FMR16 had an article on Sudanese refugees in Cairo ('In 'closed file' limbo: displaced Sudanese in a Cairo slum' by Pascale Ghazaleh). Below are edited versions of comments received by Vincent Cochetel, former Acting Representative, UNHCR Cairo, and a reply from the author.
I appreciate the time spent by Ms Ghazaleh in her research and the interest shown by FMR to examine the plight of Sudanese asylum seekers being denied refugee status in Cairo.
However, the statement that UNHCR admits using a restrictive refugee definition at its office in Cairo is not accurate. UNHCR Cairo applies all refugee definitions in accord with its mandated Refugee Status Determination (RSD) procedures. The fact that someone was an IDP in Sudan prior to coming to Egypt does not mean that article 1.2 of the 1969 OAU Convention, governing the specific aspects of refugee problems in Africa, applies automatically. A large number of former Sudanese IDPs are recognised refugees by UNHCR. Others are not because their refugee claim does not fall within the scope of exiting refugee definitions or because their refugee claim seriously lacks credibility.
My question "why don't they move on?" should not have been taken out of context. I was referring to the fact that several asylum seekers, who had been denied an appeal refugee status, choose every week to return to Sudan by steamer via Wadi Halfa (and were observed doing so. This suggests that not all "rejected asylum seekers" are stranded in Egypt.
My comment "no one had forced these people to come to Egypt" should not have been negatively presented. The UNHCR Office in Cairo has not prevented any asylum-seeker from coming to Egypt to apply for refugee status. Many asylum-seekers, who were for many years IDPs in Sudan, have moved to Egypt because they were dissatisfied with the decreasing assistance programmes there or unrealistic prospects of resettlement via UNHCR Cairo. Many have been materially assisted and encouraged, including by aid organizations, to leave Sudan to become asylum seekers in Egypt. For those not qualifying for refugee status, their move to the Cairo slum of Arba'a wa Nuss results in a lowering of their standards of living and an increased need for protection.
I have been attributed a quote on "clientelism", which should also be contextualised. Many refugees and asylum-seekers coming from Sudan have reported to UNHCR Cairo how various forms of religious clientelism are favoured by some Christian or Muslim aid groups in Sudan. Those practising traditional African religions are the most exposed to such unethical approaches. This practice of creating religious dependence does not exist in Egypt. Church groups are providing, in a remarkable manner, assistance to refugees and asylum-seekers in Egypt irrespective of their religion, ethnic background or nationality. Without their committed involvement in humanitarian relief efforts the life and well being of refugees and asylum-seekers in Cairo would be in serious jeopardy. UNHCR hopes that Muslim and Coptic charitable organisations in Egypt will in the near future start to take a similar interest in providing support to all persons in need of basic humanitarian consideration.
Vincent Cochetel. Email: cochetel@unhcr.ch