Published : 25-09-2024
Working Group | Geneva
The Working Group for Palestinian Refugees in Syria has called on the international community and the Egyptian government to grant Palestinian refugees displaced from Syria to Egypt a legal status that protects their basic rights. This was stated during a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council held in Geneva.
In an oral intervention delivered by Faiz Abu Eid, the director of the working group, during the session held under item four concerning Syria at the 57th session of the Human Rights Council, he reviewed the fragility of the legal situation faced by Palestinian Syrians in Egypt.
Abu Eid emphasized that the legal status of Palestinian Syrian refugees in Egypt remains fragile and unstable, with a lack of full legal protection from the Egyptian authorities.
He explained that this situation puts these refugees at risk of imprisonment and forced deportation, noting that about 3,000 Syrian Palestinians in Egypt are facing significant difficulties in obtaining legal residency due to the authorities' lack of recognition of them as refugees.
Abu Eid added that these refugees, who are treated as arrivals instead of refugees, are deprived of registering with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and face issues in validating their identification documents. This group also suffers from difficult living conditions due to inflation and rising living costs, which directly affects their ability to secure their basic needs.
He also pointed out that education poses another challenge, as the Egyptian Ministry of Education requires a valid residency to enroll in schools, which has resulted in about 55% of Palestinian children from Syria being outside the educational system. As for those who entered Egypt through irregular means, they face even greater challenges, including the inability to move, work, or access education, as well as the inability to travel through official crossings due to the Egyptian authorities' refusal to regularize their legal status.
In conclusion of his speech, Abu Eid called on the Egyptian government to grant Syrian Palestinians a secure legal status and to ensure their basic rights, especially for those who do not possess identification documents or who have been issued deportation orders. He also demanded the lifting of restrictions imposed on them and urged UNICEF and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to facilitate the registration of children in schools and to take practical steps to ensure their right of education.
Abu Eid also called on UNRWA and the Palestinian Authority to intervene to improve the legal conditions of Palestinian refugees from Syria in Egypt. Unofficial statistics indicate that the number of Palestinian refugees from Syria in Egypt has decreased from 6,000 to about 3,500 by 2018, of whom around 500 came from Sudan through irregular means, and they suffer from complicated conditions due to Egypt's non-recognition of their status as refugees and the lack of equal rights with other refugees.
Working Group | Geneva
The Working Group for Palestinian Refugees in Syria has called on the international community and the Egyptian government to grant Palestinian refugees displaced from Syria to Egypt a legal status that protects their basic rights. This was stated during a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council held in Geneva.
In an oral intervention delivered by Faiz Abu Eid, the director of the working group, during the session held under item four concerning Syria at the 57th session of the Human Rights Council, he reviewed the fragility of the legal situation faced by Palestinian Syrians in Egypt.
Abu Eid emphasized that the legal status of Palestinian Syrian refugees in Egypt remains fragile and unstable, with a lack of full legal protection from the Egyptian authorities.
He explained that this situation puts these refugees at risk of imprisonment and forced deportation, noting that about 3,000 Syrian Palestinians in Egypt are facing significant difficulties in obtaining legal residency due to the authorities' lack of recognition of them as refugees.
Abu Eid added that these refugees, who are treated as arrivals instead of refugees, are deprived of registering with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and face issues in validating their identification documents. This group also suffers from difficult living conditions due to inflation and rising living costs, which directly affects their ability to secure their basic needs.
He also pointed out that education poses another challenge, as the Egyptian Ministry of Education requires a valid residency to enroll in schools, which has resulted in about 55% of Palestinian children from Syria being outside the educational system. As for those who entered Egypt through irregular means, they face even greater challenges, including the inability to move, work, or access education, as well as the inability to travel through official crossings due to the Egyptian authorities' refusal to regularize their legal status.
In conclusion of his speech, Abu Eid called on the Egyptian government to grant Syrian Palestinians a secure legal status and to ensure their basic rights, especially for those who do not possess identification documents or who have been issued deportation orders. He also demanded the lifting of restrictions imposed on them and urged UNICEF and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to facilitate the registration of children in schools and to take practical steps to ensure their right of education.
Abu Eid also called on UNRWA and the Palestinian Authority to intervene to improve the legal conditions of Palestinian refugees from Syria in Egypt. Unofficial statistics indicate that the number of Palestinian refugees from Syria in Egypt has decreased from 6,000 to about 3,500 by 2018, of whom around 500 came from Sudan through irregular means, and they suffer from complicated conditions due to Egypt's non-recognition of their status as refugees and the lack of equal rights with other refugees.
