No Model of Refuge: Sudanese Refugees in Egypt

By Devon Cone , Daniel P. Sullivan | February 21, 2025

Executive Summary

The war in Sudan has created the world’s largest forced displacement and hunger crisis, severely affecting both the country and the region. Some 12 million people have been displaced, including more than 3 million to neighboring countries. Of these, Egypt hosts the largest number of Sudanese refugees. In Egypt, the policies on paper suggest a more welcoming environment than in countries like Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. However, the reality is that Sudanese refugees in Egypt face increasing protection challenges including the risk of forced deportation back to Sudan. A new Asylum Law, adopted in December 2024, purports to bring Egypt into alignment with international standards and best practices, but, in reality, threatens even greater dangers to Sudanese refugees.

The law’s vague national security provisions including the right to exclude and/or revoke refugee status, the lack of consultation with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and NGOs, and the absence of transitional measures or appeal processes threaten to further marginalize asylum seekers and refugees. It also risks undermining an already skeletal support system for Sudanese who have fled to Egypt, by criminalizing those deemed to have arrived illegally and the efforts of those seeking to help them. Without significant intervention, this legal framework risks legitimizing arbitrary detentions and deportations, leaving refugees with few avenues for protection.

The bylaws that will define the specific implementation of the law are to be developed over the first six months of 2025. Egypt’s history of refugee policy and recent trends leave much room for concern. Refugees in Egypt have formally been entitled to access healthcare, education, and freedom of movement, but the situation on the ground tells a different story. Government authorities are shutting down schools serving Sudanese children, hospitals often deny care, housing and other basic needs are unaffordable, and the risk of detention and deportation is a constant threat. In the last several months, Egyptian authorities have conducted raids in Sudanese neighborhoods. Sudanese people in Cairo – both with documentation and without – fear being sent back to Sudan. Forcing people back to Sudan is against the international legal obligations that Egypt signed, including the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees. This deteriorating protection environment leaves refugees, particularly women and girls, increasingly vulnerable to exploitation, abuse, and even refoulement.

Sudanese women and girls, many of whom fled high levels of sexual violence in Sudan, continue to face risks of gender-based violence (GBV) in Egypt. With limited mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services available, their trauma remains largely unaddressed. While Sudanese civil society organizations (CSOs) and grassroots networks work tirelessly to provide assistance, they often operate under the radar to avoid scrutiny. Meanwhile, UNHCR, which is overstretched and under-resourced, struggles to advocate for refugees’ rights and has been largely ineffective in engaging Egypt to change or amend its restrictive policies.

To address these growing challenges, urgent international action is needed. Key donors supporting Egypt, particularly the European Union who have given billions of dollars in aid, must use their influence to push back against Egypt’s new restrictive asylum policies, and pressure Egypt to reopen community schools and cease refouling Sudanese refugees back to a country in the middle of a brutal civil war. And while the current U.S. administration is unlikely to positively engage Egypt on asylum, U.S. Members of Congress can play an important role in countering claims that Egypt is a model for asylum policy and leverage future U.S. financial support.

Additionally, greater support should be directed toward refugee-led organizations (RLOs), which play a crucial role in aiding and protecting refugees on the ground. Without decisive intervention, the situation for Sudanese refugees in Egypt – a country that purports to be a model for refugee policy – will only continue to worsen, jeopardizing the safety and future of hundreds of thousands of displaced individuals.

Recommendations

The Egyptian government should:

• Solicit the input and expertise of UNHCR and civil society to amend Law No. 164 of 2024, the “Law Regarding the Asylum of Foreigners,” and while drafting the bylaws that will define the law’s implementation over the next several months.
• Recognize Sudanese as prima facie refugees in light of the ongoing conflict and stop deporting Sudanese back to Sudan.
• Work collaboratively with the administrators of Sudanese schools in Egypt to ensure that they have the proper documentation and licensing to reopen and serve their students.
• Allow Sudanese refugees who are registered with UNHCR to obtain work permits by removing some of the requirements, including the need for a passport and visa, as well as making it easier and more transparent to obtain the security clearance associated with work permits. Allowing Sudanese refugees to work will also make it easier for them to pay for the rising cost of housing.
• Support the efforts of Sudanese community-based organizations (CBOs) in Egypt, including by removing provisions in the new Asylum Law that would criminalize providing informal assistance to asylum seekers.

UNHCR Egypt should:

• State publicly and clearly that several provisions in Egypt’s new Asylum Law will not protect refugees and asylum seekers, will risk violating their rights, and contravene international standards and obligations. These provisions include wide latitude to deny asylum based on vague national security threats, criminalization of people and/or organizations that assist asylum seekers, and a lack of defined rights for asylum seekers as opposed to recognized refugees.
• Formally request access to detention facilities in order to monitor the conditions and access Sudanese individuals who the Egyptian authorities might be unlawfully refouling.
• Continue to improve and expand its registration and refugee status determination (RSD) capabilities until such time that these processes are transitioned to the Egyptian government under the new Asylum Law.
• Adequately train the Egyptian government on refugee protection and international standards for reception, registration, RSD, and data management.
• Develop robust referral mechanisms to assist survivors of GBV so that they can get medical care and psychosocial support.

Donor countries should:

• Urgently push Egypt to engage UNHCR, other international organizations, and civil society in consultations to develop the bylaws of the new Asylum Law.
• The EU, which has pledged to invest heavily in Egypt through its “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” should suspend funding for migration with Egypt until protection guarantees in line with international standards are included in the bylaws of Egypt’s Asylum Law.
• Support NGOs and CBOs and their community-based protection efforts, assistance, initiatives, and programs that expand access to MHPSS for GBV survivors.