 2007, thousands of refugees and migrants have tried to cross from Egypt into Israel after Isreal announced its willingness to assist a limited number of Sudanese refugees.
On 11 August 2007, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated its intent “to combat trespassing across the international borders with Israel”. This has included the use of lethal force which has resulted in 25 killings, including women and children, and 587 arrests of irregular migrants. Riot police have also attacked refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants from Sudan who staged a three month long peaceful sit-in protest in Cairo, which resulted in the deaths of 27 persons and injured scores more. Protesters held the sit-in near the offices of the UNHCR in Cairo asking to be relocated to other countries.
Egypt is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, and the International Covention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.
Points for your email
Please send an urgent letter to the President of Egypt, His Excellency Mohammad Hosni Mubarak. Here are some key points to include in your letter:
- express concern for the safety of all refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, who attempt to cross the border between Egypt and Israel, as at least 25 have been killed since mid-2007
- call on him to instruct the Egyptian security forces at the border to not use firearms or other lethal force except when this is strictly necessary to protect their own lives or the lives of others
- urge him to order an investigation into all killings and other excessive use of force and bring to justice those responsible
- ask for the end of trials of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants who are civilians before military courts in breach of international standards of fair trial.
Log into the Action Centre to find suggested wording for your letter. Personalised letters have a much greater impact, so please rewrite the letter and the subject line in your own words. See the letter-writing guide for help. If you receive a response please let us know.
Send your emails to
His Excellency Mohammad Hosni Mubarak <webmaster@presidency.gov.eg>
Background [-]
In July 2007, Isreal announced its willingness to consider assistance to a limited number of Sudanese from Darfur who are in Israel and offer them refuge. Since then, thousands of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, mostly from Sudan and Eritrea or other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, have tried to cross from Egypt into Israel. The killing of Sudanese refugee Hajja Abbas Haroun while trying to cross the border on 22 July 2007 was the first killing reported by the press.
In order to “combat trespassing across the international borders with Israel”, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Egyptian security forces who observe a person attempting to cross the border illegally into Israel will first “order him [or her] to stop immediately”, but added that “some trespassers refuse to stop, in which case the authorities have to deal with them to ensure respecting the law”. The statement however did not mention whether the Egyptian authorities had opened any investigation into the killings of refugees, asylum-seekers or migrants at the border or the specific circumstances in which security officers at the border are instructed to use firearms. Five others have died in similar circumstances as Hajja Abbas Haroun, by the end of 2007.
In 2008, the killings have intensified as 20 were killed in 17 different incidents; the latest was on 19 August 2008. On 8 August 2008, the Egyptian authorities announced that they have arrested 587 irregular migrants since January 2008 trying to cross the border into Israel.
In May 2007, the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families has in its concluding observations called on Egypt “to initiate training for all officials working in the area of migration, in particular police and border personnel …”. Such a recommendation had been included after the killing of 27 refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants in Cairo in December 2005. Indeed, in December 2005, riot police attacked refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants from Sudan who staged a three month long peaceful sit-in protest in Cairo, which resulted in the deaths of 27 persons, including 11 children and eight women, and injured scores more. Protesters held the sit-in near the offices of the UNHCR in Cairo asking to be relocated to other countries. According to media accounts at the time, police fired water cannons into the crowd and then entered in by force, beating demonstrators indiscriminately. An investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s office concluded in May 2006 that all the deaths “resulted from a stampede,” and found no wrongdoing on the part of the police.
Egypt has been called on by the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families “to initiate training for all officials working in the area of migration, in particular police and border personnel”.
Learn more about African refugees in Egypt by watching this news clip.