Monitor’s Report from Egypt, November 2016

Young girls from the Eritrean refugee community are being subjected to rape and sexual violence from time to time in Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt.  Some of the criminals are Egyptians and some others are unknown to the victims. This results in some cases of pregnancy, in addition to the psychological and health effects of these crimes.

None of the perpetrators has yet been identified and arrested which worsens the suffering and pain of these girls. Some of the girls have given birth to children whose fathers are not known so far, and as a result the mothers have not been able to obtain birth certificates for their children from the Egyptian courts.

The Egyptian government refuses to give birth certificates for those children under the pretext of lack of knowledge of their parents despite the appeal of the Eritrean refugees committee to the Egyptian authorities that these girls have been exposed to rape and that the criminals fled after committing these crimes.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Egypt did not do its duty to help these girls who are registered as refugees under the Commission and put pressure on the Egyptian authorities in order to extract their children’s birth certificates putting into consideration the crimes they have been subjected to and consequently the psychological effects they are suffering from.

Because of this situation, these girls have not been able to register their children in their file of asylum and immigration in the UNHCR. As a result their children will not be able to accompany them to countries of resettlements.

The suffering of these girls is two folds:

1. They are suffering from the failure of the Egyptian authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice. The denial of justice is causing further damages on these girls, and
2. Because of the complex and difficult legal status of their children they are denied of the rights of parenthood.