Egypt must end its killing of African migrants trying to cross illegally into Israel, Human Rights Watch said on Friday as Egypt assumed the chair of the United Nations refugee agency.
Egyptian border police have killed 85 African migrants trying to cross the Sinai peninsula into Israel since July 2007, the New York-based group said. Some of the migrants probably had a case for asylum, it said.
The executive committee of the UNHCR, as the refugee agency is known, elected Egypt as chair for a year starting today.
Egypt is assuming the post “while back home it shoots unarmed migrants and blocks UNHCR’s access to detainees seeking the agency’s protection,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “To be consistent with its position as the executive committee’s new chair, Egypt needs to put its own house in order.”
The Egyptian government has denied any wrongdoing, saying that police detain the vast majority of migrants and shoot only at those who ignore repeated warnings.
