Tuesday, 7 July 2026 | Author: Andrew Michael | File Photo | GT-News |
Egyptian authorities have arbitrarily arrested, detained and deported refugees and asylum seekers, most of them from Sudan and South Sudan, amid prolonged delays in renewing residency permits, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.
The rights group said refugees are being detained and expelled despite holding valid UN refugee registration cards because government backlogs have left many unable to renew their residency documents. Some asylum seekers have reportedly been given residency renewal appointments as late as 2028.
HRW said the arrests intensified in late 2025 and have continued throughout 2026, with thousands of refugees and asylum seekers reportedly detained or deported, although Egyptian authorities have not released official figures.
“Refugees and asylum seekers in Egypt are losing their residency status because of bureaucratic delays, and are being jailed and deported for lacking the very documents the government has failed to provide,” said Michelle Randhawa, senior refugee and migrant rights officer at Human Rights Watch.
The organization interviewed 19 refugees and asylum seekers from South Sudan, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia between April and May. It said several were detained solely because their residency permits had expired while they awaited government appointments.
A 27-year-old South Sudanese refugee, deported to Juba in April despite holding a UNHCR card and a residency appointment scheduled for 2028, told HRW that police rejected his explanation and said there were “too many Sudanese” in Egypt.
As of May, Egypt hosted more than 1.1 million refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), whose caseload has surged since war erupted in Sudan in April 2023.
HRW also expressed concern over Egypt’s 2024 Asylum Law, saying it fails to explicitly guarantee the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning people to countries where they risk persecution. The group urged Egypt to halt arbitrary arrests and deportations, amend the asylum law, and provide temporary legal status for refugees awaiting residency appointments.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to Human Rights Watch’s request for comment, according to the organization.
