HRW calls on the Egyptian government to guarantee education for refugee and asylum-seeking children

The country hosts more than 800,000 refugees, including more than 500,000 fleeing the conflict in Sudan, UNHCR estimates

Dec. 2 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) has denounced this Monday the difficulties faced by refugee and asylum-seeking children in accessing education in Egypt and has asked its authorities to guarantee this right “regardless of the legal situation” of the minors. , in a growing context of arrivals due to the conflict in neighboring Sudan.

“Many refugee and asylum-seeking children in Egypt have found school doors firmly closed, depriving tens of thousands of their fundamental right to education,” said Bassam Khawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at HRW. .

The organization has called on the Egyptian government to allow “refugee and asylum-seeking children of all nationalities” to enroll in public schools, removing bureaucratic barriers such as residency requirements and school fees.

In particular, the NGO has called on the country’s authorities to modify the educational legislation, which guarantees the right to free education to “citizens”, so that it includes in the text “all” minors who are in the country without exception, ensuring their access to “free public primary and secondary education.”

This request comes shortly after learning that the country hosts more than 800,000 refugees and asylum seekers, of which more than 500,000 have arrived from Sudan, according to data from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

This figure, HRW warns, is more than double that of the previous year and it is expected that “the real number is much higher”, since the Egyptian authorities estimate that 1.2 million people have fled from Sudan to Egypt.

In this sense, the NGO has warned of the “enormous damage” that “barriers” to education imply and has asked the Egyptian authorities to stop “raising walls” that prevent children who have already suffered from being forced to receive education. to flee their countries of origin.