EU EXTERNAL PARTNERS: Criticism over EU transfer of € 1 billion to Egypt for ‘credible steps’ on democracy and human rights ― New cases of migrant abuses by the Libyan authorities include mass deportation and torture in detention ― Tunisia’s detention …

• Critics have argued that EU aid to Egypt strengthens President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s authoritarian rule and enables the repression of refugees and dissidents.
• Libyan authorities have deported more than 600 people to Niger.
• NGOs and advocates in have launched a joint solidarity campaign following the detention of prominent refugee rights activists in Tunisia.
• The Turkish government has introduced new measures to facilitate the voluntary return of people to Syria.
• NGOs have urged the international community to address the root causes of the conflict in the Middle East in order to end the decades-long cycle of violence.

European Parliament (EP) President Roberta Metsola has led a delegation of EU diplomats to Egypt to strengthen EU-Egypt relations, discuss macro-financial assistance and address regional geopolitical issues. The visit, which took place on 8-9 January, followed the European Commission’s (EC) December 2024 decision to disburse € 1 billion in loans to Egypt as part of a broader €7.4 billion financial package. According to the Mada Masr newspaper, an assessment which had been prepared following a visit to Egypt by an EU delegation in October 2023 showed that the EC’s decision was based on “concrete and credible steps” that had been taken on democracy and human rights in the country. Hussein Bayoumy from Amnesty International has argued that the assessment was “always going to be flawed” as it lacked clear measurable criteria for human rights improvements. He also described it as “purely political” rather than having been based on any concrete evidence of progress. “It wanted to release the €1bn and it did so,” he X posted. Commenting on the assessment, the director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Hussam Bahgat, said: “This is not a case of the Europeans being misinformed or misled, but rather EU bureaucrats understanding their assignment both from their leadership and from member states to simply clear Egypt to get the loan even if that was to mean painting an imaginary picture of Egypt being on a trajectory of reform”.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has emphasised Egypt’s crucial role in managing migration between North Africa and Europe, and requested additional financial support following the disbursement of the first tranche of EU aid. He noted that his country was hosting over nine million foreigners due to regional crises. In response, the EP has begun considering the release of an additional € 4 billion in assistance. In an X thread, European People’s Party MEP, Céline Imart, advocated this approach, describing Egypt’s strategic role in the region and inter-faith initiative as a “role to follow”. She also described Egypt as a “reliable and credible partner on the subject of migration” despite its delicate economic situation. In response, Hussein Bayoumy from Amnesty International urged the Parliament to adopt measures that protect the integrity of the process and ensure compliance with EU standards. “This means a clear requirement for the EEAS to negotiate benchmarks with Egypt,” he X posted.

On 17 December 2024, President El-Sisi signed Egypt’s first-ever asylum law. Approved first by the Egyptian parliament, the law creates a comprehensive legal framework on refugee protection, including a national committee which will start to take over refugee status determination, currently carried out by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Given the large number of refugees hosted by Egypt, notably due to displacement from Sudan, it is expected that the UNHCR will continue its work alongside the new committee. Concerns about the law have been raised by Egyptian human rights organisations in relation to its content and lack of consultation during preparation.  According to Amnesty International, the law takes a “security-based approach” and does not meet the standards required by the Refugee Convention. In addition, journalist Shimaa Samy has argued that the EU’s financial assistance to Egypt, ostensibly aimed at addressing economic challenges, strengthens Al Sisi’s authoritarian regime and encourages its oppressive practices against both refugees and dissidents. “The EU’s partnership with Egypt on migration reflects a dangerous trade-off, where human rights are sacrificed for political expediency,” she wrote in an op-ed for EUobserver.

On 10 January, Libyan authorities deported more than 600 people to Niger in a move which has been described as “one of the largest expulsions from the north African country to date”. “This is something new. There was one expulsion of 400 people last July, but this convoy is the largest number to date,” said Azizou Chehou from Alarm Phone Sahara. Jalel Harchaoui, a specialist on Libya, said that the periodic roundup and expulsion of foreign workers was “something of a tradition in southern Libya since even during the time of Gadafi”, but that this incident was notable due to the large number of people expelled at the same time. The mass deportation took place a few days after the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that almost 22,000 migrants had been intercepted in the Mediterranean and forcibly returned to Libya in 2024.

On 15 January, the former UNHCR Special Envoy for the Western and Central Mediterranean situation, Vincent Cochetel, urged Tunisian authorities to release refugee and migrant aid workers unconditionally. “Accusing them of being foreign agents or mishandling funds aims to halt NGO activities, making Tunisia unsafe for refugees and asylum seekers,” he X posted. Cochetel’s call is part of a broader campaign by numerous organisations and individuals demanding an end to the criminalisation of solidarity and the release of humanitarian workers detained in Tunisia that gained momentum after the arrest and detention of Abdallah El Saïd and a number of his associates from the NGO Children of the Moon in Medenine (AELM) in November 2024.

On 27 December 2024, Turkish Minister of the Interior Ali Yerlikaya reported that nearly 31,000 Syrians had left Türkiye to return to their home country. In order to facilitate this process, on 5 January, the Turkish government announced a number of new procedures for the voluntary return of Syrians. They included allowing one member from each family to make three trips to Syria between 1 January and 1 July 2025 to assess conditions for return, creating a central appointment system to apply for return, establishing migration management offices in the Turkish embassy in Damascus and consulate in Aleppo, and designating five border passages for people who wish to return to Syria and two others for people who want to visit the country to assess the situation and make arrangements for their return.

The long-awaited and “tragically overdue” ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which is due to begin on 19 January, has elicited immediate responses from various humanitarian and human rights organisations. On 15 January, the Secretary General of ECRE member organisation the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, said: “This ceasefire must be the foundation for an enduring truce that can pave the way for peace and human rights for long-suffering civilian populations”. He also urged Israel to remove all barriers to humanitarian aid immediately in order to address the dire conditions in Gaza. “To end the cycle of violence, the international community must address the root causes of this decades-long conflict and pursue a just resolution in alignment with international law,” he added. Similarly, the Commissioner-General of the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, X posted: “What’s needed is rapid, unhindered and uninterrupted humanitarian access and supplies to respond to the tremendous suffering caused by this war.” Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard said: “Unless the root causes of this conflict are addressed, Palestinians and Israelis cannot even begin to hope for a brighter future built on rights, equality and justice. Israel must dismantle the brutal system of apartheid it imposes to dominate and oppress Palestinians and end its unlawful occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory once and for all”. She also called on third states to “bring an end to Israel’s impunity and restore some faith in the rule of law”.

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