Guest Post: African Migrants to Israel Face Refoulement, Discrimination- by Theodore Baird

I used to be a refugee. In Cairo I had a refugee card. Now I am confused. Am I a refugee or am I with the Israeli government? I just want to know what I am. I need a good visa, a paper to work or to do something good. I don’t get help in Israel, but if I am a refugee, shouldn’t I get help?

Furst-Nichols, Rebecca & Jacobsen, Karen (2011) “African Migration to Israel: Debt, Employment and Remittances,” Tufts University and Feinstein International Center, January 2011: Page 15.

On Wednesday January 2^nd 2013 a ceremony was held commemorating the completion of the main section of the border fence between Israel and Egypt. The total length of the border fence is 230 km and reaches a height of 7 meters in parts. The cost of the fence is 1.4 billion shekels, or around 372 million US dollars. It is made of 44,000 tons of building material. It took two and a half years to build. The fence has barbed wire, a dirt road and patrol path, cameras, and radar. The final piece of the border fence is due to be completed in May 2013, and is located near the Taba crossing in a mountainous region near Eilat. The terrain is difficult and is a complex engineering project. Netanyahu reiterated that he is committed to returning Sudanese and Eritrean migrants regardless of international law on non-refoulement. Israel does not have diplomatic relations with either Sudan or Eritrea. Sudan is technically an enemy state of Israel.

Earlier, in July 2012, Netanyahu declared the main goal of the fence and Israel’s policy towards asylum-seekers: “The goal is to turn the tables, and take all necessary actions to have the number of illegal immigrants that leave Israel be larger than the number entering Israel.” Netanyahu was politely reminded by UNHCR in Geneva that returning Eritrean migrants would threaten their lives, and that no country has returned Eritrean refugees from their territory.

Echoing the fears over foreign ‘infiltrators’ in the south, Netanyahu declared that an identical border fence would be built along the Syrian border in the Golan Heights. Fears over jihadists armed with chemical weapons or pro-Palestinian fighters crossing into Israel from Syria, not asylum-seekers, instigated the plans to construct the fence. Armed with the success of preventing African asylum-seekers from entering Israel in the south through the lawless Sinai, the new border is intended to prevent the entrance of foreign fighters coming from Syria or exodus resulting from the collapse of the Assad regime. If Israel completes the fence project along the Golan Heights, it will be completely fenced in. The Golan-Syria border fence would span about 70 km, with a height of five meters, and fortified with trenches, barbed wire and a patrol road, similar to the Sinai-Negev border in the south.

In 2005, Sudanese refugees in Egypt protested against their poor treatment by Mubarak’s regime. The protest was ended violently by the government and the environment in Egypt for Sudanese refugees became increasingly hostile. In response, Sudanese refugees migrated to Israel from Egypt. Since 2005, the number of African refugees entering Israel has increased to more than 60,000, with 17,000 people crossing in 2011. The southern border fence is deemed a success, with 36 asylum-seekers crossing in December 2012, compared with 2153 entering the previous year. Netanyahu is campaigning for national election on January 22^nd. Netanyahu reiterated his commitment to return those asylum-seekers who have entered Israel already: “Just as we stopped completely the infiltration into Israeli cities, we will succeed in the next mission - the repatriation of tens of thousands of infiltrators already in Israel to their home countries.”

Photo by: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org

On October 14^th, 2012, Sudanese refugees protested against the building of prisons to detain African refugees, shouting ‘We are refugees, not infiltrators!’ and ‘We need rights right now’. According to the recent Anti-Infiltration Law from January 2012, anyone crossing from Sinai is deemed an ‘infiltrator’ by the Israeli state and is treated as a threat. The original law is the 1954 Prevention of Infiltration Law, which was amended in January 2012, to define all irregular border-crossers as ‘infiltrators,’ subject to detention and deportation, with limited or no access to the asylum procedure. Asylum-seekers may be detained for three years or more without charge or access to legal representation. Punishing asylum-seekers for unlawful entry is illegal under international refugee law.

Amendments to the Anti-Infiltration Law include new legislative initiatives as well as a bill from 2006. The amendments which passed on 10 January 2012 include: preventing the sending of remittances, taxing employers of asylum-seekers, monthly deposits for each asylum-seeker employed to ensure they have funds to leave Israel, expanding police authority over legally resident asylum-seekers, preventing the appeal of a deportation order, and barring asylum-seekers from filing lawsuits in Israeli courts. These amendments are designed to increase the difficulty in employing asylum-seekers and to make incorporation into Israeli society difficult in order to pressure asylum-seekers to leave Israel.

Israel does not recognize refugees, and only rarely processes refugee claims. The public as well is skeptical of African migrants. In a poll from 2012, a majority (52%) of Jewish Israelis regarded Africans as a ‘cancer’ on society. Only 19% of Arab-Israelis considered African migrants to be harmful to society. Most of the Jewish Israelis responded that they did not live near refugees or lived only near a few.

In preparation for enforcing the new law, a new detention center is being built which can house up to 30,000 people, and hundreds have been deported back to South Sudan. After South Sudan announced independence, hundreds of Sudanese migrants were returned there from Israel in 2011. After an Israeli court judged that 1500 South Sudanese were safe to return home, they were rounded up. Numerous difficulties involved in returning migrants have been cited by human rights organizations.

Sinai is extremely dangerous to transit, with multiple evidence pointing to hostage-taking, abuse, and torture of refugees for money by unscrupulous traffickers. Refugees have been criminalized in Israel, in direct contravention of international refugee and Israeli domestic law, and are also vulnerable to torture and trafficking in Sinai. Survivors of torture and abuse are being detained in Israel since the implementation of the new laws in June 2012. Dozens of Eritrean and Sudanese migrants have been prevented from entering Israel or from asking for asylum, and have been illegally refouled back to Egypt, into the lawless Sinai. In July, 40 Eritreans were detained just inside the border and then forcibly returned to Egyptian authorities. Others waited at the fence itself and provided with some water and food by NGOs, and some waited inside drainage pipes in the area to escape the difficult weather. Those crossing Sinai face serious abuse at the hands of traffickers holding them for ransom.

For more information see:

Physicians for Human Rights – Israel www.phr.org.il

Hotline for Migrant Workers www.hotline.org.il

African Refugee Development Center (ARDC) www.ardc-israel.org

Theodore Baird is a PhD fellow at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) and Roskilde University (RUC). His thesis investigates refugee smuggling from Sudan and Somalia to the Middle East. More information about his project can be found on the DIIS website at: http://www.diis.dk/sw109325.asp

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Images from Berlin's Refugee March

 This weekend in Berlin was the culmination of a long-organized Refugee Protest March, wherein Asylum Seekers protested against deportation and especially the conditions of "Residenzpflicht"- the policy preventing asylum seekers in Germany from travel or work. Here are some images from the March, which I attended.

"Right to Stay for All"- Youth Without Borders

"No Deportation for Refugees! Same Rights for All"

"Stop Deportation- Shut down Refugee Camps"

Even the police came by to show their support :)

Bedoons released on bail in Kuwait

Source: AFP

Remember the stateless protestors of Kuwait? The ones who were imprisoned, deported, or fired after gathering to petition the government for citizenship after 40 years of legal limbo? Well, the latest out of Kuwait is a positive development, at least for some of our heroes.

Kuwait's public prosecutor on Thursday freed 59 stateless people on $1,800 bail each after they spent 40 days in jail for participating in protests demanding citizenship, their lawyer said.
The men were questioned on charges of assaulting policemen, damaging public property and taking part in illegal gatherings, Fayez al-Oteibi told AFP

 There are still a large number under investigation and the government has still failed to propose an agreeable solution to the situation of the stateless, contending that the majority of the bedoons are actually secret citizens of another country. (And if they just deprive them of documents for a little longer, they can get them to admit it!) This seems unlikely, given that there are 105,000 members of this group and they would likely take advantage of their foreign nationality if they were able to.

All the same, this jail release is a good first step, and perhaps as the country keeps sustained attention on this issue they will mellow their stance and find a adequate, human rights based solution for these non-citizens.


Kuwait frees 59 Stateless Protesters on Bail (The Daily Star)

Non-Citizen News Roundup

U.S. Atty Fein at a press conference announcing the indictment, via AP

US: Federal charges have been brought against members of the police force in East Haven, Connecticut for charges ranging from excessive force and false arrest to conspiracy. The basis for the charges is years of harassment and violence against the immigrant community.

"They stopped and detained people, particularly immigrants, without reason, federal prosecutors said, sometimes slapping, hitting or kicking them when they were handcuffed, and once smashing a man’s head into a wall. They followed and arrested residents, including a local priest, who tried to document their behavior."

So despicable, but sadly common in other small towns in America, where picking on immigrants is a pastime as well as a source of income. (As many immigrants, lacking bank account, carry large sums of cash on their person.) Let's hope this action by the Justice Dept. sends a message to police officers like those in East Haven that their racial profiling and bullying will no longer be tolerated. 
NY Times: Police Gang Tyrannized Latinos, Indictment Says
CT.com: Feds Indict 4 East Haven cops in racial profiling abuse case, more may be on the way

Kuwait: 61 of the bidoon/ stateless protestors (that we discussed last week) are being imprisoned for an additional 3 weeks pending further investigations into the protests. The charges include assaulting police and instigating an illegal gathering, although the news out of Kuwait suggests if anyone turned the protests violent, it was police.
AFP: Kuwait detains Stateless Protestors for 3 Weeks

Australia: More than 50 persons in Australian detention are recognized as refugees but unable to leave due to having failed security tests. The security tests have expanded their definitions of threats in the last years, and having being classified as a threat most countries are unwilling to receive the individuals (understandably.) The refugees are not informed why they failed, nor are they accepted by their home country, leaving them in legal limbo without much hope of a resolution. As the Australian human rights violations stack up, you really have to wonder what their government is thinking.
ABC Sydney: Darwin refugees in limbo after failing ASIO tests

Kuwait: Is it legal to deport stateless protesters?

Image via Mideastposts.com

According to news coming in the past few days from Kuwait, a meeting assembled by the Central Agency in charge of illegal residents (bidoon/bedoon) has reached a decision following several weeks of protests by members of the community. The government will take "deterrent measures" against protesters, including layoffs, eviction, cancellation of naturalization cases and, most crucially, deportation. These measures will apparently be levied against those who participated in the protests, and those who plan to participate in the future. (if you're not raising an eyebrow now, go back and re-read that sentence.)

Although there are an estimated 100,000 bidoons in Kuwait, naturally only a portion of these participated in the protests, and an even smaller portion are currently in jail or under investigation for such participation. (Some 80, according to the AFP.) Even one person in jail for peaceful protest is too many, but symbolically these actions are even more important as instruments to intimidate the bidoon population and to discourage further shows of solidarity or discontent with their untenable situation. In recent weeks the protests have turned ugly, with riot police attacking protestors with tear gas and batons and government spokesmen claiming that the demonstrations have been incited by Iraqis and other "enemies of Kuwait."

Despite the tough talk, both supporters and non pretty much agree that the aim of the protests has always been to ensure citizenship and other basic rights for this population that has been living illegally for almost 4 decades, and of course I tend to believe that too, absent evidence to the contrary. It seems much more likely that bidoons were inspired to non-violent protest by Arab Spring than that they were foreign provocateurs trying to destabilize one of the most democratic regimes in the Middle East.

Regardless, it is worth asking now: under international human rights law, is it legal to deport non-citizens based on their participation in a protest? In other words, do non-citizens possess the right to assemble?

First, let's look to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 20(1) states "everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association." (Other relevant provisions for this question could be articles 6, 9, 15, and 19.) A threshold question might be whether the UDHR is binding on Kuwait. My opinion is of course "yes"- as I have stated elsewhere:

"through multiple invocations in state constitutions, international law cases, and repetition in subsequent conventions, the UDHR is regarded to be of special significance and almost certainly of an instructive character in defining what is meant in the U.N. Charter by “human rights". 

I think the UDHR has special status as evidence of international customary law on human rights. (For case law on the subject, see e.g., Corfu Channel Case (Merits), ICJ Reports (1949), Iranian Naturalization Case, 60 ILR 204 at 207,  Case Concerning the United States Diplomatic and Consular Staff in Tehran, ICJ Rep 1980, 3).

Moving more to the point, can the expansive term "everyone" really mean, well, everyone? Is a state really bound to protect the rights of non-citizens, especially when it comes to expressing discontent? Again, I would say "yes." The drafters were not shy about sprinkling universalizing terms like "all" "no-one" and "everyone" throughout the UDHR, but neither were they shy about confining rights when necessary by adding modifiers like, "within their own state." Further, the Preamble states that "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world," a sentence that leaves little room for quibbling about territorial jurisdiciton.

We can look elsewhere for evidence that Kuwait must, under international law, respect the rights of stateless persons to peacefully assemble. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (to which Kuwait is a signatory) protects freedom of association and right of peaceful assembly in articles 21 and 22 and the right also shows up in the Migrant Workers Convention and IESCR. However, these rights are proscribed by law, and Kuwait is entitled to regulate them based on national security and public order- an argument they will likely raise to support deportation.

However, the stated intent of the protests is to gain basic human rights. If this is considering a destabilizing or threatening concept to the government, what does this say about Kuwait?

Non-Citizen News Roundup

Photo via AP

Israel: On Sunday, hundreds of immigrants and allies protested at the Israeli Immigrant Absorption Ministry after a recent government recommendation to reduce the number of Ethiopian Jews accepted monthly as part of aliyah. The idea comes at a time when the government claims it is having trouble keeping up with the pace of immigration and assimilation needs. Opponents of the plan claim that there are already close to 4,000 recognized Ethiopian Jews waiting to immigrate and that the Government is looking for excuses to avoid its obligations. (There's probably a little truth to both positions.)
Ethiopians Protest Govt's Proposal to Reduce Aliyah (via Jerusalem Post)

UK: The United Kingdom is getting some increased (and probably unwanted) attention in the wake of a new report by UNHCR describing the legal limbo that stateless persons there live in. Many have been denied asylum or any right to remain, but are also un-deportable because no country will accept them. Therefore, they live on the street or hang out in detention centers- not a good situation.
Mapping Statelessness in the UK (via UNHCR)
What its like to be Stateless in Britain- Nischal's Story (via Alertnet)

Australia: Shockingly, Australia has more asylum trouble this week, as 3 Kurdish aslyum-seekers have sewn their lips together in the wake of having their asylum applications denied. Due to the fact that the young men are stateless, they cannot be repatriated anywhere and instead have remained in detention for between 18 and 22 months each. Much like the UK problems described above- it sounds like governments are going to need to reevaluate how they handle non-deportable stateless persons- endless detention and legal limbo are not the answer!
3 Kurdish Men Sew lips together in Protest (via Courier Mail)
Asylum Seekers sew lips together in Australia Protest (via AsiaOne)