http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/188401#.VIY5PjHF98E
Danish Report Finds Eritrean Migrants Aren't Refugees
Governmental study finds no danger posed to returning Eritrean army
deserters and illegal immigrants, sparks call for Israeli action.
By Shimon Cohen, Ari Yashar
First Publish: 12/8/2014, 9:12 PM
A special research delegation of the Danish Immigration Service (UDL) went
to Ethiopia and Eritrea to clarify the political realities in the region in
terms of "refugee status" for immigrants illegally leaving Eritrea, and
last month published its precedent setting results.
The report, released November 14 and entitled "Eritrea - Drivers and Root
Causes of Emigration, National Service and the Possibility of Return,"
removed the blanket asylum granted to Eritreans in Denmark.
In research based on diplomatic sources, NGOs, and witness testimony from
within and without Eritrea, the report found that there is no true danger
posed to army deserters who escape forced service, and who in nearly all
cases are not given any sort of punishment.
Aside from Denmark, the report has great implications for Israel where tens
of thousands of Eritrean and Sudanese illegal infiltrators have made their
way into the country and drastically raised the crime rates, as theKnesset
struggles with the High Court to find a way to combat the phenomenon.
While leftist organizations have claimed the infiltrators are refugees,
figures presented by the state have shown the overwhelming majority of them
are not refugees, but rather work migrants breaking the law in a search of
greater job opportunities. Those figures are backed by the Danish report,
which gives credence to the appraisal that infiltrators do not have refugee
status.
Harsh punishments?
In the UDL report, a source from an international organization within
Eritrea declared that in the worst case scenario, an Eritrean who left the
country without permission will be arrested "for several days up to one
week," and then sent back to army service.
Many sources cited in the research reported that those who pay a 2% tax of
their earnings can receive a passport and return to the country without any
sanctions for deserting the army, or illegally leaving the country. In some
instances those returning weren't even required to return to army service.
Aside from activist opponents of the regime, the Eritrean government views
deserters as immigrants leaving for financial reasons and not traitors, and
doesn't try to pursue or punish them, according to the report.
The report noted that many Eritreans leave and return to the country on a
constant basis, and many instances were described of Eritreans leaving
without permission and returning for visits - including a visit by a group
of 400 Eritreans with Swedish passports who had left without a permit and
were stopped at the airport. They were allowed to return to Sweden without
any problems.
In another case described in the report, a group of several hundred
Eritreans were returned to the country by force by Egypt after leaving
illegally and trying to infiltrate into Israel. Back in Eritrea, they were
arrested for a mere two weeks and returned to their families.
Several diplomatic sources in Eritrea were cited by the report saying that
the regime has changed its policy and no longer prevents immigration by its
citizens. They reported that in the last two years there is no attempt to
prevent people from leaving or returning, as long as immigrants pay the
required taxes at the embassies.
UDL noted on international reports which claim that up to 10,000 people are
imprisoned in Eritrea, and based on the research findings said the reports
are "difficult to harmonize with the reality on the ground."
Responding to criticism, UDL's vice director Lykke Sørensen told the Danish
newspaper Berlingske "the report stands. It is based on credible sources
within Eritrea, showing that some of our ideas about the situation in the
country were not fully up-to-date.”
An Israeli-European coalition to return infiltrators
Yonatan Yakubovich, head of the NGO Israeli Immigration Policy Center's
publicity department, said the report has profound meaning for Israel.
"Despite the fact that a large part of what is described in the report was
already known from testimony by Eritreans, this is the first time that an
official body in a European country gives it official confirmation based on
diplomatic sources," said Yakubovich.
He continued "unfortunately, for years the public opinion in Israel was
stuffed with reports written by radical organizations, most of them from
testimony of the infiltrators themselves."
"The Israeli government needs to cooperation with the Danish government and
other countries like Norway to quickly advance arrangements to return the
infiltrators from Eritrea to their land," said Yakubovich. "Until then, the
ban on employing them and negating the incentives to their continued
presence in Israel will bring the voluntary return of most infiltrators."
Received on Mon Dec 08 2014 - 19:40:22 EST