Coronavirus Pandemic Exacerbates Challenges for Refugees In Egypt
4 June 2020Cairo, Egypt
Loaded with fresh meals, Arabiyet Elkheir,
“the car of good” drove through rugged roads before pulling over in the
heart of kilo 4.5 sub-district in East Cairo. Although it was met by an
outburst of residents, refugees and asylum seekers in the
neighbourhood, the distribution was over before even starting.
“Please leave,” advised one of the refugee community leaders. “Our lives
have been upended by two months of lockdown measures and a meal is not
going to fix it,” added one of the refugees, expressing the frustrations
of an entire community.
The Arabiyet Elkheir initiative, led by Egyptian actor Ahmed Hatem, Uber
and Venture Lifestyle partnered with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to
ensure refugees and asylum-seekers were included, alongside Egyptians,
in various meal distributions throughout the holy month of Ramadan. The
initiative sought to alleviate some of the extra pressures that have
befallen them since the outbreak of COVID-19.
“Ramadan is a month of giving, empathy and compassion. It is the time to
think about the millions of people who have fled war and violence, who
are away from home and away from their family. Not only do they miss
their loved ones, but many are also struggling with the exceptional
circumstances stemming from COVID-19," said Hatem. “I hope that a hot
meal prepared with love helps them feel a little closer to home,” he
added.
Unfortunately, the growing needs of the refugee and asylum seeker
community in Egypt surpass a hot meal, and some were adamant about
making this clear by rejecting this gesture, even if they cannot afford a
hot meal for themselves or their families.
Determined, Arabiyet Elkheir proceeded to other densely-populated
refugee neighbourhoods where most distributions progressed smoothly,
even if the frustration was still palpable and strongly felt by
residents and refugees.
Placed within the broader context of the situation of refugees and
asylum-seekers in Egypt, where 258,910 of them are currently hosted,
these sentiments stand out starkly.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, vulnerability assessments conducted
by UNHCR showed that eight out of ten refugees in Egypt were unable to
meet their basic needs and were forced to resort to negative coping
strategies such as living on credit and sending school-age children to
work.
With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing crisis, the
Egyptian government imposed a partial lockdown since mid-March that
restricts mobility and significantly reduces the working hours of many
businesses. This has had a direct and far-reaching socio-economic impact
on refugees and asylum-seekers, making them particularly vulnerable and
driving them further into precarity.
Many refugees and asylum-seekers, who were working in the informal
sector, have lost their already humble livelihoods and are not able to
provide basic needs to their families. Many are even threatened by
eviction or worse, have already been evicted from their homes for not
being able to pay rent.
“This coronavirus crisis cost me my job," said Hasnaa, a 45-year-old
Syrian refugee who sought asylum in Egypt in 2013 after her husband died
in the war. “I do not know how I will be able to meet the needs of my
children. Food, clothes and medical treatment require a lot of money and
I have nothing," she added.
Hasnaa is one of thousands of refugees who are unable pay rent and risk
being evicted from their homes. And while UNHCR works with partners to
secure shelter for as many refugee families, the need dwarfs the
available resources and more short-term measures and long-term
interventions need to be put in place.
UNHCR strives to continue delivery of its protection and assistance
services against a backdrop of curtailed movement, limited face-to-face
interaction and overarching funding shortfalls. It is also ensuring
compliance with the decisions adopted by the Egyptian authorities
mid-March, which have ushered in a reduction of its activities.
While doing so, UNHCR ensured continuity of its critical programs mainly
from remote. The agency’s four premises in Cairo, 6th of October City
and Alexandria remain open, albeit on reduced capacity to respond to
priority emergency cases.
UNHCR has also adopted a range of virtual and remote communication tools
to allow refugees and asylum-seekers to reach UNHCR, ask questions, and
convey their concerns. For example, protection, reception and
counselling activities take place through telephone calls and e-mails,
and follow-up and advocacy on arrest/detention related matters continue
uninterrupted.
Furthermore, essential services related to Sexual and Gender-based
Violence (SGBV) and Child Protection remain, with prioritization of
emergency cases. New arrivals are being recorded by e-mails or phone
calls pending resumption of formal registration. Interviews for
registration, RSD, resettlement and voluntary repatriation, however, are
postponed, except for emergency cases.
Since the beginning of the crisis, UNHCR has continued to disburse its
monthly multi-purpose cash assistance to 40,449 individuals. The cash
assistance for the month of May was supplemented by an additional
one-off special grant for hygiene items, in a bid to soften the blow
against those most affected by the pandemic and its repercussions.
In addition, more than 40, 400 individuals who were not on UNHCR’s
regular monthly cash list benefitted from a one-time special grant, also
in May, to cover the cost of hygiene items. This was coupled with
distributing hygiene products received as a gift from Rotary Egypt.
Nafeesa, a 34-year-old Sudanese refugee living in Egypt since 2009 is
one of those refugees and asylum seekers who receive monthly cash
assistance.
“I feel ashamed every time I have to borrow money,” said Nafeesa. “I
used to work as a Henna artist, adorning the hands of brides-to-be
before their weddings. But since the lockdown, I have not been hired.
Although the cash assistance I receive from UNHCR provides a lifeline
for my family, it is not enough to cover our rent and feed my four
children,” she added.
The pandemic has not only undermined the livelihoods of refugees and
asylum-seekers, but it has also threatened their freedom of movement as
many of them have not been able to renew their residency permits or
UNHCR documentation. Therefore, UNHCR has maintained close contacts with
the national authorities, and has advocated for tolerance for persons
of concern who currently hold expired documents due to mobility
restrictions and reduction of services, pending resumption of document
renewal services by UNHCR and by the Egyptian authorities.
“UNHCR is extremely grateful to the Government of Egypt for treating
refugees and asylum-seekers the same as nationals in its response to
Covid-19,” said Mr. Karim Atassi, UNHCR Egypt Representative. From its
side, UNHCR has provided 15,000 N95 surgical masks to the Ministry of
Health and Population to support medical staff on the frontlines of the
pandemic.
Nonetheless, the office still receives hundreds of calls through its
infoline and emails from refugees and asylum-seekers reporting their
inability to afford their essential needs after the majority of them had
lost their jobs. This is coupled with mounting requests for food and
financial assistance as many are at risk of eviction by their landlords.
And while UNHCR and partners strive to deliver regular and additional
special assistance to refugees and asylum-seekers, we are unable to meet
the needs without additional support from the donor community. “We are
living unprecedented circumstances that require innovative ways to
demonstrate international solidarity,” Mr. Atassi added, acknowledging
the increasing needs of refugees exacerbated by these exceptional
circumstances.
UNHCR is doing its best to provide the much-needed support but what has
been offered so far barely covers the essentials of many refugee
families, who are plunging deeper into debt and poverty. Without
additional support from its generous donors, UNHCR will not be able to
respond to the refugees’ needs generated by this unforeseen and
unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
The challenges borne by refugees and asylum-seekers in Egypt reverberate
throughout refugee-hosting countries across the Middle East and North
Africa (MENA) region, where nearly 16 million persons of concern to
UNHCR reside. Those living on the margins of society are particularly at
risk because they often have limited access to water, sanitation
systems and health facilities, and cannot afford to lose their jobs.
Therefore, following the updated United Nations COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan (GHRP), a revised UNHCR Global COVID-19 Appeal was issued on 11 May requesting USD 745 million until the end of 2020 for immediate needs in prioritized countries.
Reflecting the scale of the crisis, and in line with the GHRP and
UNHCR’s Global COVID-19 appeal, UNHCR MENA’s comprehensive 2020
financial requirements for the COVID-19 preparedness and response is USD
343 million.
In Egypt, UNHCR is pleading for 10.2 million USD to help deliver its
supplemental life-saving services under the COVID-19. To date, only 6.7%
has been covered, signaling a severe funding gap and a looming crisis.