Forced Returns of Eritrean Asylum Seekers

Egyptian authorities are deporting Eritreans seeking asylum, including children, without assessing their asylum claims or other protection needs, Human Rights Watch said today.

On December 24, 2021, Egypt deported 24 Eritrean asylum seekers, including children. UN human rights experts, including the special rapporteurs on Eritrea and on torture, earlier protested the forced return in October and November of 15 Eritreans, including at least 7 asylum seekers, saying that others previously returned had been “tortured, held in extremely punitive conditions and disappeared.”

Human Rights Watch documented the months-long arbitrary detention in Egypt in poor conditions of nine Eritrean asylum seekers.

The summary deportations of Eritrean asylum seekers violate the international legal prohibition on refoulement, or forced return to a country where people may face threats to their lives or freedom, torture, or other serious harm.