GENEVA - UN experts* today expressed alarm over an intensifying campaign of deportations, arbitrary arrests and human rights violations targeting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Egypt - including individuals at risk of human trafficking.
According to official figures, 1.5 million Sudanese nationals have fled to Egypt as of 29 January 2026. By December 2025, 1,098,311 refugees and asylum seekers were registered with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), including 834,201 Sudanese and 117,364 Syrians, the majority of whom are women and children.
"We remain deeply concerned about the situation of refugees and asylum seekers in Egypt," the experts said. "Practices of arbitrary arrest and deportations continue, with refugee communities being targeted in their homes, workplaces and even in refugee led service centres."
The experts noted that Egypt's new asylum law, adopted on 16 December 2024, raised immediate concerns due to provisions that could undermine the rights and protections of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Those concerns intensified in October 2025 amid a surge in arrests and deportations - particularly of Sudanese nationals - often based solely on alleged residence permit violations. Deportations were reportedly carried out without individualised assessments to determine the risk of refoulement.
In recent months, the experts have received reports of a sharp rise in arrests and deportations of Syrian nationals, including families. Many were detained for allegedly lacking valid residence permits, sometimes despite being registered with UNHCR or carrying documents proving they were in the process of renewing their permits.
"This climate of fear exposes refugees, asylum seekers and migrants to extreme precarity," they said. "With limited access to sustainable livelihoods, many are at heightened risk of exploitation, including trafficking for sexual exploitation, particularly affecting women and girls, and forced labour and domestic servitude, while others struggle in the face of particular protection risks, including women and girls' survivors of gender-based violence and LGBT persons."
The experts expressed alarm over the risk of refoulement for both "documented" and "undocumented" individuals who fled to Egypt seeking protection from conflict, persecution and humanitarian crises in their home countries.
"We remind Egypt that any return or deportation order must be based on an individual assessment of protection needs and human rights obligations," they said. "This includes strict adherence to the principle of non refoulement, the best interests of the child, non-discrimination, and the right to family life."
