ISRAEL: Refugees, asylum-seekers and protection - analysis
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IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

TEL AVIV, 2 July 2009 (IRIN) - The Israeli Interior Ministry is taking over
the process of Refugee Status Determination (RSD) from the UN refugee agency
(UNHCR) on 2 July.

Some 15,000 mainly African asylum-seekers in Israel have put the regulatory,
security and welfare response under strain, according to the Interior
Ministry and UNHCR.

Israel does not have a refugee law, despite being a signatory to the 1951
refugee Convention.

However, regulations can allow asylum-seekers to work, and grant temporary
protection and non-refoulement (a commitment not to force people back to
where they came from).

About 200-300 asylum-seekers arrive each month, mainly overland from Egypt,
according to the Immigration Authority and NGOs.

The UNHCR local office reports 14,766 asylum-seekers in Israel, while the
Refugee Rights Forum (RRF - eight NGOs active in promoting the rights of
refugees and asylum-seekers in Israel) suggests a number over 17,000.

The difference may in part be explained by the fact that UNHCR does not
count asylum-seekers who are no longer in touch with them, according to
William Tall, a UNHCR representative in Israel.

In the run-up to the handover of the RSD process to the Interior Ministry on
2 July, UNHCR has helped train 25 immigration officers who will begin work
in July.

Status

According to Mickey Bavly, an honorary UNHCR representative, (interviewed in
July 2007), the status of asylum-seekers used to be reviewed as follows: "We
interview asylum-seekers and make a recommendation to the government, to a
special body headed by an independent jurist and composed of the ministries
of interior, foreign affairs and justice. The committee then makes the
recommendation based on our file."

UNHCR's Tall said: "We must recognize the positive steps of the government
of Israel regarding asylum-seekers. The 'open' border allowing
asylum-seekers to enter and the fact that the government of Israel allows
them to stay are, in fact, positive measures that must be noted."

Yaccov Ganot, head of the Immigration Authority, however told local media
his aim was to reduce the number of "infiltrators", by enhancing residential
restrictions and making greater use of detention.

Israel has granted refugee status to some 170 people. According to UNHCR,
only 70 of these are in Israel today. The rest have gone to other countries.
Some nationalities such as Liberians, Ivorians and Congolese have been given
"group protection" under UNHCR. In addition, 452 people fleeing Darfur in
Sudan were granted temporary residency in Israel, but over 1,000 others from
Darfur were not.

A dangerous crossing

Nearly all asylum-seekers come from Egypt at night. Israel's southern border
is over 230km long and porous; only a low fence separates the two states.

Asylum-seekers pay Bedouin guides hundreds of US dollars to get them to the
frontier where they risk getting shot at by Egyptian border guards.

In recent years hundreds have been wounded and detained while attempting to
cross the border, and several have been deported to their countries of
birth, according to UNHCR and NGOs in Cairo.

Others have been shot dead. In November 2008, Human Rights Watch (HRW)
alleged 33 deaths of asylum-seekers at the hands of Egyptian soldiers.

Interviewers from the NGO Hotline for Migrant Workers (Moked) told IRIN:
"We've conducted thousands of interviews and hundreds of people reported
being shot at and having at least one person in their group hit and
disappear," they said.

One Eritrean asylum-seeker was shot dead by an Israeli Defence Force (IDF)
border patrol unit in May 2009.

Once in Israel.

Once in Israel they face tough conditions but receive assistance from UNHCR
and local NGOs, including Moked, Assaf, the African Refugee Development
Centre (ARDC) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).

NGOs provide medical care, shelter, clothes and legal assistance. Children
over five are entitled to free education until the age of 16.

NGOs and asylum-seekers say education and job opportunities are poor outside
Tel Aviv. Sigal Rosen from Moked said many work permits are restricted.

According to Nathalie Rubin, director of Assaf, asylum-seekers display high
levels of distress resulting in depression, alcohol abuse, violence and
other destructive behaviour. Three cases of suicide and a suicide attempt
have been reported in recent months.

About 2,000 asylum-seekers are in prison, mainly in Ktziot prison, southern
Israel. According to UNHCR, many are visa violators - asylum-seekers
detained in areas in which they were not allowed, or whose visas had
expired.

"Hot returns"

Tall said UNHCR does not agree with the policy of "hot returns" implemented
in the recent past by the IDF.

"Hot return" implies immediate refoulement of asylum-seekers after they have
crossed the border, without allowing them access to RSD, and in
contravention of the 1951 Convention.

Several NGOs filed a plea with the Supreme Court following the "hot returns"
of August 2008, asking the court to order IDF to stop the process, yet the
plea is still pending, according to NGOs and reserve soldiers.

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