UNHCR urging Egypt to intervene to secure release of Eritreans held hostage
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
UNHCR is concerned about a group of some 250 Eritreans who have been held hostage for about a month by traffickers in the Sinai, Egypt.
UNHCR has very limited information about this group. We have noted media reports that the traffickers are demanding payments of US$8,000 per person for their release, that people are being held in containers and are subject to abuses, and that some may have been held for months.
We are, at this time, in contact with the Egyptian government over this matter. Egypt's Ministry of Interior has assured us that around the clock efforts are underway to locate the hostages and release them.
Every year thousands of people attempt to cross the border from Egypt into Israel, and often in the hands of bedouin traffickers who have little regard for their safety. While many are migrants, some originate from refugee-producing countries, including Eritrea. UNHCR's eligibility guidelines consider that most Eritreans fleeing their country should be considered as refugees.
UNHCR has been advocating with the Egyptian authorities for access to people who are detained in the course of making this journey, with a view to being able to determine those among them who are refugees and in need of international protection.
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Strategic presentation on Africa - Presentation by Mr. George Okoth-Obbo, Director, Bureau for Africa
5 Mar 2013 ... ... are occurring in our operations in Eastern Sudan, a problem which stretches all the way through to the Sinai Desert. Severe forms of abuse, suffering and even the killing of people are taking place. ...... -
Strategic presentation on MENA - Presentation by Mr. Yacoub El Hillo, Director, Bureau for the Middle East and North Africa
5 Mar 2013 ... ... In this regard, the mixed migration phenomenon in Sinai continues to be of particular concern, with networks of smugglers deeply rooted in the countries of origin and transit. Given these ...... -
44th Meeting of the Standing Committee: Regional Strategic Presentation Summary: Bureau for the Middle East and North Africa
19 Feb 2009 ... ... originating mostly from Eritrea, are trying to cross the Egyptian Sinai desert and enter Israel illegally, raising security concerns for the concerned States as well as serious protection challenges. ...... -
Urban refugee protection in Cairo: the role of communication, information and technology. Nora Danielson
25 May 2012 ... ... as refugees; people whose applications for refugee status have been rejected but continue living in Egypt; or some asylum seekers who have passed through the Sinai in an attempt to reach Israel. ...... -
Update on UNHCR's operations in Africa
21 Sep 2012 ... ... In the Horn of Africa, technical advice was provided with growing attention to the issue of human smuggling and trafficking, in particular in the Sinai and the Gulf of Aden. In Southern Africa, where ...... -
Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Part I - Covering the period 1 January 2012 to 30 June 2013
14 Aug 2013 ... ... In response, UNHCR has developed a comprehensive regional strategy and action plan to address smuggling and trafficking from the East and Horn of Africa (including routes through the Sinai, between ...... -
Summary Record of the 682nd Meeting
13 Oct 2014 ... ... Morowa (Sudan) said that his country had experienced great difficulties in combating the trafficking of Eritrean and Somali migrants through Sudan to the Sinai desert. The Sudanese Government had ...... -
Update on UNHCR's operations in Africa
10 Oct 2013 ... ... an active protection stance to the human smuggling, abductions and trafficking of Eritrean refugees and asylum-seekers in eastern Sudan, a problem that stretches all the way through the Sinai desert. ...... -
Draft report of the 50th meeting of the Standing Committee (1-3 March 2011)
31 May 2011 ... ... for refugees and IDPs in Yemen, asylum-seekers in the Sinai and lack of access to them, and Somali refugees smuggled across the high seas, many of whom had lost their lives in the Gulf of Aden. ......