On the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates, Dr. Badr Abdelatty, met on September 23, 2024, with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed Egypt’s appreciation for the cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and commended the role played by the UNHCR office in Cairo in supporting the Egyptian government’s efforts in terms of providing protection and care for refugees and asylum seekers residing in Egypt. He also expressed aspiration to consolidate the existing partnership to provide support to refugees and asylum seekers, as well as to alleviate the burden on Egypt and support the host community.
In this context, Dr. Abdelatty indicated the exacerbated political, security and humanitarian conditions in many neighboring countries, which has led to growing waves of displacement and increased i
nflows to Egypt, which witnessed a sharp increase in the number of refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UNHCR office in Egypt, so that Egypt ranked the world third among the countries receiving the most new asylum-seeking applications in 2023, affirming Egypt’s keenness to fulfill its international obligations.
The meeting also tackled developments in Gaza, whereby Minister Abdelatty stressed the importance of shedding light on the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the violations endured by civilians due to the Israeli aggression, emphasizing Egypt’s rejection of attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause and any scenarios aiming to destroy the Palestinian territories and displacing the Palestinian people outside their land. In this regard, he highlighted the necessity of continuing to pressure Israel into reaching a ceasefire agreement, ceasing to target civilians and civilian facilities, allowing urgent humanitarian aid access to the population of the Strip, removing all
impediments preventing the delivery of urgent relief aid, and respecting the rules of international law, international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
The latest developments in Sudan were also discussed, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs outlined Egypt’s efforts aimed at providing all forms of support to our Sudanese brothers, and seeking to achieve a comprehensive ceasefire and increase aid access in order to help Sudan overcome this crisis and achieve stability.
As for the support that Egypt receives from the international community, the Minister of Foreign Affairs indicated that this support is very modest in view of the increasing burdens resulting from hosting refugees and asylum seekers and integrating them into Egyptian society, expressing our aspiration for the UNHCR to intensify its efforts with donors and international partners to urge them to fill the existing funding gaps, and mobilize support that would help Egypt bear this burden, in implementation of the principle of bu
rden and responsibility-sharing.
Source: State Information Service Egypt