CAIRO — Youm7 newspaper reported April 26 that the Egyptian government was about to discuss a draft migration law that, if approved, would see irregular migrants — including refugees and asylum seekers fleeing conflict zones — imprisoned for between 15 and 20 years for attempted “illegal immigration.”

The draft, tabled by the Cairo-based Egyptian Union for Human Rights (EUHR) and later sent to the Cabinet, recommended that individuals found entering or leaving Egypt irregularly by sea, air or land (and through cross-border tunnels) face harsh, unprecedented prison sentences.

For now, it is unclear why the EUHR, an organization with demonstrable little experience with migration law, tabled a draft at the same time that a Foreign Ministry initiative, the National Coordinating Committee on Preventing and Combatting Illegal Migration (NCCPIM), is scheduled to launch its own — one that is more likely to become law.

The NCCPIM, launched by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb in March last year, comprises 18 government ministries and has facilitated months of consultations with international organizations and legal experts in preparation for the draft. According to a transcript obtained by Al-Monitor, NCCPIM’s head, former Ambassador Naela Gabr, soberly told a recent steering committee for the EU-Horn of Africa Migration Route Initiative (also known as the Khartoum Process) that the NCCPIM “is not achieving miracles, and cannot achieve miracles.” However, Gabr added, positive steps are being made and the committee is in the “last phase of reviewing the draft law.”