Decree on Demarcated Areas Along Egyptian Borders: Egypt's Miscarriage of Its International Human Rights Duties

Abstract

As the result to the mass displacements, the Nubians in Egypt were being marginalized almost in all aspects of life. Restless demonstration, advocacy, and petition had been conducted in the hope that by returning to the Nubians' ancestral lands they will have a better future. They finally get answered when the government included the Nubians' rights to return to their homelands in the newly amended 2014 Egyptian Constitution. Within the same year, the government issued Presidential Decree Number 444 of 2014, which demarcated areas parallel to the northern, southern, and western Egyptian borders to be forbidden and restricted areas. The demarcated areas are including the ancestral lands targeted by the Nubians to return. The enforcement of the Decree is de facto impeding the rights of the Nubians to return to their ancestral lands. This article analyses the issue of the Nubians from the perspective of international human rights law, showing that by the issuance and enforcement of Presidential Decree Number 444 of 2014, Egypt has violated its international human rights duties preserved in several international human rights treaties, such as ICERD, ICCPR, ICESCR, and ACHPR.