January 22, 2026
The undersigned organizations sound the alarm regarding what amounts to a de facto policy of disguised forced deportation that undermines Egypt’s constitutional and international obligations; call for an immediate halt to campaigns of arrest, detention, and forced deportation linked solely to residency status; and for refrain from any decisions to deport or ‘forcibly remove’ forcibly displaced Syrian citizens along with any other forcibly displaced people who were placed in unlawful conditions through informal procedures and are being subsequently penalized for said conditions. The organizations call for the establishment of fair and clear legal pathways to formalize these people’s status and to recognize their temporary documents, ensuring effective judicial oversight of any immigration and asylum-related detention, while enabling the UNHCR access to all detained people to provide them with legal advice and challenge deportation decisions before they are carried out.
Recently, Egypt has witnessed an unprecedented escalation in policies and practices related to asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants, as evidenced by the targeting of forcibly displaced Syrian citizens through sudden administrative and legal changes as well as simultaneous large-scale security crackdown campaigns in several governorates. This escalation cannot be considered as merely an ‘enforcement of residency rules’, but tangibly amounts to a policy of concealed forced deportation aimed at pushing forcibly displaced people to leave the country through tactics based on pressure and fear that undermine the international protection system on Egyptian territory.
Since 2024, decisions related to the cancellation or suspension of tourist residence renewals; the tightening of residence conditions; and the linking of residence conditions to limited pathways such as registration with the UNHCR, studying, or investment have pushed tens of thousands of forcibly displaced Syrian citizens into a state of forced legal ‘irregularity’ due to extended wait times of up to two years to obtain residency or even book an appointment with the passport authorities. Despite attempts by many to comply with official channels, these forcibly displaced families and individuals were left in a legal vacuum that they are not responsible for, however the authorities are responsible for effectively closing several paths to status formalization. Unregistered forcibly displaced Syrian citizens were put on a precarious path to legalization: Migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, including forcibly displaced Syrian citizens, residing with non-refugee residence permits were required to pay $1,000 USD, or its equivalent, and provide proof of an Egyptian host; in conditions that the Refugee Platform in Egypt has previously described as ‘punitive exploitation’, meaning that it violates the law and does not achieve its purpose.
This legal vacuum has resulted in widespread security checkpoints and raids in neighborhoods known for their forcibly displaced Syrian communities in Cairo, Giza, and Alexandria, according to reports received between the beginning of the second week of January 2026 and the publication of this statement. Arrests were also reported in Hurghada, where individuals and families are being arrested in public and at their places of residence and work on the grounds of not carrying valid residence permits or simply on ‘suspicion’ of not carrying valid residence permits. These arrests included people registered with the UNHCR or who were carrying documents for the renewal of residence permits at the time. In many cases, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has decided to release the detained people due to absence of a criminal provision for their circumstances, considering that waiting for residency to be settled—despite its formal irregularity—is a legal condition that can be corrected. Nevertheless, the releases are not finished in practice due to targeted enforcement. As a result, these people continue to be repeatedly detained on ‘national security/passport and immigration grounds’ in the form of open-ended administrative detention, where some families are asked to book travel tickets in preparation for the forced deportation of their relatives from the country.
This has resulted in the exposure of tens of thousands of people legally, alongside attempts to push forcibly displaced people to ‘return’ or leave Egypt despite ongoing grave dangers in their country/ies of origin. This pattern is doubly dangerous in light of a statement issued by the Syrian Embassy in Cairo acknowledging the existence of security campaigns targeting forcibly displaced Syrian citizens. The embassy continues to present these campaigns as ‘routine’ to verify their citizens’ statuses in a deliberate and clear disregard of the selective and discriminatory nature of the campaigns.
These practices are contrary to Egypt’s obligations under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, in particular the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits the return of any person to a country where they may be at risk of harm to their life or liberty and the principles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits arbitrary detention and obliges states to guarantee the right to effective judicial review of decisions to deprive a person of their liberty and deport them. The widespread use of administrative detention in immigration cases, without a clear time limit or basic procedural guarantees such as: the right to contact a lawyer, the right to notify family members, and the right to access the UNHCR—is inconsistent with international trends that emphasize that the detention of asylum seekers, migrants, and refugees should be an exceptional measure, used as a last resort and as narrowly as possible.
This escalation against forcibly displaced Syrian citizens cannot be separated from the general context of growing anti-foreigner rhetoric and the demonization of forcibly displaced people as a ‘burden’ or ‘threat’, in parallel with the passage of a legislative framework for asylum that prioritizes security over rights as previous legal reviews of draft asylum laws in Egypt cautioned. This environment not only produces stigma and discrimination, but also pushes service providers and organizations to freeze or reduce their activities in the absence of security for beneficiaries, deepening the impact of the crisis on all asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants.
The continuation of this approach undermines the international protection system for forcibly displaced people residing in Egypt and violates the essence of the state’s obligations under international and regional conventions, as well as the Egyptian constitution, which grants international treaties ratified by the state the force of law; prohibits discrimination; and guarantees the right to personal safety and human dignity for everyone residing on its territory. Furthermore, this approach also forces thousands of forcibly displaced Syrian families to live in constant fear of arrest, detention, and deportation; restricts their fundamental rights to work, education, and healthcare; and increases their vulnerability to economic and security exploitation.
Based on the aforementioned, the undersigned organizations demand the following:
- The immediate cessation of arrest, criminalization, detention, and forced deportation campaigns targeting forcibly displaced Syrian citizens and all forcibly displaced people and other refugees solely on the basis of their residency status, and the release of all detained people whose administrative violations can be resolved.
- Complete abstention from any decisions to deport or ‘forcibly remove’ forcibly displaced Syrian citizens, given the continuing grave risks in their country of origin and in accordance with the principle of non-refoulement as a binding customary rule of international law.
- Establish clear and practical legal pathways to formalize status, including recognition of temporary documents (such as residence renewal dates or proof of registration with the UNHCR) as binding evidential documents that halt prosecution and detention, and reduce wait times at passport and immigration offices. End the use of administrative constraints and bureaucratic complications as a means of creating pressure, and end illegal procedures that result in pushing people into unlawful circumstances and then punishing them financially and personally for those predetermined circumstances.
- Ensure that any detention related to immigration and asylum is subject to effective judicial oversight, set a clear time limit for these processes, and apply non-carceral alternatives that are in line with international standards.
- Enable the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to have full access to all detained forcibly displaced people including all asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants, and guarantee their right to legal counsel and to effectively appeal any deportation decision before the decision is carried out.
The undersigned organizations affirm that the protection of forcibly displaced people is not a political concession or a bargaining chip with external partners, but rather a legal and humanitarian obligation that cannot be circumvented through the security management of immigration and asylum files or through ‘disguised forced deportation’ policies that push people to leave the country under threat, fear, and intimidation instead of guaranteeing them a minimum level of safety and dignity on Egyptian soil.
Signatory Organizations:
1. Egyptian Front for Human Rights
2. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights – EIPR
3. Egyptian Organization for Human Rights
4. Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms – ECRF
5. Access Center for Human Rights
6. Law and Democracy Support Foundation
7. Sinai Foundation for Human Rights
8. Refugee Platform in Egypt – RPEGY
9. Refugees and Human Rights Platform – MHRP
10. EgyptWide for Human Rights
11. El Nadim Center