Syrian Refugees Marginalized In Egypt

By: Salma El Saeed

Syrian refugees in Egypt have been facing social isolation and political hurdles in the wake of the Arab Spring, said Sima Diab, a Syrian humanitarian aid activist, during a lecture at AUC last Wednesday.

“Egypt is the only Arab country that is taking in refugees while it is still dealing with the effects of a revolution,” Diab said.

She added that since Egypt is still dealing with the political and economical repercussions of its own revolution, Syrians who have sought a safe place in Egypt now find themselves caught between the two countries’ upheavals.

“Syrian refugees here have made a collective decision to leave Egypt because it is no longer a safe haven for them,” said Diab.

Despite the continuation of the Syrian revolution since March 2011, Diab said that the majority of Syrians are apolitical and are more concerned with surviving these turbulent times.

As a result of the many hurdles Syrian refugees face in Egypt to settle down and create a stable life, Diab said there is an increase in the number of refugees who use Egypt as a transit point before illegally migrating to Europe.

She added that this decision was triggered by the hostile attitude Egyptians have adopted towards Syrian refugees, which she explained as a lack of knowledge.

“There’s a new attitude of ‘if you don’t like it, you can leave’ but people don’t understand that they don’t have anywhere to go,” she said.

According to Diab, the community of Syrian refugees is facing issues that are both political and social in nature. On a political level, many refugees are undocumented and are therefore denied many basic rights.

Socially, the Egyptian community is not as welcoming as it once was, resulting in the confinement of the refugees.

There are nine million displaced Syrians, more than two million of whom are political refugees, with 300 thousand of them residing in Egypt alone, she added.

However, a 2013 report from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) stated that around 5,000 of the refugees in Egypt are registered.

Syrian refugees have left Syria after its civil war heading to several Arab countries other than Egypt such as Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. They also try to flee to European countries.