Two human rights organizations have revealed that they have received reports from numerous Sudanese families about their forced confinement to their homes for fear of arrest campaigns carried out by Egyptian security forces against Sudanese nationals.
The Sudanese Group for the Defense of Rights and Freedoms and the Darfur Lawyers Association pointed out in a statement that there have been cases of individuals being arrested in preparation for their deportation to Sudan. They called on the Egyptian authorities to give Sudanese affected by the war more time to regularize their legal status in Egypt and to reconsider the effects and consequences of these campaigns, explaining that hundreds of Sudanese are now in detention and at risk of forced deportation to a country that is still experiencing armed conflict and gross violations by all parties to the war.
The statement noted that Egypt is one of the African and Middle Eastern countries that has ratified the most international human rights conventions and covenants and is also one of the countries that hosts the most refugees.
The statement urged the Egyptian leadership to take into account the exceptional circumstances of Sudanese people coming to Egypt and to provide more facilities necessary to regularize their legal status. The statement also called for a review of the arrest campaigns and their results, granting those arrested as a result of them real opportunities to regularize their status, and releasing detainees, especially those who are ill and require urgent medical care.
