Country: Arab Republic of Egypt

Committee: UNHCR
Delegate: Genevie Casino
Introduction:
The world is suffering through the largest refugee crisis since the horrors of World War II.
Today, there are close to 60 million refugees, according to the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR). Millions of refugees from Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and Yemen are
fleeing violence and war in their countries. In all of 2014, approximately 219,000 people tried to
cross the Mediterranean to seek asylum in Europe. In just the first eight months of 2015, over
300,000 refugees tried to cross the sea, according to the UNHCR. More than 2,500 died.
UNHCR says the Gulf states, Israel, Iran, and Russia, all of which have taken zero
refugeesas well as the US, Canada, and Europe, which have taken few. Human rights
organizations like the Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International warn these
countries, they are aware of the situation and they are not doing enough to provide refuge to the
asylum-seekers.
National Actions:
The refugee crisis affects Egypt in the way that it places pressure on our already limited
resources and services. As many communities already face difficult living conditions with
unemployment rates and insufficient access to quality services. The pressure on limited resources
and services increases as registration of Syrian refugees in Egypt by the UNHCR continues.
127,681 individuals had been registered with UNHCR as of end of October 2015. UNHCR has
reported an increasing number of irregular entries (1,233 individuals) of Syrians since the
beginning of 2015 as compared to 2014. Despite this, the Arab Republic of Egypt (Egypt) is
hosting far smaller numbers of Syrian refugees in comparison to Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and
Iraq, As of September 2015, the pressure on our country is continuously building.
While state institutions play a key role in supporting Syrian refugees protection,
education and health needs, they have already stretched capacities to provide broad and quality
access to services and employment opportunities and these communities remain under pressure.
UN Actions and International Actions:
Save the Children has operated in Egypt since 1982 guided by both communities' needs
and the government's development priorities. 2013 was a pivotal year in our history as we began
emergency related programming (in relation to the Syrian crisis) as they were registered
officially as SCI. The staff of SCI, based in their main office in Cairo and their field office in
Assiut, improves life conditions for Egypts most vulnerable children and increases their
opportunities for a brighter future.
Egypt is a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, and the 1969
OAU Convention. Nevertheless, as the country has not yet developed national asylum
procedures and institutions, UNHCR carries out the functional responsibilities for all aspects of

registration, documentation and refugee status determination (RSD) under the 1954
memorandum of understanding with the Government of Egypt.
Recommendation for Action (Resolution Ideas):
The conclusion of this research incorporates numerous call for action, which should help
to problem-solve this largely affecting refugee crisis. To enhance the protection environment and
protection space for Syrian refugees in Egypt, UNHCR and partners will need to increase their
presence in areas outside Greater Cairo as the Syrian refugee population is widely spread. The
3RP will also look to enhance community-based protection mechanisms in its response to reach
beneficiaries more effectively.
Dialogue with the Government will remain key, followed by a focus on the media,
partner NGOs, civil society and the donor community to ensure a coordinated humanitarian
response to the needs of Syrians.
Trainings of civil society, local and central authorities, human rights and legal activists on
the basic principles of international protection and international refugee law, as well as child
rights and the risks of Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV), including prevention of and
response to SGBV against refugee women, girls, boys and men will continue.
Sources:
1. Barker, Memphis. "Refugee Crisis: We Know about the Problem but How Do
We Address It?" The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 10 Sept. 2015.
Web. 02 Mar. 2016. <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/refugee-crisiswe-know-about-the-problem-but-how-do-we-address-it-10495707.html>.
2. Norton, Ben. "A Guide to the Worst Refugee Crisis since WWII." Mondoweiss.
All Materials 2016 Mondoweiss, 09 Sept. 2015. Web. 02 Mar. 2016.
<http://mondoweiss.net/2015/09/refugee-crisis-since/>.
3. Save the Children International. "Our History." Our History. 2016 Save the
Children International, 2016. Web. 03 Mar. 2016.
<https://egypt.savethechildren.net/about-us/our-history>.
4. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "Egypt." UNHCR News.
UNHCR 2001 - 2016, 2016. Web. 03 Mar. 2016.
<http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e486356.html>.
5. Ayoubi, Ziad. Egypt: RRP6 Monthly Update - December BASIC NEEDS AND
LIVELIHOOD. 1st ed. UNHCR, 2016. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.
6. Fayed, Samar, and Yahia Khelidy. Egypt 2016 Regional Refugee And Resilience
Plan. 1st ed. Pedro Costa Gomes UNHCR Egypt, 2016. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.
7. Egypt Inter-Agency Operational Update Syrian Refugees In Egypt October
2015. 1st ed. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2016. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.
8. "IOM Regional Office For Middle East And North Africa - Cairo". egypt.iom.int.
N.p., 2016. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.
9. Keddie, Patrick. "Syrian Refugees In Egypt Struggle Amid UN Funding Crisis".

Middle East Eye. N.p., 2016. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.

10. "All United Nations Tools Must Be Used To Reverse Downward Spiral Of
Instability In Middle East, North Africa, Secretary-General Tells Security Council |
Meetings Coverage And Press Releases". Un.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.
Other
Introduction:
In Afghanistan, US occupation is ongoing and the war is escalating, in spite of Obamas
constant insistence that it would end by 2014. There are 2.6 million Afghan refugees, according
to the UN.
A number of countries have taken helpful action towards the refugee crisis. Turkey has
taken the most, close to 2 million. The tiny nation of Lebanon has accepted over 1.1 million
Syrian refugees, who now comprise almost one-fifth of its entire population. In Jordan, one in
every 13 people in Jordan is a Syrian refugee, around 630,000. Lebanon and Jordan now have
the most refugees per capita in the world.
The US has fueled the conflicts in all five of the nations from which most refugees are
fleeing, and it is directly responsible for the violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. The US
over a decade-long war in and occupation of Iraq resulted in the deaths of at least a million
people, greatly weakened the government, brought al-Qaeda into the country, and led to the rise
of ISIS. Over 3.3 million people in Iraq have been displaced because of ISIS.

National Actions:
Even though general protection environment in Egypt is stable, challenges remain for
Syrian refugees. These include lengthy residency procedures, visa limitations, inflation, an
increasing cost of living, limited livelihood opportunities, and potential for workplace
exploitation. Cost barriers impede access to secondary and tertiary health care, and education. It
is difficult for us to support these refugees. Host communities(the country of asylum and the
local, regional and national governmental, social and economic structures within which refugees
live), too, find it difficult to cope with additional competition for limited resources.
Loss of hope in the resolution of conflict in their country of origin coupled with a
perceived lack of future in Egypt has contributed to some refugees departing and seek entry into
Europe. Thus, irregular departures by sea continue to increase despite efforts to strengthen the
coping, recovery and mitigation capacities of refugees, host communities and state institutions.
Most Syrian detainees are released without any charges or legal consequences, including
those registered with UNHCR and with family members residing in Egypt as well as other
humanitarian cases or individuals with specific vulnerabilities.
During the month of December, UNHCR livelihood unit worked closely with its partners
Save the Children International (SCI), Caritas and Resala to gain progress in the implementation
of the Socio-economic assessment. SCI continued carrying out successfully interviews in Greater
Cairo, while Caritas and Resala focused on preparing their teams and overall set-up to start

interviewing using the tablets for households living in Alexandria and Damietta. At the end of
2014, a total of 9,858 households had been interviewed under the socio-economic assessment in
Egypt. This project, once finalized, is expected to contribute to targeting assistance to those most
in need.
Also in December, UNHCR dispersed supplementary cash allowance as winterization
assistance to 47,718 Syrian refugees. Each Syrian refugee received an amount equivalent to
US$29, with a total expenditure of US$ 1,384,535. The cash was distributed through the
Egyptian post office.
UN Actions and International Actions:
Although the Middle East region has seen economic growth in recent years, there are
huge disparities between rich and poor and young people, especially, ones who face high
unemployment. Combined with current political unrest illustrated by the regular demonstrations
in Egypt, these conditions have serious implications for the approximately 35 million children
and young people in the country, as rising poverty and unemployment put children and young
people at an increased risk of irregular migration and exploitation, as well as food insecurity and
psychosocial trauma - especially for refugee families.
Continued instability in Egypt has affected the protection environment for refugees and
asylum-seekers and is likely to continue in 2015, with increased reliance on UNHCR for
assistance programmes and protection interventions, including for legal residency and against
arbitrary arrest, deportation and harassment.
In 2015, UNHCR will focus on providing protection for refugees and asylum-seekers
living in Egypt by: conducting registration on an individual basis, according to UNHCR
standards; undertaking RSD; and pursuing durable solutions where feasible.
Moreover, given the challenging protection and operational environment, UNHCR will
continue working closely with legal partners in 2015 and put particular emphasis on advocacy
and communication to prevent a further deterioration in the way people of concern are perceived.
UNHCR, with its partners, will financially assist the most vulnerable refugees and
strengthen livelihoods activities and microfinance schemes targeting this group in particular.
The International Organization for Migration(IOM) is committed to the principle that
humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society. Since Egypt became an IOM
Member State in 1990, cooperation between IOM and the Egyptian Government has grown
many folds. Today, IOMs Regional Office in Egypt continues to successfully implement
activities in a variety of programmatic areas. The IOM Country Office in Egypt currently
implements projects in the following 5 similar areas; Movements, Emergency and Post-crisis
Migration Management, Regulating Migration, Migration Health, Labour migration, and
Migration & Development.
In early March in 2015, the Souriyat Associations funding from the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) - via the umbrella organisation the Arab Organisation for
Human Rights (AOHR) - was cut. Jan Abaza, the coordinator of the Souriyat Association, said,
This place was full of life, as she walked through the empty rooms of the social centre for

female Syrian refugees in Heliopolis, Cairo. The centre is only seven months old and there are
few social centres like this for Syrian refugee women in Cairo. Souriyat runs vocational training
projects, aimed at the most vulnerable women - often those with children and without husbands,
who have a limited education and were unable to find work - to teach them skills. The funding
cut has meant that small hairdressing and Syrian cookery projects have been scrapped. A sewing
and embroidery project - which pays the participants a small salary to make bags and purses
which are then sold at bazaars - was supporting 22 women; now the project has been cut to three,
on a much-reduced salary.
By the end of last year the UNHCR had raised just 54 percent of the funding needed to
assist Syrian refugees outside of Syria. A range of crises in countries such as Iraq, Nigeria and
the Central African Republic has also stretched their capacity to provide humanitarian assistance
to Syrians, according to a UNHCR spokesperson. These funding cuts are adding pressure to an
already parlous situation for many Syrian refugees in Egypt. Many are unable to acquire
residency permits or renew travel documentation. Syrians now find it difficult to get a visa to
enter Egypt, which has left many families divided. Many Syrian refugees complain of poor
housing, a lack of access to healthcare and education, hostile attitudes, and economic
exploitation in Egypt - working long hours, in menial jobs, for low pay - whilst many are unable
to find any work at all.
1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol
Antnio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, says, Refugees are among
the most vulnerable people in the world. The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol
help protect them. They clarify the rights of refugees and the obligations of the 148 States that
are party to one or both of these instruments. Universal accession to the Refugee Convention is a
valid and achievable goal. In this anniversary year of the Convention, I appeal to all nonsignatory States to accede to it and pledge the full support of my Office to governments to help
implement its provisions.
The 1951 Convention contains a number of rights and also highlights the obligations of
refugees towards their host country. The cornerstone of the 1951 Convention is the principle of
non-refoulement contained in Article 33. According to this principle, a refugee should not be
returned to a country where he or she faces serious threats to his or her life or freedom. This
protection may not be claimed by refugees who are reasonably regarded as a danger to the
security of the country, or having been convicted of a particularly serious crime, are considered a
danger to the community.
Some basic rights, including the right to be protected from refoulement, apply to all
refugees. A refugee becomes entitled to other rights the longer they remain in the host country,
which is based on the recognition that the longer they remain as refugees, the more rights they
need.
The 1967 Protocol broadens the applicability of the 1951 Convention. The 1967 Protocol
removed the geographical and time limits that were part of the 1951 Convention. These limits

initially restricted the Convention to persons who became refugees due to events occurring in
Europe before 1 January 1951.
Recommendation for Action (Resolution Ideas):
Presence at the borders and access to detention facilities as well as an expansion of
collaboration between legal aid providers within and outside Greater Cairo will continue, with a
view to identify Syrians in detention and to provide the necessary legal and humanitarian
assistance and ensure early release and regularization of their stay.
Sameh Hassan Shokry Selim, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt, said that unity of
will from the international community was required to resolve the crisis gripping the region.
Egypt was interested in resolving regional conflicts in order to prevent the further erosion of
State sovereignty. He supported the Russian Federations position that there was a need to
broadly evaluate the regions conflicts in order to foster enduring solutions. During 2011, some
countries believed that the prevailing trend was a legitimate aspiration of the people and
provided a moderate alternative to extremism. However, events had taken a different turn.
Egyptian society, for example, refused to politicize religion. Diversity in the Arab world must be
respected in order to build cohesion and stability.