After an incubation period of more than a year, on 15 January 2020 the International Organization for Migration announced in Cairo the launch of a program for the protection and return of migrants to Egypt.
Strongly advocated for by the European Union, and in particular by some Member States (including Italy) who have already signed bilateral repatriation agreements with Egypt for some time, the initiative aims to facilitate, through various incentives, the assisted return and reintegration of Egyptian citizens in their country of origin. The initiative is combined with other EU initiatives aimed at combating migratory flows from the North African country, such as the € 60 million program aimed at “improving the response to the migration challenges in Egypt”.
Other than the presence of the UN agency for migration, which appears to be just a formal bulwark of the protection of migrants’ rights within this project, the initiative raises serious concerns, given the widespread disregard for human rights in Egypt, as shown by recent episodes that saw Egyptian citizens temporarily residing abroad return to their homeland and undergo indefinite preventive detention. What will be the price to pay for the joint EU-IOM initiative to unfold its effects and thus increase the return rates of Egyptian citizens? According to the NGO EuroMedRights there is only one answer: “human rights”.
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