After the current Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi’s military coup in 2013, the country faced a decade of significant terrorist violence. In North Sinai province, it involved an insurgency by jihadist rebels aligned, since 2014, with the terrorist group Islamic State (IS) and operating under the name Wilayet Sinai (WS). The rest of Egypt witnessed the emergence of mainly Islamist anti-regime terror groups, at times associated with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood or al-Qaida. The situation in Libya and Gaza has had an occasional – albeit limited – impact on the security situation in Egypt. Terrorist activity coincided with the establishment of a harsh military dictatorship that has cracked down on all Islamist or secular opposition, and with serious economic problems that have significantly affected the standard of living of the population.
Literature and Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)-based research suggests that both in North Sinai and the rest of the country, violence has declined significantly in recent years. The Egyptian regime was able to virtually eliminate WS activity in the area by combining a sustained counter-insurgency strategy by the army, cooperation with local tribal militias, and the adoption of amnesty measures in the final stages of the conflict. Elsewhere in Egypt, police and security forces have succeeded in dismantling a significant number of terrorist cells. As a result, violence there has also fallen to historically low levels. In 2023 and the first half of 2024, ACLED recorded almost no terrorist incidents in Egypt. Violence in Egypt today appears to be limited to crackdowns by police and security forces against opponents and occasional sectarian incidents targeting the Christian community.
During the conflict between the regime and jihadists, civilians have also been victims of violence and serious human rights violations have been committed by all warring parties.
Policy
The policy implemented by the Commissioner General is based on a thorough analysis of accurate and up-to-date information on the general situation in the country of origin. This information is collated in a professional manner from various, objective sources, including the EUAA, the UNHCR, relevant international human rights organisations, non-governmental organisations, professional literature and coverage in the media. When determining policy, the Commissioner General does not only examine the COI Focuses written by Cedoca and published on this website, as these deal with just one aspect of the general situation in the country of origin. The fact that a COI Focus could be out-of-date does not mean that the policy that is being implemented by the Commissioner General is no longer up-to-date.
When assessing an application for asylum, the Commissioner General not only considers the actual situation in the country of origin at the moment of decision-making, he also takes into account the individual situation and personal circumstances of the applicant for international protection. Every asylum application is examined individually. An applicant must comprehensively demonstrate that he has a well-founded fear of persecution or that there is a clear personal risk of serious harm. He cannot, therefore, simply refer back to the general conditions in his country, but must also present concrete, credible and personal facts.
There is no policy paper for this country available on the website.