EGYPT > MIGRATION
Migration: Towards a new start n An NGO volunteer in the streets of Ain Shams district
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Many migrants see Egypt as a transit country, so some of them wait around for any kind of departure to a new destination, possibly to the other end of the world. To manage migration flows better and to accompany the transition process in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, the EU has launched the ‘Start’ project. The Sudanese community in Cairo benefits from this project, especially the migrants in the Ain Chams district. A journalist from the EU Neighbourhood Info Centre paid a visit to the district and sent us this report. Text by: Dalia Chams Photos by: AFP © EU / Neighbourhood Info Centre CAIRO – The places are packed with plastic garden tables and chairs. The cafés in Africani Street are overflowing with hordes of customers come to see the football match that is being shown on pay TV. As the name of the street suggests, here Africans are in the majority. In fact, the whole Ain Chams district where the street is found, to the east of Cairo, has a reputation for having a high ratio of migrants, in particular from Sudan. “It was our ancestors, Sudanese soldiers from the battalion that was formerly called Haganah, who set up this district in around 1916,” says Ibrahim Issaq, a leading light in his community and a migration veteran since his arrival in Cairo in 2007. He is also a volunteer in the Start project, which has been funded by the European Union since 1 January 2012 and implemented by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to strengthen the migration management process and to stabilise at-risk communities. This publication does not represent the 80 networks of health volunteers official view of the EC Everyone has their version of history and maybe this anecdote on or the EU institutions. the ‘origins’ of the informal district of Ain Chams is above all a way EU Neighbourhood Info Centre The EC accepts no of taking ownership of the place you live, knowing little of what Feature no. 131 responsibility or tomorrow might bring. With many migrants seeing Egypt as a transit This is a series of features on projects liability whatsoever country, some of them wait there for any kind of departure to a new funded by the EU, prepared by with regard to its destination, possibly to the other end of the world. The main thing journalists and photographers on the content. is to get away from the precariousness of the situation they find ground or the EU Neighbourhood themselves in after having left Darfur or South Sudan, the two big Info Centre. communities that have come to Ain Chams. Some have been © 2014 EU/Neighbourhood Info Centre registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
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“Recently, over 200,000 Egyptians and 82,000 Tunisians have gone back to their country of origin because of the conflict in Libya. We have tried to come to their aid thanks to revenuegenerating initiatives and job centres that we’re in the process of opening.”
“Migrants live in closed circles and we want to break that vice by organising activities with local people.”
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A female refugee is given assistance by volunteers
(UNHCR) while others refuse to do so as their aspiration is to move on soon. The IOM works with this group in particular, as they don’t enjoy refugee status. And in the framework of the Start project, this support revolves in particular around accompanying the transition process in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, which have undoubtedly had an impact on people moving from place to place. Ibrahim Issaq is a journalist who comes from Darfur. He made his way into Egypt on the Wadi Halfa-Assouan ferry to join some 600,000 Sudanese migrants in the country. “They were spread out in small community associations here and there but, with the arrival of Syrian migrants in the last three years, they have seen how much the Syrians were organised, and have worked to come together in bigger groups,” explains Naseem Hashim, a coordinator of the Start project, who is responsible for community awareness-raising and management of local affairs. As a Somalian and Eritrean who has grown up in Egypt, she has the perfect profile to better understand the human factor within the 80 networks of ‘health’ volunteers put in place throughout Cairo by the IOM. Outside the capital, the services are offered by special medical convoys. We need to break away from the social isolation Houda Hassan from Sudan, who has been living in Ain Chams for around a decade now, has benefited from these medical training internships provided to volunteers to help their peers. That has allowed him to be better integrated into society and to help Issaq by working with the Darfur Association that he founded when he arrived in Cairo and then in the Egyptian-Sudanese Friendship Association, which was launched around two months ago to serve everyone from the Sudanese community, irrespective of where they are located. “It also aims at breaking down the social isolation of the Sudanese by including Egyptian members. Because migrants live in closed circles and we want to break that vice by organising activities with local people. Besides, the new network of volunteers, which is being formed, includes 50 people, of which 15 are Egyptians,” stresses Naseem Hashim from the Start project.
n The Bosla website
(www.bosla-egypt.info), which is Arabic for ‘compass’, was launched as part of the project
Conflicts are pushing workers (back) into their countries of origin Sudanese boubous are to be seen all over Ain Chams as can hairdressing salons cutting hair in line with the latest African fashions. Welcome to the community of
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A refugee mother with her children: they are being assisted by volunteers
“Besides, the new network of volunteers, which is being formed, includes 50 people, of which 15 are Egyptians.”
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‘Sultans’ of Darfur! And yet, less than two years ago, it wasn’t easy to look African in the streets of Cairo. The crisis with Ethiopia on the Nile was in full swing and ordinary people made no distinction between different African migrants. “We also helped the Syrians get visas for six months instead of for three months whilst monitoring the conditions of those who are not registered as refugees. The Bosla website (www.bosla-egypt.info), which is Arabic for ‘compass’, was launched as part of the Start project to serve as a reference point in terms of information on the services available for migrants in Egypt. In this way, we allow these migrants to access directives that concern them,” adds Amr Taha, the head of IOM (Egypt) and director of the Start regional n Refugee children programme. “Start is also working to turn migration into a development tool in cooperation with local authorities,” adds Amr Taha. “Recently, over 200,000 Egyptians and 82,000 Tunisians have gone back to their country of origin because of the conflict in Libya. We have tried to come to their aid thanks to revenue-generating initiatives and job centres that we’re in the process of opening in the provinces that are most affected by repatriation.” Similarly, officials from the project are working with Libyan ministers to better define the needs of the labour market there and to arrange migration flows based on projections and demand. Because, in spite of the political situation, Libya continues to attract labour from neighbouring countries. Egyptian workers, for example, continue with their attempts at clandestine emigration. Conflicts are spreading and the borders are increasingly porous. The IOM is trying to target job searches better. “In these times of internal conflict,” says Amr Taha, “Libya needs medical staff, a fact that we need to communicate to Egyptian and Tunisian authorities while monitoring the conditions under which labour is sent over: contracts, insurance, taxes.”
Stabilising at-risk communities and enhancing migration management to enable smooth transitions in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya (START) http://www.egypt.iom.int/Doc/START%20Regional%20EN.pdf The START project supports the governments of Libya, Egypt and Tunisia in their efforts to improve migration management and stabilise at-risk communities vulnerable to unplanned and/or irregular migration – while helping to establish the preconditions required to enable a smooth transition process and comprehensive and sustainable economic recoveries in the three target countries. Timeframe: 2012-2015 Budget: €9.9 million
To find out more START programme: project fact sheet http://www.enpi-info.eu/mainmed.php?id=602&id_type=10 BOSLA: how to give guidance to migrants in Egypt http://www.bosla-egypt.info/ EU Neighbourhood Info Centre themed page: MIGRATION http://www.enpi-info.eu/thememed.php?subject=2
EU Neighbourhood Info Centre An ENPI project The EU Neighbourhood Info Centre is an EU-funded Regional Information and Communication project highlighting the partnership between the EU and Neighbouring countries. The project is managed by Action Global Communications.
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