|
Get AfricaFocus Bulletin by e-mail!
Format for print or mobile
Israel/Africa: Denying Refugee Rights
AfricaFocus Bulletin
Jun 25, 2012 (120625)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
Last week Israel began deportation of South Sudanese and
Ivorian asylum seekers. Other asylum seekers, primarily from
Sudan and Eritrea, remain in an indefinite limbo, with no
procedure established for individual evaluation of their
claims to refugee status and no rights to work or social
welfare. Meanwhile, government officials, including Interior
Minister Eli Yishai and Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu,
have made inflammatory speeches which have helped fuel
attacks against African asylum seekers and immigrants.
In recent months this situation has attracted significant
international attention, including news reports and
critiques from both Israeli and international human rights
organizations.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin includes
(1) A petition to U.S. officials on the issue, initiated by
the Priority Africa Network, the National Network for
Immigrant & Refugee Rights, and other groups. To sign the
petition, go to:
https://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-persecution-of-african-refugees-in-israel,
(2) a report from Human Rights Watch,
and (3) a report from the Refugees' Rights Forum in Tel
Aviv.
Additional sources include:
African Refugee Development Center
http://www.ardc-israel.org/
"Rights Groups Protest Israeli Arrests of African Migrants,"
by Scott Bobb
Voice of America, June 11, 2012
http://www.voanews.com/articleprintview/1205978.html
"Should Israel be responsible for immigrants?"
Al Jazeera, Inside Story, May 29, 2012
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2012/05/20125291044273790.html
"Immigration in Israel: African outcasts in the promised
land," Independent, June 25, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/73s9ocb
U.S. Department of State Country report on Human Rights
Practices - section on Israel (see section on Protection of
Refugees)
http://tinyurl.com/7ttdalh
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on migration issues,
visit http://www.africafocus.org/migrexp.php
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Update - Petition to Reject "Terrorist" Designation for Boko
Haram
- The U.S. government on June 21 officially listed three
leaders of Boko Haram in Nigeria as "terrorists."
http://tinyurl.com/6o3pfsp
- There is continued pressure from Republican members of
Congress and from securocrats in the administration to list
the group as such as a "Foreign Terrorist Organization," a
step which would be a hard-to-reverse mistake with farreaching
negative consequences for Americans and Nigerians.
-
The petition initiated by AfricaFocus Bulletin last week
is addressed not only to administration officials to also to
key members of Congress. They need to hear from you. Sign
now!
http://www.signon.org/sign/reject-terrorist-designation
- A report for the Congressional Research Service in 2003
detailed the numerous consequences of listing as a "Foreign
Terrorist Organization," putting U.S. policy into a rigid
"counterterrorist" framework rather than dealing with the
specifics of a particular national situation. See:
http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/RL32120.pdf
For more background go to
http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/bh1206.php
++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++
Stop the Persecution of African Refugees in Israel
Petition initiated June 19 by Priority Africa Network and other groups
To sign the petition, go to:
https://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-persecution-of-african-refugees-in-israel
We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, are
deeply disturbed by recent reports of the persecution of
African refugees and asylum seekers in Israel.
Israel is one of the strongest allies of the United States
and receives more economic aid and military funding than any
other country in the world.
We strongly urge President Obama, Secretary of State
Clinton, and the Bureau of Population, Refugees and
Migration of the US State Department to send a clear message
to the State of Israel condemning recent policies and
actions that persecute African immigrants and refugees on
the basis of their race, and that fail to protect them as
mandated by international law.
In the past year and half, we have witnessed and received
reports of violence against African migrants and asylum
seekers. Racist language inciting violence is used not only
by right-wing organizations and politicians, but also by
government officials. There have been alarming increases
in daily harassment, beating, torching of houses as well as
the denial of housing, employment and health to thousands of
innocent African migrants who are simply trying to live and
survive. These abuses have been noted by the news media,
independent human rights groups, and by the U.S. Department
of State in its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
for 2011.
The country of Israel was built by immigrants and refugees,
and its citizens know better than most about racial and
religious persecution. These recent acts of violence
against African migrants should be condemned by the
international community. The government of Netanyahu and
organs of the state have not only failed to protect African
migrants and asylum seekers as they are mandated; they have
enabled an atmosphere of racism, hate, and persecution.
There are approximately 60,000 African asylum seekers in
Israel at this time. This is a small number in comparison
to the over 1.6 million Israeli Jews born in other
countries. These asylum seekers pose no threat to the
economic or political security to the country. They are not
"work infiltrators" as the government calls them but
refugees whose claims for asylum have yet to be heard.
Recent Israeli policy towards African refugees has given us
deep concern and prompted us to write this urgent letter.
In particular, we draw attention to the following:
- Measures to detain African refugees for up to three
years without due process. This "anti-infiltration law" as
it is known is not only immoral and violatesinternational
convention, but goes against the stated nature of a
"democratic state";
- Mass deportations of African refugees that result in
the return of countless individuals to countries they fled
due to fear for their lives; we have ascertained in many
cases where they face long term imprisonment or even death.
- The current enlargement of Saharonim Detention facility
in Negev and the building of a 'tent city' as a temporary
detention camp for refugees and their families in South
Israel. Such practices are inhumane as temperatures in the
area are known to exceed 120?F and will undoubtedly be
unbearable especially for young children. (International
research has found that immigration detention is harmful to
the health and wellbeing of those detained, both in the
short and long term. Children are particularly at risk; the
potential for negative psychological, emotional and physical
impact on children has been well documented. Furthermore,
although detention is extremely expensive for states, there
is no evidence that detention actually deters irregular
migrants.
- Detainees will also be deliberately segregated from
others on the basis of race and will be deprived of basic
human rights and access to adequate housing, health care and
education.
Israel does provide full citizenship of Ethiopian and other
Jews of African descent. It has affirmed itself as a
democratic state that does not discriminate on the basis of
race. Yet, Interior Minister Eli Yishai recently stated
that Israel "belongs to the White Man" and is taking
measures to deport and detain thousands of refugees from Sub
Saharan Africa because they supposedly 'threaten the Jewish
identity of the Israeli state'.
We know that security concerns have driven Israeli policy in
past decades where extreme measures have been used as
justification for violations of the human rights of
Palestinians and other citizens. We do not deny that Israel
has the right to exist and to protect its borders and
citizens. But we strongly object that these concerns are
used to segregate, oppress, and even kill others.
We therefore call on the government of the United States to
send a clear message to Israel to institute immediate
measures to protect the lives of thousands of recent
refugees especially from Eritrea and Sudan but also from
other Sub-Saharan African countries. As asylum seekers with
solid presumptive claims to refugee status, they have civil
and human rights which they are entitled to as mandated by
international conventions to which Israel is a signatory.
Signatory organizations
National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights (NNIRR)
Priority Africa Network (PAN)
The Black Immigration Network (BIN)
Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)
AfricaFocus Bulletin
International Detention Coalition (IDC)
International Commission on Eritrean Refugees (ICER)
African Refugee Development Center
Israel: Amend 'Anti-Infiltration' Law
Measure Denies Asylum Seekers Protections of Refugee
Convention
June 10, 2012
Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org
(Jerusalem) - The Israeli parliament should immediately
repeal or amend a newly revised law that punishes asylum
seekers for irregularly crossing into Israel, in violation
of their basic rights, Human Rights Watch said today. Until
the law is amended, Israeli officials should not enforce
provisions that violate international refugee standards,
Human Rights Watch said.
The new Prevention of Infiltration Law treats all irregular
border-crossers as "infiltrators." Against a backdrop of
anti-immigrant speeches by senior Israel politicians and
rising violence against sub-Saharan Africans in Tel Aviv,
Jerusalem, and Eilat, Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai
announced on June 3, 2012, that the ministry would begin
enforcing the law.
"Israeli officials are not only adding rhetorical fuel to
the xenophobic fire, but they now have a new law that
punishes refugees in violation of international law," said
Bill Frelick, Refugee Program director at Human Rights
Watch. "The law should be amended immediately, and not
enforced until necessary revisions are made."
On January 10 the Knesset amended the 1954 Prevention of
Infiltration Law to define all irregular border-crossers as
"infiltrators." The law permits Israeli authorities to
detain all irregular border-crossers, including asylum
seekers and their children, for three years or more before
their deportation. The law also allows officials to detain
some people indefinitely, even if border control officials
recognize they might face persecution if returned to their
country.
In addition, the law gives the authorities the discretion to
prosecute irregular border-crossers for unlawful entry,
which it defines as the crime of "infiltration." Punishing
asylum seekers for unlawful entry is a violation of
international refugee law.The law states that the detention
of irregular border-crossers falls under an administrative
procedure that does not guarantee them access to a lawyer to
challenge their detention. Subjecting irregular bordercrossers
to potential indefinite detention without charge or
access to legal representation would violate the prohibition
against arbitrary detention under international human rights
law, Human Rights Watch said.In recent weeks unidentified
assailants have committed at least seven serious assaults
throughout Israel, most against sub-Saharan Africans,
including firebombs thrown into residences, an arson attack
against a preschool, smashing of car windows, and the
beating of a hotel employee. On June 4, unknown assailants
set fire to an apartment in Jerusalem where seven Eritrean
and Ethiopian migrants were living, according to police and
Human Rights Watch interviews with the residents.
Israeli government officials have recently made statements
against the African migrant population that have contributed
to an anti-migrant atmosphere, Human Rights Watch said. On
May 16, Interior Minister Eli Yishai told Israeli Army Radio
that most African migrants were involved in criminal
activities and should be jailed, the newspaper Haaretz
reported.
At a demonstration on May 24 where Israeli residents called
for the eviction of African asylum seekers from southern Tel
Aviv, Miri Regev, a member of parliament, said that, "The
Sudanese are a cancer in our body." Another parliamentarian
who addressed the demonstrators, Danny Danon, said that "an
enemy state of infiltrators was established in Israel, and
its capital is south Tel Aviv," according to his Facebook
page. Following these and other speeches, some demonstrators
attacked African migrants and their property in the
vicinity.
Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu denounced the violence,
and Israeli police say they have made dozens of arrests
related to anti-migrant attacks, according to news reports.
Yishai also criticized the violence, but continued to make
derogatory statements about migrants. On May 31, according
to The Guardian, Yishai stated in an interview that
"southern Tel Aviv has become the country's garbage can,"
and claimed that "there are a lot of women in Tel Aviv who
have been raped [by African migrants] but are afraid to
complain so that they don't get stigmatized as AIDS
carriers." On June 3, Yishai told the newspaper Maariv that,
"Muslims that arrive here do not even believe this country
belongs to us, to the white man," and that he would use "all
the tools to expel the foreigners, until not one infiltrator
remains."
As of June 6, the webpage of the Shas party, which Yishai
leads, published an open letter to "the Sudanese" that
described African migrants as "a society personifying a
social time bomb of robbery, violence, sodomy, as well as
assimilation alongside the destruction of the institute of
marriage and the proper family unit."
The government and the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) estimate that since 2005, around 60,000
Africans have entered Israel somewhere along the 240-
kilometer border with Egypt after passing through the Sinai
desert. Many of the migrants and asylum seekers fall victim
to abusive human traffickers en route to Israel,
particularly in the Sinai [7].
The only official border crossing is at Taba, at the
southern-most tip of the Israeli-Egypt border. No bordercrossers
have claimed asylum at Taba, probably due to their
fear of arrest by Egyptian authorities. Egyptian border
police have refused to allow asylum seekers to travel to
Israel and have fatally shot scores and arrested hundreds of
people over the past few years.
Israel is building a fence along the border to prevent
irregular crossings and expanding a detention facility for
irregular border-crossers from 2,000 beds to around 5,400,
according to Israeli refugee rights groups.
The Prevention of Infiltration Law was originally enacted in
1954 in response to cross-border attacks against Israel by
armed groups from nearby countries. It limited the
definition of "infiltrators" to Palestinians and nationals
of Arab countries with which Israel was at war. The 1954 law
could be applied only during a "State of Emergency," which
Israel has declared anew each year since 1948. As amended,
the law will apply to all foreign nationals and its harsh
penalties, including potential indefinite detention without
access to legal counsel, will remain in effect even if
Israel cancels the state of emergency.
The new law's explanatory notes state that it is intended to
penalize irregular border-crossers as "infiltrators":
In recent years, the State of Israel has faced a drastic
increase in the scope of infiltration across the border with
Egypt - in 2010 alone 14,000 infiltrators were caught. The
infiltrators into Israel come from various countries,
including countries that are hostile to Israel. Currently,
the infiltrators are placed in detention but they are
released after a relatively short period of time. In
practice, this creates a situation in which there is an
incentive for a wave of increasing infiltration.
Israel is a state party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and
its 1967 Protocol. The Interior Ministry created a "Refugees
and Infiltrators Unit" that took over responsibility for
refugee status determination from the UNHCR in July 2009 on
the basis of procedures created by the ministry, but Israel
does not have specific legislation setting out the rights of
asylum seekers and refugees.
Prolonged Detention and Lack of Legal Representation
Under the new law, if the defense minister or a designated
official orders an irregular border-crosser's deportation,
the person is to be detained until that happens unless the
person is granted a permit to reside in Israel. The law
appears to guard against the forcible return of refugees to
countries where they face persecution by stating that
officials will not deport anyone until they have decided
whether or not it is "possible to do so by taking into
account the personal circumstances of the infiltrator and
the destination country for his deportation." However, the
law does not require officials to release anyone believed to
be at risk of persecution if deported.
The new law allows border officials and detention tribunals
to release detainees "with a monetary guaranty, a bank
guaranty, or another suitable guaranty" if their age or
physical condition means detention would harm them, if there
are other "special humanitarian grounds," if release would
"assist in the infiltrator's deportation proceedings," or on
other grounds, including if they have been detained for
three years.
However, the law obliges Israeli authorities to deny bail in
several circumstances, including for people coming from a
"state or region" where "activity is being carried out that
is liable to endanger the security of the State of Israel or
its citizens." This applies even when there is no evidence
that the detainee participated in such activity, and even if
the person claims to have fled persecution or generalized
violence in that state or region. In such cases, officials
may keep border-crossers, including asylum seekers, in
detention indefinitely.
The law states that Israel's criminal procedure law, which
protects rights such as a suspect's right to a lawyer and to
be presented before a court, does not apply to those
detained under the administrative procedure. Instead, a
special Detention Review Tribunal must review the detention
decision within 14 days. The Tribunal can order the person
held, in which case it must review the case at least every
60 days, or release the detainee on bail. Detainees do not
have the right to a lawyer before the tribunal, but may
appeal the tribunal's decision to an administrative court.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR) prohibits arbitrary detention. Article 9 of the
ICCPR provides that anyone deprived of their liberty has the
right to challenge their detention before a court. The right
of access to effective legal counsel is widely considered to
be an essential component of the right to liberty of person.
For instance, the UN Body of Principles for the Protection
of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment
provides that, "A detained person shall be entitled to have
the assistance of a legal counsel."
Further, in laying out principles to protect detained
immigrants, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention has stated that any detention term must have a
"maximum period" set by law and not be of "unlimited or of
excessive length."
Criminalization of Asylum Seekers Who Make Irregular Border
Crossings
Under the new law, Israeli authorities have discretion to
prosecute an individual for the crime of "infiltration,"
even if the person has requested asylum. The crime is
punishable with up to five years in prison, which may be
increased to seven if the person previously attempted to
enter Israel irregularly.
The Refugee Convention prohibits the imposition of penalties
on refugees because of their illegal entry or presence, if
they present themselves to the authorities without delay
after entering the country and have good cause for their
illegal entry or presence.
"The Anti-Infiltration Law punishes extremely vulnerable
people for their attempts to flee to safety in Israel,"
Frelick said. "Israel should not treat asylum seekers as
criminals or subject them to harsh penalties."
Significant numbers of asylum seekers and other migrants
began crossing into Israel from Egypt via the Sinai in 2007.
According to the US Department of State, Sudanese and
Eritrean asylum seekers, who constituted approximately 85
percent of all asylum seekers in Israel in 2011, were not
allowed access to asylum procedures but were given renewable
"conditional release" documents that deferred deportation
and had to be renewed every few months; some reported
problems such as delays in renewing their documents. The
Israeli government reported that 16,000 people entered
irregularly in 2011, including Eritreans and Sudanese.
According to UNHCR, in 2011 there were 4,603 new asylum
applications and the government rejected 3,692 and granted
refugee status to one family.
African Asylum Seekers Arriving in Israel
via the Sinai Desert
Position Paper June 2012
Refugees' Rights Forum
75 Nahalat Binyamin Street, Tel Aviv, 65154, Israel
Tel: 972.3.560-2530 Fax: 972.3.560-5175
Website: http://www.hotline.org.il Email: sigal@hotline.org
[Full text including footnotes available at
http://tinyurl.com/7af74c7]
Data: In recent years, Israel has witnessed a sharp increase
in the arrival of new asylum seekers. By March 2012, at
least 58,088 asylum seekers had entered Israel, originating
mainly in Sudan (25.91%) and Eritrea (56.46%). The asylum
seekers enter Israel by crossing the Sinai desert and the
Egyptian border.
Recognition rate: The average recognition rate of Eritrean
asylum seekers around the world is 83.9%. The average
recognition rate of Sudanese is 63.9%. Israel has
recognized only 157 asylum seekers as refugees according to
the Refugee Convention since signing it in 1951 and has not
found permanent solution for those few it recognized, as
required by the convention.
Torture camps in Sinai: Since 2009, smugglers in the Sinai
have imprisoned refugees (mainly Eritreans) en route to
Israel in harsh conditions, which include severe torture,
sexual assault and rape, demanding increasing sums of money
for their release. Testimonies of over 1,000 survivors
recorded at PHR-Israel's Open Clinic since 20106 revealed
that 59% of the interviewees described being subjected to
torture by smugglers who threatened them at gunpoint while
they were chained.
Access to RSD: Israeli authorities have denied Sudanese and
Eritrean asylum-seekers access to RSD - the individual
procedures for refugee recognition. After their
identification as Sudanese and Eritreans, the asylum seekers
are conditionally released from detention with a deportation
order pending against them and a stamp "This stay permit is
not a work permit" in their identification document. The
conditional release status bars asylum seekers from access
to basic social and healthcare services.
The Anti-Infiltration Law: The Israeli Knesset recently
passed a new Prevention of Infiltration Law (enacted on
January 18, 2012). Under the law, asylum seekers are
automatically detained for three years without trial, or
indefinite detention if they come from "enemy states" such
as Sudan.
The law stands in contrast to Israel's obligations according
to international law and does not provide for individualized
assessment of asylum-seekers. The law does not distinguish
between refugees, illegal migrants and 'infiltrators' who
enter Israel with intention to harm the country's security.
The explicit purpose of the law is deterrence. According to
Amnesty International, automatic and prolonged detention
under the new law violates international standards, which
demand that state authorities demonstrate that immigration
detention is "necessary and proportionate" and based on
detailed individual assessments.
Detention facility: In order to implement the new law, the
government of Israel has begun to expand its current migrant
detention system to over 12,400 places. In late 2010, the
Israeli government announced plans to build a mass-detention
facility for so-called "infiltrators" to be run by the
Israel Prison Service (IPS) under the responsibility of the
Ministry of Defense. In March 2012, despite legal
challenges, final construction plans were formally approved
by a Ministerial Committee.
Conditions in existing detention facilities of asylum
seekers are substandard and access to judicial, social and
medical services is restricted due to overcrowding and
understaffing.
Recommendations to the Israeli authorities
- Israel has every right to protect its borders, but it also
bears an obligation to respect the Refugees Convention, to
which it is a signatory, and to maintain policies that are
in accordance with its obligations under this Convention:
- Israel should adopt domestic legislation and earmark
sufficient resources to ensure that all asylum seekers who
reach Israel have access to a fair procedure for examining
their asylum requests, regardless of their country of
origin.
- Israel should refrain from using retrogressive legislation
in the form of the Anti-Infiltration Law and make sure the
internationally-recognized rights of asylum seekers to a
fair process will be safeguarded.
- Israel should not detain asylum seekers for a longer
period than the one required to determine their identity and
confirm that they do not pose a threat to society. Children
and unaccompanied minors should not be detained at all and
should be referred to the welfare system.
- All asylum seekers should receive work permits pending a
decision regarding their status to ensure that they can
support themselves in a dignified manner.
- Open temporary civilian transit centers should be
established for asylum seekers who cannot yet support
themselves in a dignified manner in accordance to
International standards.
- Israel should strengthen its victim identification system
and ensure rehabilitation services for victims of torture in
accordance with the EU Guidelines on Torture, as well as
providing access to basic services in detention and in the
community.
- Israel should continue to refrain from using the
"coordinated return" procedure that prevents asylum seekers
from realizing their rights and endangers their lives.
- Israel should respect the freedom of movement of asylum
seekers within the country.
- Israel should grant asylum seekers with "social residency"
status that will enable immediate access to the health and
welfare services.
- Asylum seekers who are determined to be eligible for
refugee status must be granted this status in accordance
with the UN Refugees Convention.
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic
publication providing reposted commentary and analysis on
African issues, with a particular focus on U.S. and
international policies. AfricaFocus Bulletin is edited by
William Minter.
AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org.
Please write to this address to subscribe or unsubscribe to
the bulletin, or to suggest material for inclusion. For more
information about reposted material, please contact directly
the original source mentioned. For a full archive and other
resources, see http://www.africafocus.org
|
