ICERAS

ENEVA (13 April 2022) – UN human rights experts* deplored Egypt’s recent and ongoing collective expulsions of Eritrean asylum seekers, and called on the authorities to immediately halt any further forced returns.

The experts expressed grave concern at what is shaping up to be a policy of arbitrary and collective expulsion of Eritreans, and cautioned the Egyptian authorities that such deportations violate Egypt’s obligations under international law.

“Collective expulsion is prohibited under international human rights law. Patterns of human rights violations against Eritreans who have been forcibly returned, including torture, ill-treatment, enforced disappearance, trafficking in persons and arbitrary detention have been well documented by UN human rights mechanisms,” they said.  “These expulsions also violate the principle of non-refoulement.”

Since October 2021, Egyptian authorities have deported at least 68 Eritrean nationals, including children, without assessing the risks they may face of human rights violations at their return to Eritrea. Several of those deported have not been seen or heard from since their return to Eritrea, and are believed to be held in incommunicado detention.

“We call on the Eritrean authorities to provide information on their whereabouts,” said the experts, noting that there are growing fears that they may have been sent to the front in western Tigray.

The deported asylum seekers were allegedly held in detention in Egypt in overcrowded police stations and detention centres from a few months to several years, according to reports. They would have been denied access to adequate food, water and sanitation, and medical care. readmore