What is AIDA DATABASE and why are we publishing a report on the asylum situation in Egypt?

Over the past months, a team of legal researchers and specialists in asylum issues, as well as local and international laws, associated with the Refugees Platform in Egypt worked on the completion of the Egypt in Asylum Information Database report; which will become one of the most pivotal legal and policy references on asylum information, policies and practices in Egypt across different Egyptian legislations and new laws.

What is the Asylum Information Database (AIDA)?

The AIDA-Asylum Information Database is an international database managed by the European Council for Refugees and Expatriates (ECRE) that contains detailed information on asylum procedures, reception conditions, detention of asylum seekers, and the content of international protection. The database also includes extensive information on the content of international protection in 24 countries, including 19 EU member states and 5 non-member states: Turkey, Serbia, United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Switzerland.

With this report, Egypt became the first Arab and African country to be included in the database. The database aims to improve asylum policies and practices in Europe as well as partner countries, and provides accurate tools and information to support advocacy efforts and legal defense of the rights of refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers on a national level and on a European level as well.

These objectives are achieved through a set of core actions:

Country Reports

The database provides detailed national reports covering legal procedures, reception practices, detention conditions and protection content in each country. Prepared by local experts, these reports are a central reference for researchers, politicians and advocates.

Comparative Reports

The database includes in-depth comparative analyses that track how asylum standards are implemented among the various countries covered, presenting statistical trends and important legislative and policy developments. Since 2016, these reports have been published as thematic studies.

Fact-Finding Visits

AIDA conducts field visits to investigate protection gaps identified in the country reports, such as the situation of refugees at the border or in detention and reception centers, including in Greece, Austria, France, Germany, and Belgium.

Legal Briefings

Al-Qaeda produces short analytical papers linking legal research findings to European policies, addressing key issues such as: Assessing safe states, expanding detention policies, family reunification, document issuance, the right to travel, and the right of detainees to know about their legal proceedings and their duration.

Statistical Updates

AIDA publishes periodic updates with figures and analysis on the implementation of the Dublin system and asylum flows in Europe, allowing monitoring trends and identifying shortcomings.

Importance of AIDA

Today, AIDA is one of the most important legal databases in the field of asylum at the European level. It combines research rigor, geographical breadth, and the ability to influence public policy. AIDA reports and legal papers are used by courts, civil society organizations, academics, and sometimes even used in parliamentary debates within the European Union.

Why are we publishing a report on the asylum conditions in Egypt within the AIDA database?

Although the AIDA database focuses mainly on European countries, the database’s mission was expanded to include analyzing asylum policies in EU partner states and neighboring countries, specifically those that are considered transit nations or main host countries for refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers. Egypt is at the forefront of these countries, given the Egyptian state’s growing role in regional migration and asylum policies and especially after the escalation of cooperation between Egypt and the EU on the circumstances behind ‘curbing unlawful migration.’

In this context, the inclusion of a report on the asylum conditions in Egypt becomes a necessary and strategic step, for multiple reasons:

Documentation and systematic legal analysis

The report provides a comprehensive study based on the well-known AIDA methodology, covering the legal and practical aspects of the Egyptian asylum system, whether the current system or the new Egyptian asylum law (Law No. 164 of 2024), including protection conditions, decision-making mechanisms, procedural and executive gaps, the most prominent criticisms of the two systems, general state policies, legislation related to the asylum system, and other technical and legal information to gain a broader and more comprehensive understanding of the legal system from a documentary and analytical point of view in light of recent, new developments.

The Egyptian regime does not provide information transparently, and deliberately presents misleading or untrue information in order to use that misinformation it provides to request international aid. Thereby gaining legitimacy as a result of European cooperation on the one hand, as European aid enables support for decisions and laws that increase violations and repression in the Egyptian state and on Egypt’s borders through which these legislations then increase the volume of violations without preventing them or reducing them as a result of European partnership and cooperation.

Confronting misleading European categorizations

The report contributes to refuting the efforts of some European parties to categorize Egypt as a ‘safe country of origin’ or ‘safe third country’, as these designations are used to justify the deportation of refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers or the rejection of their claims. Through a well-known European database, the provision of legal and factual evidence refutes these classifications and warns of their implications for the rights of refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers arriving, transiting, or being pushed back to Egypt. In the face of deliberate and formalized misinformation, we must champion the facts in front of decision-makers.

Supporting reform and accountability efforts

The inclusion of the Egyptian case in AIDA aims not only to document but also to open a European political and legal debate on the extent to which Egypt adheres to international standards in asylum procedures and Egypt’s treatment of forcibly displaced people, whether as a transit country to a third country, a country where forcibly displaced people intend to settle, or a country of origin whose citizens exit to another country. This step supports advocacy efforts and serves as an applied pressure tool towards reforming existing policies and developing a more just, transparent, human rights-compliant, and best-interest asylum system without prejudice to the state’s rights in controlling internal security.

Linking regional contexts to the European debate - border extensions and human rights violations

The report represents a contribution spanning from the southern Mediterranean to the European debate on asylum and migration, and contributes to deepening mutual understanding between European and neighboring countries. Furthermore, the report also sheds light on the regional consequences of the European ‘internationalization of borders’ policies on global south countries and strengthens the demand for humanitarian alternatives that respect international law, especially since southern Mediterranean countries are politically and economically affected by the European agreements made with their regimes.

What is AIDA DATABASE and why are we publishing a report on the asylum situation in Egypt?