Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
, which does not border Syria, became a major destination for Syrian refugees since 2012 following the election of Egyptian President
Mohamed Morsi
Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian Civil War. As of 2016, there are 114,911 registered Syrian refugees living in Egypt.
The country is also under the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP), a coordination effort between countries neighboring Syria (
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
),
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
NGOs
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...
including
UNHCR
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrat ...
and 240 partners.
Refugee Conditions in Egypt
Employment
Egypt has a large informal market and most Syrians work in it. There are cafés in this informal market where a majority of unregistered Syrians work. The majority of Syrian registered with
UNHCR
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrat ...
have a higher chance of receiving a job because they are in Egypt legally. It is not a simple task to gain employment because of Egypt's reservation on refugee access to the labor market in the
1951 refugee convention
The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, also known as the 1951 Refugee Convention or the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951, is a United Nations multilateral treaty that defines who a refugee is, and sets out the rights of individuals ...
.
Housing
In Egypt, refugees are allowed to live in the cities unlike some of their neighboring countries. The majority of Syrians that registered with UNHCR have housing in Egypt because of their resettlement program. However, there are more barriers to entry in Egypt. There has been more detention as a means of housing and a holding ground before deportation.
Education
Public Schools
In 2012, the president of Egypt granted Syrians access to the public school system and aid in registration. Education is free to Syrian Refugees but it does exclude post-graduate education. Students are required to have their passports and a copy of their transcript from Syria. If a student does not have their transcript they can take a placement exam to determine their level of education. Upon application for school Syrian students receive a document that gives them access to a one-year residency permit.
Refugee Schools
There are Syrian learning centers in Egypt that differ from the public school system because they are accredited. These educational institutions are a source of jobs for Syrian teachers because they are not allowed to legally teach in the Egyptian public school system. These schools offer assistance with the Egyptian curriculum.
Healthcare
Egypt with the help
UNHCR
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrat ...
and other NGOs mainstreamed healthcare for Syrian refugees and made their healthcare free. Mainstreaming effect refugees in urban areas like
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
. There was standardization of the healthcare system and more transparency of the costs.
Services Provided
* Birth Registration and certificate issuing
* Issuing of health cards
* Premarital care
* Antenatal care
* routine immunization
* Early detection of thyroxine hormone deficiency
* Infant feeding counseling and growth monitoring
* Management of childhood illness
* Adolescent care
* Medical Examinations
* Medicine Provisions
* Chronic illness treatment
* Dental Services
Egypt's Legal Reaction to Syrian Immigration
In order to gain refugee status in Egypt it must be proved that the applicant has a well founded fear of persecution. After gaining refugee status you are given a UNHCR yellow card which gives you three year
temporary residency
In Canada, temporary residency applies to those who are not Canadian citizens but are legally in Canada for a temporary purpose, including international students, foreign workers, and tourists.
Whereas "Permanent Residence" (PR) is a requirem ...
permit. However, Egypt is having refugees renew their permits every six months.
Restrictions
In July 2013, the Egyptian government required Syrian refugees to have entry visas, residency documents, and work permit before they could enter the country. Since the implementation of this law, 3,058 refugees have been detained for attempting to depart illegally by sea. 75 female refugees from multiple countries, including Syria, are being detained in prison for allegedly having fake passports, being undocumented, and attempting to depart. There is a high unemployment rate among refugees, due to the 1982 Article 11 of the Ministry of Labor's Ministerial Resolution that required employers to prove that no Egyptian national was available for a job before a work permit was issued to a refugee.
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...