Press Releases

SHRO-Cairo appeals to the UN High Commissioner of Refugees

April 5, 2007

The Sudan Human Rights Organization received reliable information that Sudanese refugees in Cairo have been arrested, detained, and put to trial before state security court that sentenced them for terms of imprisonment not exceeding 15 days starting today April 9, 2007.

Days ago, The UN officer in charge asked a committee of the refugees, in response to prior requests, to meet with the UN Office to discuss the situation of the Sudanese refugees in Egypt. More than 4,000 Sudanese refugees are awaiting interviews as holders of the UN refugee yellow cards. About 3,000 refugees have been holders of the UN refugee blue cards, i.e. persons already interviewed by the UN Office for possibilities of settlement in refugee receiving countries in Europe or America, whose cases are still undecided by the receiving states.

On Monday April 2, a committee of the Sudanese refugees asked the UN Office at al-Muhandiseen area for permission to meet with the UN officer in charge. Although the UN Office made the appointment, the UN officer in charge refused to meet with the committee in the assigned time. Instead, the UN Office called immediately on the police to disperse the Sudanese who gathered with their committee members, including a few women and children, at the gate of the UN space. Requested by the police, the refugees left the place with a promise to have a meeting with the UN officer in charge in the next day.

On Tuesday April 3, the committee returned to the UN Office to meet with the officer in charge. But the UN Office called immediately on the police to arrest the refugees. The refugees were arrested, subjected to harassment, and harshly placed in detention in appalling conditions, as reported by the their families.

Today, Thursday the 5th of April, the detained refugees were sentenced 15 days imprisonment at the Tura Prison by a state court in ‘Abdin.

• The Sudan Human Rights Organization appeals to the Egyptian authorities to release the detained Sudanese as victims of the unlawful, contemptuous, and hostile attitude of the UN Refugees Office in Cairo.
• The Organization asks the police and the prison authorities to apply International Humanitarian Law in the treatment of the refugee detainees and their family members before and after release.

The Organization recalls the aggressive attitude of the UN Office towards Sudanese refugees in December 2005, which led to grave life losses and hurt of many Sudanese refugees, as a consequence of officials’ hostilities and authoritativeness.

The UN officer in charge and his assistants should live up to their promises to the refugees whenever they visit their office space for assistance, according to international law.

The UN officers should not resort to police assistance when they fail to carry out UN official responsibilities to assist the refugees by humanitarian treatment and support, in the first place.

• The UN Officers in charge of the Refugees Office at al-Muhandiseen must expedite the processing of refugee interviews, in accordance with the law.

• SHRO-Cairo requests effective intervention by the UN High Commissioner of Refugees to put an end to the unabated hostilities of his officers in the UN Refugees Office in Cairo towards the urgent needs of the Sudanese refugees in Egypt.