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Paper short abstract:

In Fall 2015, the EU set up the "EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa" (EUTF) in order to fight "the root causes of irregular migration" in Africa. This paper aims to examine the effects of the new field of humanitarian assistance for migrants, which emerged in Egypt as a result.

Paper long abstract:

Responding to the arrival of nearly 800,000 refugees in summer and autumn 2015, in November, the EU set up the "EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa" (EUTF) earmarking 3.4 billion Euros to fight "the root causes of irregular migration" (European Commission 2017). European Union leaders started once again to work intensively with countries all over Africa, tying development aid to countries' willingness to accept returnees from Europe, and offering assistance in exchange for pledges to confine migratory movements.

For Egypt, the EUTF provides a €60 million program entitled "Enhancing the response to migration challenges in Egypt". Although the bigger part of this money flows into the strengthening of migration governance, another huge part is used for reintegration programs, educational training, and poverty alleviation programs in order to improve protection of migrants' rights and to support host communities and migrants. Accordingly, national and international organization, INGO's, NGO's, and other professional and humanitarian actors have started to work newly, or increased their activities in the field in Egypt. Drawing on Ruben Andersson (2014), who sees these emerging migration industries in the Global South not as a homogeneous field of actors, but rather as a networked entity in which objectives oppose sometimes each other and roles overlap, we aim in this paper to examine this new field of humanitarian assistance and its interplay with European, as well as Egyptian and regional migration policies, in addition to non-governmental organizations and the movement of people.