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Features

Migrants and refugees from sub-Sahara Africa in Egypt are increasingly reporting
instances of racial abuse
 * Sexual abuse
 * Xenophobia
 * racism
 * violence
 * discrimination
 * violence against women


SUB-SAHARAN MIGRANTS IN EGYPT SUBJECT TO INCREASING ABUSE AND VIOLENCE

Published on : 2020/01/02 Latest update : 2020/01/06
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By Sertan Sanderson Published on : 2020/01/02 Latest update : 2020/01/06

As Egypt is suffering an economic downturn, migrants and refugees from
sub-Saharan countries are experiencing growing abuse and violence. Egyptian
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is trying to intervene, making skin-deep
reassurances.

The mega-city of Cairo has long established itself as a key destination for many
refugees in the region. People fleeing civil war in Syria and in Libya have made
the Egyptian capital their homes, with many establishing new businesses and
livelihoods there. For the most part, people from Arab-speaking countries have
found themselves to be relatively welcome on the banks of the River Nile, as
they've had to start their lives all over.


However, the situation on the ground often isn't as welcoming for migrants and
refugees from sub-Saharan Africa, who are increasingly reporting instances of
racial abuse and discrimination. A report in the Associated Press (AP) says that
Egypt has long been ignoring the racist tendencies in the midst of society
against people of darker skin color.



Refugee called 'slaves' on streets of Cairo

AP staff in Cairo visited several migrant communities to gather information
about the casual racism that migrants in the city with a population of 20
million people are exposed to. People reported that they have "endured racist
insults, sexual harassment or other abuses in the past three months" alone.
Among those surveyed were four children, who said they had had "rocks and trash
thrown at them as they go to or from school."

Others reported being referred to by racist slurs, including the common
Arab-language slur against people of color, "slave." The majority of those on
the recipient end of such abusive language were sub-Saharan women. The AP team
said it had spoken to "at least two dozen sub-Saharan Africans" including the
aforementioned four children as part of their research.

Women bear the brunt of the abuse 

The AP report highlights the case of two Sudanese sisters, who were assaulted as
they were walking their children home from school. A group of Egyptian teenagers
crowded around them, taunted them with slurs and even tried to rip clothes off
one of the women. The two women, who had only arrive in Cairo a few months
earlier fleeing violence in Sudan, said they were shaken to the core. 

AP says that the harassment "brought up traumatic memories of detention, torture
and rape they said they experienced at the hands of militias in Sudan's Nuba
mountains." One of the two women told AP that they had fled to Egypt seeking
safety, "but the reality was very different."

The report also highlighted the case of two South Sudanese women, who told the
AP they had been sexually assaulted by their employers while working as
part-time cleaners. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the told the news
agency that they hadn't reported the assaults against them to the police, as one
of the two women had not finalized her documentation as a migrant in Egypt and
the other feared reprisals from her attacker. 

According to the IOM, Egypt hosts more than 6 million migrants, more than half
of whom come from Sudan and South Sudan, where conflicts continue to displace
tens of thousands of people each year.

A Sudanese woman applies henna to a Yemeni girl's hand during an event marking
the U.N.'s International Refugee Day, in Cairo, Egypt on June 20, 2019 | Photo:
Picture-alliance/AP/M. Alleruzzo



IOM confirms growing xenophobia in Egypt

The IOM confirms that attitudes towards migrant women in particular have been
shifting for the worse in recent months, with an increasing number of reported
cases of "sexual and gender-based violence against migrants."

Shirley De Leon, a project development officer at the IOM, told AP that
xenophobic attacks against migrants were at least in part linked to increasing
economic woes in Egypt, which are "exacerbated by inflation, eroded income and
high youth unemployment." 

"Women and girls are the most effected, but so are vulnerable men and young
boys." De Leon said. AP also spoke to a male refugee from Ethiopia, who came to
Cairo five years ago, escaping persecution at home. He said he believes the only
reason he has been able to keep a job in Egypt was because he makes half the
salary of an Egyptian. He says that despite xenophobia and economic problems,
Cairo remains his best available option.

"Here is much better than in my home country as there is likely a zero chance to
leave for Europe," he told AP.

Changing attitudes?

From file: African migrants walk through Egyptian border crossing of Sallum,
March 29, 2011 | Photo: Imago/Xinhua



Attitudes towards refugees and migrants of color might, however, slowly be
changing, as Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi himself declared that
refugees and migrants are "our guests and negative treatment is not acceptable
and not allowed."

His words followed a public outcry in November over a viral video showing three
Egyptian teenagers bullying a schoolboy from South Sudan. The teenagers in the
mobile phone video are seen laughing and making fun of the boy's dark complexion
before trying to take his backpack.

Attia Essawi, an expert on African affairs at Cairo's al-Ahram Center for
Political and Strategic Studies, says it will take a lot to break broadly-held
racist attitudes in Egypt, where for centuries people with fairer, more European
looking skin have received preferential treatment.

"Authorities should be decisive, with more severe measures against racism and
bullying,'' he told the Associated Press. But while leaders like Sissi are
trying to address the issue, there might still be a long way to go for Egypt to
own up to its racist attitudes towards sub-Saharan migrants and refugees:



In 2018, a court sentenced a man who had beaten a South Sudanese teacher working
in a community-run school for refugees to death to seven years in prison. While
some see progress in the fact that he was sentenced at all, others find the
conviction too lax for a man who was known to harass refugees even before
committing murder.


Refugees and rights workers all agree that the country still has a long way to
go, as racist attitudes against migrants and refugees appear to be deeply
ingrained across various sections of Egyptians society. In a research paper from
2012, long before the onset of the so-called refugee crisis of 2015 and 2016,
the UNHCR already noted racist attitudes and violence against sub-Saharan
migrants in the country dating back many years.



With AP

Egypt is home to some 6 million migrants and refugees, the majority of whom come
from sub-Saharan Africa | Photo: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Rigal
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