To The African Union (AU)

In the run-up to Africa/World Refugee Day on 20 June, the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt has been forcibly deporting Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers that it had previously detained. These people have been treated like criminals when all they have done is seek a place of safety.

We, the Eritrean refugees who are currently living in Ethiopia, strongly urge the African Union (AU) to persuade the Government of Egypt to respect its obligations under the 1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the United Nations Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and under customary international law. As a party to these international conventions, Egypt has an obligation not to return any person to a place where their lives may be endangered, or where they will face persecution, torture or ill-treatment.

We are respectfully requesting the AU's urgent intervention on behalf of these Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers, who fled from their country of origin due to political and religious persecution and repression.

The government of Eritrea automatically imprisons Eritrean citizens who have fled and have been returned involuntarily.

If these Eritreans are returned, they will be tortured, sent to prison for life, and some may even be executed. Eritreans deported from Malta in 2002 were imprisoned and tortured. It is therefore highly likely that Eritreans forcefully repatriated from Egypt will also be subject to severe mistreatment. The deported refugees were sent to Nakura prison, which is situated in an extremely hot area. Thirty people were placed in 4m by 4m room and tortured them. Many prisoners died there as a result of mistreatment, a lack of medication and scarcity of food. The treatment and conditions were so bad that most were happy when someone had died because it meant there was now extra space. An eye witness reported that eight people out of 30 died, while others were driven mad or became severely depressed.

Some of us are eyewitnesses to and survivors of the physical and psychological abuse that occurs in Eritrean prisons and other places of detention. It is deeply upsetting for us to know that the Eritrean Refugees and Asylum seekers who have already been returned are now facing the same treatment as the prisoners returned from Malta.

The Government already returned around 700 out of 1600 prisoners to Eritrea, and around 900 are still imprisoned in Egypt.

We are therefore strongly urging the AU to use its good offices to ensure the immediate release of the remaining Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers in the Hurghada, Aswan prison and elsewhere, and to ensure that Egypt upholds is international undertakings to assist refugees, and most specially, its undertakings under Article 2 of the African Refugee Convention.

If the Egyptian government is unwilling or unable to grant asylum to Eritrean refugees, we request that it facilitates their resettlement in another country in accordance with article 3 of the U.N. Declaration on Territorial Asylum, which provides that in such situations, a State "shall consider the possibility of granting the persons concerned, under such conditions as it may deem appropriate, an opportunity, whether by way of provisional asylum or otherwise, of going to another State", and Article 2:4 of the African Convention, which states that " where a Member State finds difficulty in continuing to grant asylum to refugees, such Member State may appeal directly to other Member States and through the OAU, and such other Member States shall in the spirit of African solidarity and international cooperation take appropriate measures to lighten the burden of the Member State granting asylum".

We thank you for your prompt attention to this important matter and would appreciate learning of any steps taken to ensure that these peoples' rights and lives are protected.

Yours sincerely,

Eritrean Refugees in Ethiopia