Shared Responsibility in a New Egypt: A Strategy for Refugee Protection

Abstract

Refugees in Egypt have endured roughly five years of protection crisis. But as the High Commissioner for Refugees recently said, there is today an opportunity for “a new beginning for refugee protection in Egypt.” The best way forward is for UNHCR to ask the Government of Egypt to re-negotiate the 1954 Memorandum of Understanding with the stated purpose of implementing Egypt’s obligations under international law, based on the principle of shared responsibility.