Claudio Francavilla writes:

The European Union is about to reward Egypt’s autocratic leader, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, for preventing migrants’ departures towards Europe.

Visiting Cairo on March 17, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, along with the Prime Ministers of Italy, Greece, and Belgium, will officially upgrade the EU-Egypt relations to a “comprehensive and strategic partnership”, paving the way for a package of EU aid, grants, loans and investments in the country estimated at between four and eight billion Euros.

Key in this partnership will be the EU’s support for Egypt’s border control. While details are under negotiation, the blueprint is the same as the flawed EU deals with Tunisia and Mauritania: stop migrants, ignore abuses.

Human Rights Watch has previously documented arbitrary arrests and mistreatment of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees by Egyptian authorities, as well as deportations to Eritrea constituting refoulement. Recent reports of deportations of Sudanese should be investigated. [Continue reading…]