Israel: Thousands Coerced Into Leaving the

Country [1]
Sudanese, Eritreans Seeking Protection Faced With Indefnite Detention
SEPTEMBER 9, 20!
Israeli authorities have unlawfully coerced almost 7,000 Eritrean and
Sudanese nationals into returning to their home countries where they risk
serious abuse, Human Rights Watch said in a reort released today! Some
returning Sudanese have faced torture, arbitrary detention, and treason
charges in Sudan for setting foot in Israel, while returning Eritreans also
face a serious risk of abuse!
"he #$%age reort, &'(ake "heir )ives (iserable*+ Israel+s ,oercion of
Eritrean and Sudanese -sylum Seekers to )eave Israel,. documents how
Israel+s convoluted legal rules thwart Eritrean and Sudanese asylum
seekers+ attemts to secure rotection under Israeli and international law!
Israeli authorities have labelled Eritreans and Sudanese a &threat.,
branded them &infiltrators,. denied them access to fair and efficient
asylum rocedures, and used the resulting insecure legal status as a
rete/t to unlawfully detain or threaten to detain them indefinitely,
coercing thousands into leaving!
&0estroying eole+s hoe of finding rotection by forcing them into a
corner and then claiming they are voluntarily leaving Israel is
transarently abusive,. said 1erry Simson, senior refugee researcher at
Human Rights Watch and author of the reort! &Eritreans and Sudanese
in Israel are left with the choice of living in fear of sending the rest of
their days locked u in desert detention centers or of risking detention
and abuse back home!.
In 2006, Eritreans and Sudanese began arriving in Israel through Egypts Sinai
Peninsula in large numbers, fleeing widespread human rights abuses in their
countries !y the time Israel all but sealed off its border with Egypt in "ecember 20#2,
about $%,000 Eritreans and #&,000 Sudanese had entered the country
'ver the past eight years, the Israeli authorities have applied various coercive
measures to (ma)e their lives miserable* and (encourage the illegals to leave,* in the
words of former Israeli Interior +inister Eli ,ishai and current Israeli Interior
+inister -ideon Saar, respectively .hese include indefinite detention, obstacles to
accessing Israels asylum system, the re/ection of 000 percent of Eritrean and
Sudanese asylum claims, ambiguous policies on being allowed to wor), and severely
restricted access to healthcare
Since 1une 20#2, the Israeli authorities have indefinitely detained thousands of
Eritreans and Sudanese for entering Israel irregularly, that is, without entering
through an official border crossing 2fter the Israeli Supreme 3ourt ruled in
September 20#$ that such detention was unlawful, the Israeli authorities responded by
renaming their detention policy and began re4uiring Eritreans and Sudanese to live in
the 5olot (6esidency 3enter* in Israels remote 7egev desert in conditions which
amount to detention despite the change in name
In 1anuary 20#&, 5uman 6ights 8atch spo)e with one of the first people to be
detained in the 5olot facility, a 2#9year9old Eritrean who said, (:ife here in 5olot is the
same as in ;Israels< Saharonim ;detention center<, where I was detained for #& months
before :ots of people here have mental problems because they were also detained for
so long I am also afraid of getting those problems I have been in prison for so long*
2s of late 2ugust 20#&, /ust under 2,000 Eritreans and Sudanese = including over
#,000 who have claimed asylum = were detained in the 5olot facility, while /ust under
#,000 were detained in the Saharonim detention center .he remaining &#,000
Eritreans and Sudanese in Israels cities live under threat of being ordered to report to
5olot
"etaining people in 5olot breaches the prohibition under international law on
arbitrary detention because people are confined to a specific location where they
cannot carry out their normal occupational and social activities "etainees are held
there for no lawful purpose and indefinitely under a blan)et immigration detention
policy .he Israeli authorities fail to /ustify, on an individual basis, each decision to
detain someone and there is no effective way to challenge the decision
.he only way for detainees to secure their release is to be recogni>ed as a refugee ,et,
Israeli authorities have also systematically denied Eritreans and Sudanese access to
fair and efficient asylum procedures ?ntil late 20#2, the authorities refused to register
their asylum claims at all, saying they did not need refugee status because Israel was
tolerating their presence under a group protection policy that it e@tends to certain
nationalities
In Aebruary 20#$, Israel allowed Eritreans and Sudanese to lodge asylum claims in
significant numbers 5owever, as of +arch 20#&, the authorities had only reviewed
/ust over &B0 detainees claims, while Israeli refugee lawyers said there was no
evidence that the authorities had reviewed a single claim by Eritrean and Sudanese
asylum see)ers living in Israeli towns and cities .he re/ection rate has been almost
#00 percent
.he cumulative impact of these policies is that Eritreans and Sudanese are left with no
choice but lifelong detention in Israel or returning to a country where they ris)
persecution or other serious harm
Seven Sudanese who returned to Sudan told 5uman 6ights 8atch they left Israel
because they feared indefinite detention there and said they were detained and
interrogated in Chartoum, Sudans capital .hree were held for long periods during
which one was tortured, a second was put in solitary confinement, and a third was
charged with treason

?nder Sudanese law, anyone who has visited Israel faces up to #0 years in prison in
Sudan Sudanese nationals in Israel therefore have what is )nown as a sur
place refugee claim in which the well9founded fear of being persecuted arises as a
conse4uence of events that happened, or activities the asylum see)er engaged in, after
they left their country of origin
.he fate of Eritreans returning from Israel is un)nown, although 5uman 6ights 8atch
has documented how the Eritrean authorities abuse some Eritreans returning from
other countries
!ecause of credible persecution fears relating to punishment for evading indefinite
military service in Eritreaand other human rights abuses there, D$ percent of Eritrean
asylum see)ers worldwide were granted some form of protection in 20#$, according to
the ?7 refugee agency, in star) contrast to the 0# percent given such status in Israel
Eritrean and Sudanese nationals who agree to return from Israel to their own
countries under threat of indefinite detention should be considered victims of
refoulement, 5uman 6ights 8atch said 6efoulement, under international law, is the
forcible return (in any manner whatsoever* of a refugee or asylum see)er to a ris) of
persecution, or of anyone to li)ely torture or inhuman and degrading treatment
(Israeli officials say they want to ma)e the lives of Einfiltrators so miserable that they
leave Israel, and then claim people are returning home of their own free will,*
Simpson said (International law is clear that when Israel threatens Eritreans and
Sudanese with lifelong detention, they arent freely deciding to leave Israel and ris)
harm bac) home*
Since 200D, Israeli authorities have given Eritreans and Sudanese (conditional
release* permits that must be renewed every few months Aailure to renew on time
ris)s arrest, detention, and /ob loss since the authorities threaten to fine anyone who
employs wor)ers without permits In late 20#$, the authorities severely restricted
access to permit renewal procedures, leading to chaos as Eritreans and Sudanese
desperately tried to renew their permits 3ommunity leaders said the resulting stress
and lac) of resources to survive have contributed to many decisions by Sudanese and
Eritreans to leave Israel
(+a)e .heir :ives +iserable* also e@amines the Israeli authorities ambiguous and
unclear wor)9authori>ation policy that has made it almost impossible for many
Eritrean and Sudanese to find and retain employment, leaving many in permanent fear
of destitution 3ombined with obstacles to accessing healthcare, this has also added to
the pressure to leave Israel
Object1
Israel should recogni>e all Sudanese nationals in the country as refugees and assess
Eritrean asylum claims in line with ?7536s guidelines, 5uman 6ights 8atch said
!ecause fairly reviewing tens of thousands of asylum claims in line with international
refugee law standards would ta)e years, Israeli authorities should also grant Eritreans
and Sudanese a secure temporary protection status for a renewable #29month period
based on widespread human rights abuses in their home countries .he status could be
lifted once conditions have sufficiently improved to allow for return in safety and
dignity, 5uman 6ights 8atch said
(.he Israeli authorities appear hell9bent on spending vast amounts of resources to
unlawfully detain thousands and to go through the motions of reviewing asylum claims
only to re/ect them all,* Simpson said (Instead, they should respect their obligations
and protect these people while allowing them to wor) and live temporarily in Israel*
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