Egypt: Iraqi children arrested, detained and threatened with refoulement

We are writing you regarding the arbitrary arrest, mistreatment, ongoing detention and threatened deportation of a 17 year old Iraqi refugee and his 18 year old brother by the Egyptian government.

We are writing to you to request your intervention on behalf of these refugees.

It is our belief that their likely mistreatment, continued detention and threatened deportation constitutes a violation of their rights as human beings and as refugees, including a breach of the obligations owed to him by the Egyptian government by virtue of it being a signatory to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951 and other international treaties.
Background Information
On 4 April 2010 Egyptian State security arrested Karar from the street while he was returning from a bank to his home. Karar is a secondary school student and was in the midst of preparations for the final secondary completion exams.

Before his family approached the EFRR office, they went to the police station to ask about Karar and to complain about his arrest. Unfortunately, the police officers refused to answer the family’s questions or act upon its demands for their child’s release; one of the police officers suggested that Karar had been arrested in order to deport him. EFRR subsequently submitted a complaint to the High General Prosecutor concerning this arrest and detention and has demanded his immediate release. The EFRR has also submitted a complaint to the National Council for Human Rights regarding the arrest and detention of this refugee.

In the middle of the night of 12 April 2010 Egyptian security raided Karar’s family home. A computer was seized and Hayder, the 18 year old brother of Karar was also arrested. The EFRR is in the process of filing a formal complaint about the arrest and detention.

Illegal Detention of Refugee Children
The EFRR recalls that it is considered a breach of Egypt’s international obligations under the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951 which Egypt has signed and ratified (i) to arbitrarily detain refugees, and (ii) to threaten refugees with forced removal to a place in which they would face persecution (“refoulement”). In addition, the detention of children is in clear contravention of the guidance of the Executive Committee of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, of which H.E. Ambassador Hisham Badr of Egypt serves as vice-chairperson.