Violations of the rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers remain a matter of concern. Twenty-four illegal migrants of sub-Saharan origin were shot by Egyptian security forces at the border with Israel in 2008. In June 2008, the Egyptian authorities forcibly returned a group of 1400 Eritrean migrants to their country, despite the risk of facing ill treatment if returned. UNHCR Cairo was initially denied access to the migrants in order to establish their status as asylum-seekers or to interview those with refugee claims. UNHCR was subsequently granted limited access to the Eritreans and the Egyptian Foreign Minister reaffirmed Egypt’s commitment to uphold its international obligations relating to the protection of refugees. Another group of Eritreans expelled from Israel were returned to Eritrea by the Egyptian authorities at the end of 2008. None of these had recourse to the services of the UNHCR in Cairo. Egypt continues to maintain reservations in respect of several articles of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and despite being party to a number of international conventions obliging to provide protection to refugees, the government has passed on the execution of this obligation to the UNHCR office.
