‘Darfur asylum seekers to be treated as holocaust survivors’: Israeli minister

08/12/2014 14:35

The chairman of Israel’s Yesh Atid party, Yair Lapid, has proposed that Darfuri asylum seekers must be recognised as refugees. “We must treat these people as holocaust survivors,” the outgoing finance minister stated on his Facebook page, according to Haaretz newspaper last week. Eritrean migrants, however, “who constitute the majority of those who infiltrated into the country”, should be treated as illegal immigrants. Lapid declared last week that his party would support an amendment to the anti-infiltration law on the continuation of the Holot detention facility in the southern Negev desert, limiting remand to one year and eight months. The facility currently holds 2,200 asylum seekers from Eritrea and Sudan, 70 percent of whom are from Darfur. The Israeli Supreme Court ruled in September 2013 that a 2012 amendment to the anti-infiltration law, which allowed for the indefinite detention of people for illegal entry, was unlawful. In response, the Israeli parliament passed another amendment to the law in December that established the Holot facility in the remote Negev desert for the “infiltrators”.Israel has granted refugee status to just over 200 applicants since 1948. In 2013, Israel examined 250 out of 1,800 asylum requests, and approved none, according to Haaretz.In September this year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that “during the last 18 months”, Israel has coerced about 7,000 Sudanese and Eritrean asylum seekers to leave the country. “The East-African asylum seekers were denied access to fair and efficient asylum procedures, and were detained unlawfully.”Hundreds of Eritreans and Sudanese have since been ordered to report to the centre, where they live in conditions that breach international law on arbitrary detention, according to the HRW report. File photo: East-African asylum seekers gather for a protest meeting after leaving Holot, 28 June 2014 (Finbarr O’Reilly/Reuters) Related: ‘Israel forces asylum seekers from Sudan, Eritrea to leave’: HRW (10 September 2014)

The chairman of Israel’s Yesh Atid party, Yair Lapid, has proposed that Darfuri asylum seekers must be recognised as refugees.

“We must treat these people as holocaust survivors,” the outgoing finance minister stated on his Facebook page, according to Haaretz newspaper last week. Eritrean migrants, however, “who constitute the majority of those who infiltrated into the country”, should be treated as illegal immigrants.

Lapid declared last week that his party would support an amendment to the anti-infiltration law on the continuation of the Holot detention facility in the southern Negev desert, limiting remand to one year and eight months. The facility currently holds 2,200 asylum seekers from Eritrea and Sudan, 70 percent of whom are from Darfur.

The Israeli Supreme Court ruled in September 2013 that a 2012 amendment to the anti-infiltration law, which allowed for the indefinite detention of people for illegal entry, was unlawful. In response, the Israeli parliament passed another amendment to the law in December that established the Holot facility in the remote Negev desert for the “infiltrators”.

Israel has granted refugee status to just over 200 applicants since 1948. In 2013, Israel examined 250 out of 1,800 asylum requests, and approved none, according to Haaretz.

In September this year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that “during the last 18 months”, Israel has coerced about 7,000 Sudanese and Eritrean asylum seekers to leave the country. “The East-African asylum seekers were denied access to fair and efficient asylum procedures, and were detained unlawfully.”

Hundreds of Eritreans and Sudanese have since been ordered to report to the centre, where they live in conditions that breach international law on arbitrary detention, according to the HRW report.

 

Related: ‘Israel forces asylum seekers from Sudan, Eritrea to leave’: HRW (10 September 2014)