Egypt should immediately halt deportations of Eritrean asylum seekers to their home country, where they face detention and the risk of torture, Human Rights Watch said today.
The flouting of Egypt's international obligations with respect to Eritreans is not new. In June 2008, Egypt returned to Eritrea up to 1,200 Eritreans who had crossed into Egypt from Sudan. As of December, at least 740 of those returnees were still imprisoned in a military detention facility in Eritrea. After the June deportations generated international attention, Egyptian authorities allowed UNHCR to interview 171 Eritreans detained in Shallal prison, the only occasion since February 2008 when UNHCR has been given access to Eritrean asylum seekers. Most of the 171 Eritreans interviewed by UNHCR have been granted refugee status.
Israel has forcibly returned at least 139 Africans, mostly Sudanese, to Egypt in 2007 and 2008; Egypt has reportedly deported some of them, and the whereabouts and condition of the remainder are unknown. Israel apparently did not allow any of those Eritreans and others it forcibly returned to Egypt the opportunity to present asylum claims, in violation of international refugee law.
