In early 2014, asylum seekers from Eritrea and Sudan went on strike in
Israel to demonstrate their value to the Israeli economy and petition to be
recognized as refugees, as many of them had fled their home countries due to
persecution.
The Israeli government is unwilling to grant asylum, maintaining that the
asylum seekers are migrant workers, not refugees. According a New York Times
report, over 60,000 Africans have entered Israel since 2005.
Israel enacted a Prevention of Infiltration Law in 1954, which was intended
to protect Israel from attacks from neighboring Arab nations at the time.
In 2012, the law was amended to apply to all foreigners, and introduced
indefinite detention without legal representation as a consequence for
unlawful migration into Israel. Detention facilities were built in Israel in
response to this new amendment.
The amendment was changed again in late 2013 from three to one years in
detention. However, according to international human rights standards, this
type of detention is unlawful and inhumane for any amount of time.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the International Federation of
Human Rights, and UNHCR insist that Israel give refugees and asylum seekers
consideration when passing migration legislation.
Human rights concerns
In late 2013, according to the The Jerusalem Post, only 26 African migrants
had been given refugee status, out of over 17,000 applicants since 2009.
Asylum seekers are protected under international human rights law. The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is part of the International
Bill of Human Rights and has the status of international law, stipulates
that if people have fled a country due to persecution, they have the right
to asylum in other nations, and should not be forced to return to their own
country as long as the risk of persecution still exists.
The UNHCR guidelines for detention "exempt refugees coming directly from a
country of persecution from being punished on account of their illegal entry
or presence."
Along with threatening migrants with detention if they do not return to
their home countries, Israel has built new detention facilities to carry out
the changes the amendment brings to the Prevention of Infiltration Law. Some
people have been detained for more than a year.
Human Rights Watch states that Israel is not abiding by international human
rights law if the alternative it offers to asylum seekers, who do not want
to return to their own nations, is essentially years in jail.
African migrants have been detained without legal representation or due
process against UNHCR guidelines. The UNHCR maintains that people have the
"right to seek judicial review of their request for international
protection."
Challenges in South Africa
Israel is not the only nation refugees are dispersing to. People from Sudan,
Eritrea, and Angola are also seeking asylum in South Africa.
While seeking aslyum is comparatively easier for refugees in South Africa
than Israel, refugees still face struggles. Marilize Ackermann is the
advocacy officer at the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town, a place whose goal
is to "promote and support the integration of migrants, especially refugees
and asylum seekers, within the community."
In an interview with The International, Ackermann said that the greatest
challenge at the centre is that: "many [clients] have been victims of
xenophobic violence or harassment. People who flee their countries of origin
as a result of persecution or armed conflict are often traumatized and
experience further difficulties upon arriving in South Africa."
Xenophobia is a problem refugees from African nations face in various
countries they migrate to in search of asylum. It is a particularly a
layered issue in Israel, which is a state founded on the tenant of asylum
from persecution, and where religious considerations dictate the
demographics, and thus make it harder for migrants to assimilate into the
population.
African immigrants, most of them refugees, are continually being denied
asylum in Israel. Israel is now also unlawfully detaining asylum seekers, in
opposition to international human rights standards.